Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ate. From his base on Middle Island he raided ships and kept a harem of Aboriginal wo-
men, whose husbands he had killed. He was eventually murdered in his sleep by one of
his own men.
Although the first settlers came in 1863, it wasn't until the gold rush of the 1890s that
the town really became established as a port. When the gold fever subsided, Esperance
went into a state of suspended animation until after WWII.
In the 1950s it was discovered that adding missing trace elements to the soil around
Esperance restored its fertility. The town has since rapidly become an agricultural centre
and it continues to export grain and minerals from the region's farms and mines.
1
Sights & Activities
Esperance Museum
(cnr James & Dempster Sts; adult/child $6/2; 1.30-4.30pm)
Glass cabinets are crammed with collec-
tions of sea shells, frog ornaments, tennis rackets and bed pans. It's absolutely charming,
though, even if most of the displays wouldn't look amiss in a junk shop. Bigger items in-
clude boats, a train carriage and the remains of the USA's spacecraft
Skylab,
which made
its fiery re-entry at Balladonia, east of Esperance, in 1979.
MUSEUM
HISTORIC BUILDING
Museum Village
The museum includes galleries and cafes occupying restored heritage buildings; markets
are held here every second Sunday morning. Aboriginal-run Kepa Kurl Art Gallery (see
boxed text,
Click here
) has reasonably priced works by local and Central Desert artists.
Lake Warden Wetland System
Esperance is surrounded by extensive wetlands, which include seven large lakes and over
90 smaller ones. The 7.2km-return
Kepwari Wetland Trail
(off Fisheries Rd)
takes in
Lake Wheatfield
and
Woody Lake
, with boardwalks, interpretive displays and good birdwatching.
Lake
Monjimup
, 14km to the northwest along the South Coast Hwy, is divided by Telegraph Rd
into a conservation area (to the west) and a recreation area (to the east). The conservation
side has boardwalks over inky black water where it's hard to see where the paperbark
trees end and their mirror image begins. The much more orderly recreation side has
themed banksia, hakea and grevillea gardens, a hedge maze and great grassy areas for
throwing a ball around.
LAKE
