Stokes-Nationalpark

The Stokes National Park (English Stokes National Park ) is a 106 km ² national park in the south of Western Australia, Australia.

Location

The park is 550 kilometers east of Perth and 80 km west of Esperance. At a length of 70 km, it runs along the southern coast of Australia. The area around the Stokes Inlet can be reached via the same name, 6 km long gravel road from the South Coast Highway. All other facilities in the park are accessible only by boat or SUV.

History

The Stokes Inlet and the Lort River were named in 1848 by the Surveyor - General John Septimus Roe after his friend John Lort Stokes. From 1860, the territory of today's national park was used for sheep farming in particular. From an old farm house, the Moir Homestead, the foundations can still be seen today. A little later, towards the end of the 19th century, prospectors used the area around Fanny Cove to get to the gold fields at Norseman and Dundas.

Stokes Inlet

East of Albany, the Stokes Inlet is the largest estuary system and one of the few that do not dry out during the time when the access to the sea is blocked by a sandbar. This natural barrier can often persist for years. If it breaks then, the access to the sea opens usually only for a few weeks. This has the consequence that the water level and salinity in the 14 km ² large estuary vary greatly - depending both on the inflow from Lort and Young River, and the evaporation rate.