HOPETOUN

HEMA Map reference 75/G10

33° 57' S 120° 07' E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Hopetoun               08 9838 3096

Services

See Ravensthorpe

Attractions

Fitzgerald River National Park, 2 mile beach, 4 mile beach, 5 mile beach, 12 mile beach, West beach, Barrens beach, Starvation Boat Harbour, Mason Bay, Culham Inlet, Powell Point, Dunn’s Swamp, Beacon Hill lookout, Phillips River, East Mt. Barron walk, Sepucralis lookout, Point Ann, East Mylies beach, Hamersley beach, Whalebone beach, Quoin Head, Southern Ocean Discovery Centre.

Buildings of note

Unknown

Calendar of events

January: Summer festival.

Point Ann

(C) Max Jefferies

Description

Mathew Flinders charted the coast in this area in 1802 and by the 1820s whalers were using bays to shelter during rough weather.

Land based exploration started with Eyre in 1841 as he passed this way after crossing the Nullarbor.

The town developed after gold was discovered near Ravensthorpe in 1899 and by 1900 the first buildings began to appear. The Phillips River gold field was declared and Hopetoun became the nearest port for the import and export of goods. A railway to Ravensthorpe was opened in 1909 but closed in 1925. The port declined and was effectively closed by 1936. The jetty survived for some years but finally in 1983 it succumbed to time and the elements.

Originally known as Mary Anne Harbour, the town was re-named in 1901 after Lord Hopetoun (John Adrian Louis Hope) the 1st Governor-General after federation. The original name was said to come from the daughter of a whaler who lived in the area in the 1820s.

The first long term settlers, the Dunn brothers, arrived in the 1860s to establish a sheep station. Dunn accompanied John Forrest when he was exploring in the area and a memorial to the event is located 6 km along Forrest Road. (This road is 10 north of town west off Hopetoun Road.)

John Dunn, who is thought to have been temporarily marooned in the area before he decided to settle there, was killed by Aborigines in 1880. Dunn's grave is located on Cocanarup Road west of Ravensthorpe.
 

The world’s longest fence (the rabbit proof fence) starts just east of the town at Starvation Bay and finishes at Eighty Mile Beach, east of Port Hedland. By the time the fence had been constructed the rabbits had already passed it and two other fences were built but neither did much to stop the invasion from the east.

Hopetoun has had a history of ups and downs and so it continues today with mining ventures promising to revive the area and then departing again in a short time.

The town is quite remote in many respects and still lacks many of the services available in larger towns. This accounts for the fact that it remains relatively unspoiled and quiet.

Even so the area is famous for its coastal scenery and attractive campsites.

(C) Don Copley