E is for ESPERANCE

Esperance is another place where MOH and I spent a wonderful holiday at a very comfortable motel on the outskirts of town.   We used our travel vouchers and did the return journey by tourist bus which was very comfortable.  If driving from Perth to Esperance many people make an overnight stop along the way as it is a very long drive to do in one day.  Not having a car with us we enjoyed several bus tours to different areas around Esperance.

According to Wikipedia ESPERANCE is a regional city in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, on the Southern Ocean approximately 720 kilometres (450 miles) east-southeast of Perth. The 1911 census showed Esperance to be home to 9,919 people.  Its major industries re tourism, agriculture and fishing.  The entire Shire of Esperance is home to 13,477 people.

European history dates back to 1627 when the Dutch vessel "Guiden Zeepaert" skippered by Francois Thijssen, 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 "Esperance", commanded by Bruni d"Entrecasteaux.  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 goldfields to the north.

The area of the Esperance townsite was first settled by the Dempsters, a pioneer family of Scottish descent, in the 1870s.  A telegraph station was opened in 1876, although the formal gazettal of hte townsite did not occur until 1893.  The town jetty was also built through the 1890s following the discovery of gold in the eastern goldfields region.

The population of the town in 1898 was 985 (623 males and 362 females).

About 3 kilometres west of Esperance is the Pink Lake.  It is not always pink in colour but the distinctive colour of the water changes as a result of green alga Dunaliella salina, halobacterium Halobacteria cutirubrum, and/or high concentration of brine prawn.  Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water. the temperature is high enough and adequate light conditions are provided; the alga begins to accumulate the red pigment beta carotene.  The pink halobacteria grow in the salt crust at the bottom of the lake and the colour of the lake is a result of the balance between D. salina and H. cultirubrum.  The lake has been identified as an Important Bird Area because it supports siginficant numbers of Hooded Plovers and sometimes over 1% of the world population of Banded Stilts.

There is a lot to see and do in and around Esperance so do scroll down and enjoy with me some of the delightful scenery:

I was thinking back to days when I used to go the local picture theatre each week (with mum and dad) and "Travel Talks" would be on and invariably it would end with the words "As the sun sinks slowly in the west".  Well here is that same sun sinking slowly over the west over Esperance.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone who has paid Esperance a visit give it anything other than praise.  It is certainly very, very beautiful.  I just realised I haven't as yet posted Dunsborough.  This old head not thinking straight today!  Of course I knew D came before E.