Denham

History

The indigenous inhabitants of Denham and the wider Shark Bay area are the Malgana people, whose occupation of the area dates back at least 30,000 years. Their traditional country is about 28,800 square kilometres in extent. In 2018, the Malgana people were formally recognised as native title holders of the area by the Federal Court of Australia, following a 20-year-long legal process. On 25 October 1616, Dutch captain Dirk Hartog and crew, in the ship Eendracht, came unexpectedly upon "various islands, which were, however, found uninhabited." He made landfall on what is now now called Dirk Hartog Island off the coast of Shark Bay. Hartog spent three days examining the coast and nearby islands. He called the area Eendrachtsland after his ship, but the name has not endured. Finding little of interest, Hartog continued sailing northwards to about 22° South, charting the previously unknown coast. In 1697, Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh, in charge of a small rescue fleet looking for possible survivors from the lost ship Ridderschap van Holland, landed on Dirk Hartog Island. Later European explorers included William Dampier, and, in the early 19th century, the Frenchmen Freycinet, Hamelin and Baudin. The coast remained uninhabited by Europeans until the middle of the 19th century. The first pearls found in Western Australia were discovered in Shark Bay in 1854 by a Lieutenant Helpman, the so-called "Admiral of the Swan River Navy", who found the dense beds of pearl-shell oysters that are abundant there. On 26 January 1952, 59 residents signed a petition to open an airport in the town, as it faced no coastal shipping services, no mail, and no medical services in the town. It was considered “the loneliest town in Australia”. Despite all of this, the town fell short of…

Most-observed species

• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  396
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  387
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  358
• Australian Pelican

  Pelecanus conspicillatus Temminck, 1824 · Aves
  288
• Pied Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax varius (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  283
• Emu

  Dromaius novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  274
• Pied Oystercatcher

  Haematopus longirostris Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  238
• Little Crow

  Corvus bennetti North, 1901 · Aves
  228

Most recent

• M 4 — 2014-11-28
  97 km W of Denham, Australia
• M 4.9 — 2007-02-15
  26 km W of Denham, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2002-04-06
  78 km ESE of Denham, Australia