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Fitzgerald National Park
This trek takes you through one of Western Australia’s most significant bio-diversity areas and gives you access to some of the best isolated coastal camping the state has to offer; not to mention some pretty fantastic fishing and unrivalled beach-scapes.

This trek is located in the WA South Coast region.

Start Finish Distance Min Days Rating
Karragullen Bremer Bay 1746.3 4 Trek rating 3 of 5 - Click for detailsTrek rating 3 of 5 - Click for detailsTrek rating 3 of 5 - Click for details
» Description
» Preparation
    Fuel Information, Best Time to Visit
    Permits, Supplies/Facilities, General
» Things to See & Do
» History
» Driving Notes
  
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Researched By Member - Alex   Latest Update 13 Oct 2005

 Description

On this trek you'll visit one of the world's most diverse botanical regions with more than 1800 different species of flowing plants in a national park which is less than 330000 hectares in size. You'll also get treated to some of the best coastal scenery in the country, some phenomenal beach and rock fishing and wonderfully isolated campsites.


East Mt Barren & Quoin Head


From the start point you'll travel to Ravensthorpe, through Hopetoun and into the Fitzgerald National Park. The trip ends at Bremer Bay - arguably the state's most interesting town. It, like the Fitzgerald National Park, offers a range of accommodation options from isolated coastal camping to motel and caravan parks. The fishing at Bremer Bay is uniformly wonderful (by Perth standards anyway) and the Jerramungup shire have resisted the trend to close the country-side to four-wheel drivers. They might have some extremely weird ideas about the development (ask any of the small-business owners in Bremer Bay) of the town but they are certainly our friends at the moment.

Please respect the signage and, whatever you do, tread lightly.

Travellers with more time can break the trip in Hopetoun, spend some time exploring the Fitzgerald National Park or use Bremer Bay as a base to make sojourns into the surrounding area. There are also a couple of interesting historical sites to visit throughout the journey including the grave of the man credited with establishing Hopetoun and the Wellstead family home - a name which has been synonymous with the area around Bremer Bay since the 1850s.

 Preparation

Fuel Supplies

Ravensthorpe, Hopetoun, Bremer Bay

Best time to visit

Early spring (wildflowers) and early autumn

Permits

CALM Park Pass

Supplies/Facilities

Esperance – Major supply point, Ravensthorpe – Minor supply point

General

This is an easy trip which demands little special preparation. Fuel and supplies are readily available at Hopetoun, Ravensthorpe and Bremer Bay and none of the ground traversed presents much of a challenge. It is important however to ensure that you take with you adequate supplies of water and remember that this is an isolated stretch of the Western Australian coast. Emergency and breakdown services are both some distance away which demands common sense, sound vehicle preparation and a level of self-sufficiency.

It is also worthwhile noting that a bit of research pre-departure will make things that much more enjoyable. The access track to Quion Head is often closed after heavy rains not, as I understand it, because the track become impassable but to protect the national park from the ravages of dieback.

Similarly, the sandbar across Wellstead Estuary (waypoint 20) is often time impassable. Signage is provided by the Jerramungup Shire about the status of the sandbar but taking the time to confirm its condition before leaving and again in Hopetoun or Ravensthorpe is advisable. Prudent travellers will also walk the sandbar rather than relying on the shire's signs or evidence of other vehicles traversing it.

Finally, the weather on this stretch is best described as changeable, whilst the sea breeze is something which can be relied upon to visit you every day with vengeance. Bear this in mind when you decide what equipment to take with you and when selecting your campsite.

 Things to See & Do

Fantastic coastal scenery, isolated camping and some of the state’s best beach fishing

 History

The coast around Esperance was first visited by the French - an expedition led by Admiral Bruny D'Entrecasteaux - in 1792. Much of the coast east of Hopetoun bears names assigned by these early French mariners. It is Matthew Flinders however who holds the honour of being the first European to visit the area around Hopetoun in 1802. The next Europeans in the area were sealers chasing the highly prized pelts of the New Zealand fur seals. Norwegian and North American whalers also who plied the coast chasing the southern right whales.

It is one of these early whalers, a man by the name of Thomas who visited the area in the 1820s and is thought to have named the bay upon which Hopetoun sits - Mary Ann Haven - after his daughter. The next significant visitor to the region was Edward John Eyre who camped at Jeradcuttup Lakes and Culham Inlet on his quest to be the first European to cross from South Australia to Albany overland.

Eyre and his Aboriginal companion, Wylie, were lucky to have made it to Hopetoun. Had it not been for a chance encounter with the whaling boat Mississippi in Rossiter's Bay (named by Eyre after the captain of the Missisippi) Eyre's epic journey may have ended very differently.

Edward Eyre named one of the district's most prominent geographical features - Mount Barren - and said of it in his journals: "Most properly had it been called Mt Barren, for a more wretched arid looking country never existed than that around it". How wrong could he be? The peak that he named lies in a region which has more than 1800 different plant species and is of international significance!

The area around Hopetoun was first settled by the brothers Dunn - one of whom, John, first visited the area as a whaler in 1860s. In 1871 John Dunn drove sheep overland from Albany - a trip which took him three months. He and his brother George were formally granted 4049 hectares of land on 1 January 1873 but the district's first pioneer never got to see the area reach its full potential. He was killed by Aboriginals in 1880 and his grave can be found on Concanarup Road (which runs off the South Coast Highway west of Ravensthorpe - the turnoff is at ST 1).

It was another of the Dunn brothers who was responsible for the ultimate development of the district. In 1898 he found gold and copper near the Phillip River. This resulted in a dramatic gold rush, the development of a smelter at Ravensthorpe, a railway line between Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun, a private jetty at Hopetoun (which was built in 1901) and a wooden-structured lighthouse (which was first lit in 1909).

