Marine Protected Areas
Whale shark at Ningaloo Marine Park, Lynne Curnow
While the relationship between Aboriginal people and the Commonwealth waters of Ningaloo Marine Park is not known, a long association with the coastal waters is evident. Materials found in rock shelters, shell middens and caves on the Cape Range peninsula indicate that Aboriginal people lived on the Ningaloo coast for over 30 000 years. These sites provide the oldest dated evidence for exploitation of marine resources and the earliest evidence for human decorative ornaments in Australia.
Two groups of Aboriginal people lived in the area. The Junigudira occupied North West Cape and the Cape Range peninsula to a line between the bottom of Exmouth Gulf and Whaleback Hills. Baiyungu Traditional Lands began at Point Quobba and extended up Whaleback Hills and the Point Cloates area. These people had sophisticated, coastally focused subsistence strategies and maintained an extensive trading network.
Aboriginal people are reported to have left the Cape Range peninsula either before or shortly after European settlement, possibly due to the introduction of diseases by whalers and pearlers operating out of Exmouth Gulf.
More recently some of the traditional people have returned to the area. The Baiyungu Aboriginal Corporation has purchased and is managing Cardabia Station, near Coral Bay. The Ningaloo area is now spoken for by the Yamatji Land and Sea Council.
The first recorded European contact with North West Cape was a sighting by the crew of the Dutch ship Zeewolf in 1618. Later in the same year, the first known landing by a European was made by Captain Jacobz of the ship Mauritius.
American whalers operated in the area as early as the 1790s, some 90 years before the land was used by Europeans for grazing. They appear to have initially targeted sperm whales. As their understanding of whale migrations improved, they began targeting humpback whales. While it is likely that these whalers went ashore to find fresh water and meat, they did not establish any infrastructure. Shore-based whaling occurred for brief periods between 1913 and 1955 at several points along the coast.
Divers searching for wild pearl shells worked mainly in Exmouth Gulf and the Rowley Shelf to the east and north of the Marine Park. Many of the pearling vessels, or "luggers", were wrecked as they travelled between Exmouth Gulf and Fremantle. There are no shipwrecks in the Commonwealth waters of Ningaloo Marine Park.
The establishment in 1876 of Minilya Station, covering the whole of the Cape Range peninsula, marked the beginning of the pastoral industry in the area. The station was gradually subdivided into the present station areas, with Yardie Creek, Ningaloo, Cardabia and Warroora Stations occupying the western coastline. Yardie Creek Station was later acquired by the Western Australian State Government to form part of the Cape Range National Park.
In recent years, tourist facilities have developed around the popular towns of Exmouth and Coral Bay. The beauty of Ningaloo Marine Park and the many activities available in the area attract people from all over the world.