Esperance

Article by: Jay
Last updated: Tuesday, 11-Jul-2006 00:00:00 CEST

Esperance is a town in Western Australia, located on the south coast around half-way between Albany and the South Australian border. Its population is around 14,000 people, and its major industries are tourism, agriculture and fishing. The Shire of Esperance has an area of 43,000 sq km, and in 2002 had a population of 13,329 people

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Approximately 7.5 hours' drive from Perth, the state capital, Esperance is a popular destination for medium term trips for families based there. It is also around 4 hours' drive south from the Goldfields mining town of Kalgoorlie, and offers a convenient get-away for weekends for the mine workers.

Near the town itself are many attractive beaches, offering surfing, scuba diving and swimming. Also nearby are a number of salt lakes, including the Pink Lake, which gains its rosey hue from red algae living within its waters.

There are five major national parks near the town. A major nearby tourist attraction, 56km from the town center, is the Cape Le Grand National Park, which offers a picturesque coast of largely granite terrain and sheltered white sand beaches. The park is a popular spot for recreational fishing, as well as four wheel drive enthusiasts and hikers.

European history dates back to 1627 when the Dutch vessel 'Guild Zeepaard' passed through the blue waters off the Esperance coast.

French explorers are credited with making the first landfall near the present day town, naming it and other local landmarks whilst sheltering from a storm in this area in 1792. The town itself was named after the French ship, the 'L'Espérance'. Esperance, roughly translated, is French for 'hope'.

In 1802, British navigator Matthew Flinders sailed the Bay of Isles, discovering and naming places such as Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove.

Whalers, sealers and pirates followed, as did pastoralists and miners, keen to exploit the free land and cash in on the gold boom in the gold fields to the north.