Things started to decline in 1918 and by 1925 the railway line was closed and the port following shortly after in 1936. Sadly the jetty at Hopetoun, which would have been at least as impressive as the fuelling jetty at Esperance, was burnt to the waterline by the public works department in 1983 and little remains but the Port Hotel, the old telegraph station and post office and the old station building.

Bremer Bay (the bay, not the township) was named by Surveyor General John Septimus Roe in 1849 and took its name from the captain of HMS Tamar, Sir Gordon Bremer. It was first settled by the Wellstead family in the 1850's and the original township was actually named Wellstead. Bremer Bay locals petitioned the government to have the town renamed in 1951.

The Wellstead's property is on Toolenburrup Hill - 7KM south of Bremer Bay - and is now the site of a wonderful café/restaurant and a museum which you need an entire day to do justice to.


On the track in the Fitzgerald National Park

 Driving Notes

We need new driving notes for this trek note. See our How to Submit a Trek Note page.
Distance from start Distance between points Description
Trip Meter (km)
0 0 Start at the corner of Brookton Highway and Canning Road in Karragullen.
560.9 560.9 (WP 1): Turn-off for Wave Rock. If you haven't been there, take the diversion. It is a wonderful place to break the trip and have a cuppa at one of the state's most popular tourist destinations.
1040.8 479.9 (WP 2): Ravensthorpe
1233.3 192.5 (WP 3) Turn-off to Starvation Bay
1360.1 126.8 (WP 4) Overnight campsite - the rather ominously named "Starvation Bay") which is arguably one of the state's best coast camps. The Number 1 Rabbit Proof Fence terminates at Starvation Bay and it was those hardy souls responsible for building the Rabbit Proof Fence who gave the bay its name - apparently because there was very little food for the camels and horses which were used to build this icon of Australiana.
Day Two
1402.6 42.5 (WP 5) Hopetoun grew to support the gold and copper rush in the 1898 and is now quietly dying. It has a wonderful motel and a well appointed caravan park and is an ideal place to break the trip for a bit of beach fishing or make day trips into the Fitzgerald River National Park.
1404.1 1.5 (WP 6) Entry to the Fitzgerald River National Park
    (ST 2) Turn-off to Hammersley Inlet which is the site of some well appointed campsites. They have the space for camping trailers and campervans.
1442.9 38.8 (WP 7) Turn-off to Quion Head campsite. Quion Head is the pick of the campsites in the park in my opinion. It is well out of the mainstream and whilst the campsite reflects the management ethos of the national park - emphasising the wilderness value of the park - it is comfortable and relatively sheltered from the prevailing weather. Quion Head is not ideally suited to camper trailers and, with only three clearly defined campsites and one composting toilet, not a venue for large groups. The 35.5KM trip to the campsite is designated 4WD only by CALM and whilst most it presents no problem for high-clearance vehicles; the last descent into the campsite is not something I'd attempt without a low-range gearbox or traction control at the very least.
1475.1 32.2 (ST 3) Turn-off to Whale bone beach and, according to my map at least, campsites on the western shores of Hammersley Inlet.
1478.4 3.3 Quion Head campsite
Day Three
1516.6 38.2 (WP 8) Turn-off onto Moir's Track (becomes Moirs Road after it exits the national park). This designated 4WD only track runs back to Ravensthorpe and provides access to some of the national park's less patronised attractions. Kybulup Pool (WP 9) is an ideal rest stop.
1557.2 40.6 (WP 10) Turn-off on Highway One. If you need to stock up on victuals or top-off the fuel tanks; take a quick detour into Ravensthorpe before moving on to waypoint 10
1580.8 23.6 (WP 11) Turn-off onto Old Ongerup Road. This is an alternative to the South Coast Highway providing far better scenery but the diversion can be avoided by staying on the highway until waypoint 12
1629.5 48.7 (WP 12) Turn-off onto Highway One. This is necessitated by the closure of the tracks in the northern side of the Fitzgerald National Park to prevent the spread of dieback.
1657.4 27.9 (WP 13) Turn-off onto Rabbit Proof Fence Road and re-entry into the Fitzgerald River National ParkRecent track re-alignments by CALM and the Jerramungup Shire mean that most of the track junctions identified on NATM Maps Newdegate 1:250000 sheet are almost redundant and the next series of waypoints have been recorded for interest only.
1672.3 14.9 (WP 14) Rabbit Proof Fence Road leaves vermin proof fence - track also re-aligned
1682.8 10.5 (WP 15) Rabbit Proof Fence Road joins Point Ann Road
1702.9 20.1 (ST 3) This turn-off provides access to Point Ann which provides a another wonderful isolated beach camp and a viewing platform for whale spotting (winter is best)
1709.1 6.2 (WP 16) The track (formerly access track to West Mt Barren) has been re-aligned at this point and joins Collets Road
1719.1 10.0 (WP17) Turn-off to Gairdner Road (Mount Maxwell on right)
1728.7 9.6 (WP 18) Track re-aligned around Quaalup Homestead. Regrettably the homestead was closed due to renovations in 2004 but I am lead to believe that it will be well worth a visit once its open.
1735.8 7.1 (WP 19) Track joins Swamp Road
1738.2 2.4 (ST 4) This turn-off provides access to House Beach which was, I believe, one of the Wellstead family's out camps. Gordon Inlet can also be accessed from this point - another wonderful isolated fishing spot.
1746.3 8.1 (WP 20) Sandbar - check signage before attempting crossing and don't make any assumptions about the safety of the sandbar and, if any doubt at all, get out and walk the crossing.

If the sandbar is impassable, backtrack to WP 18 and follow Swamp Road to Bremer Bay Road