Cape Le Grand National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, south-east of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and east of Esperance. The park covers an area of The area is an ancient landscape which has been above sea level for well over 200 million years and remained unglaciated. As a result, the area is home to many primitive

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

species. Established in 1966, the park is managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife. The name Le Grand is from one of the officers on ''L'Espérance'', one of the ships in the 1792 expedition of

Bruni d'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux (; 8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Isle de France (Mauritius), governor of Isle de Fran ...

. The

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

of Cape Le Grand of the

Shire of Esperance The Shire of Esperance is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, about south of the town of Kalgoorlie and about east-southeast of the state capital, Per ...

shares almost identical boundaries with the national park, the exception being a number of roads in the west of the park and locality, which are part of the later but not the former.

Geography

The largely

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

shoreline and white sand beaches are picturesque features of the area. The park is a used for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

off-roading Off-roading is the act of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, dirt, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, or other natural terrain. Off-roading ranges from casual drives with regular vehicles to competitive events w ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, and

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

. Beaches within the Park include those at Lucky Bay, Rossiter Bay, Hellfire Bay, Le Grand Beach, and Thistle Cove. The islands and waters to the south of the park are known as the '' Recherche Archipelago Nature Reserve'', another protected area of the

Recherche Archipelago The Archipelago of the Recherche, known locally as the Bay of Isles, is a group of 105 islands, and over 1200 "obstacles to shipping", off the south coast of Western Australia. The islands stretch from east to west and to off-shore encomp ...

and nearby coastal regions. The

Cape Arid National Park Cape Arid National Park is a List of national parks of Australia, national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and lies on the shore of the South coast of ...

is located to the east. The southwest section of the park is dominated by rock outcrops of

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

and

. These form a distinctive chain of peaks including Mount Le Grand (345 m), Frenchman Peak (262 m), and Mississippi Hill (180 m, named after the ''Mississippi'', a French

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

). Further inland, the park comprises mostly heath-covered sandplain, interspersed with

swamps A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

and pools of fresh water.

Wildlife

The sandplains support dense stands of

banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and head ...

s ('' Banksia speciosa'' and '' Banksia pulchella''). Other flora that can be found around the park include species of ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They ...

'', ''

Grevillea ''Grevillea'' (), commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the ...

'', sheoak,

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

and grass trees. Wildflower blooms peak in the austral spring, lasting until October and species such as blue china orchid '' Cyanicula gemmata'', '' Diuris corymbosa'', ''

Hakea laurina ''Hakea laurina'' is a shrub or small tree commonly known as kodjet or pin-cushion hakea and is endemism, endemic to Western Australia. The Noongar name for the plant is ''kodjet'' or ''kojet''. It has red and cream conspicuous globular flowers ...

'', '' Thysanotus sparteus'' and '' Thelymitra macrophylla'' are represented within the park. Fauna that are commonly found within the park include

bandicoot Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipela ...

s, pygmy honey possums, ring tailed possums, quenda and

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, i ...

s. Some of the relict species with

gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

n links that are found within the park include species of

legless lizard Legless lizard may refer to any of several groups of lizards that have independently lost limbs or reduced them to the point of being of no use in locomotion.Pough ''et al.'' 1992. Herpetology: Third Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall:Pearson Education ...

, like the common scaly-foot '' Pygopus lepidopodus'', and '' Delma fraseri'', '' Delma australis'' and '' Aprasia striolata''. The ancient, although non-gondwanan, blind snake '' Ramphotyphlops australis'' is also found within the park. Endemic frogs found within the area include the quacking frog '' Crinia georgiana'', the banjo frog '' Limnodynastes dorsalis'' and the humming frog '' Neobatrachus pelobatoides''.

Facilities

Facilities include toilets, barbecues, campsites, tables, sheltered areas, walk trails, information bays, and water tanks. Two full-time rangers are residents of the park. Check the Cape LeGrand Campground website for booking details. During busy holiday periods, there is a 'camp host' couple who helps manage the site.

Gallery

Image:Lucky Bay.jpg , Overlooking Lucky Bay, one of the beaches at Cape Le Grand Image:Lucky Bay beach.jpg, Lucky Bay is a popular destination for tourists Image:Frenchmans Peak.jpg, Frenchman Peak

References

{{Authority control National parks of Western Australia Goldfields–Esperance Protected areas established in 1966

Geography

Wildlife

Facilities

Gallery

See also

References