The Dutch (aboard the Gulde Zeepaard) were the first Europeans to visit the area, and o sailed across the Great Australian Bight in 1627, and charted the waters of the southern coast of Australia including the islands off Esperance. 

The town was named after L'Esperance, a French frigate which, sheltered from a storm in these waters while exploring the coast of Western Australia in 1792.

For most of the twentieth century the area around Esperance was regarded as too infertile for intense agriculture. It wasn't until 1949 that the Esperance Downs Research Station discovered that the local soil only needed additional trace elements to make it fertile. This simple discovery turned the area into a successful producer of wheat, sheep and cattle. The success of this venture is vividly expressed in the fact that in 1954 there were 36 farmers on about 8,000 hectares and by the mid 1980s there were 600 farmers utilising over 400,000 hectares. It was a good combination of Australian technology and American capital.

Today Esperance thrives on agriculture, fishing, farm forestry and tourism. The Port of Esperance imports fertiliser and fuel products and exports wheat, barley, lupin and oats. The most significant export commodity is iron ore railed from the Portman Mining operation at Koolyanobbing. Nickel concentrate from a number of producers in the Goldfields is also exported via Esperance

Known as the “Bay of Isles” because of the vast number of small islands offshore, it is another of the fisherman’s paradises on the WA coastline. Virtually any point off the Esperance coast will produce a good catch. 
Arguably the biggest attraction is the cruise out around some of the islands. These cruises are fully commentated and last for 3 ½ hours. Visitors can see sea eagles being hand fed, dolphins at play, colonies of sea lions and seals plus a host of other marine life and sea birds. 

Tour operators in town run regular trips to Cape Le Grande, combined with visits to Duke of Orleans Bay and Cape Arid National Park. Ask hostel management for further details. 

Esperance is famous worldwide for its Pink Lake, which attracts thousands of visitors each year. 

Esperance is named after a French naval vessel "L'Esperance" which sheltered from a storm in a wide bay a few kilometres from the present townsite.
The beautiful bays and beaches of this area look out on a cluster of offshore islands famous for fishing and the proliferation of seals and other abundant sealife found in the area.
The Bay of Isles itself is actually named the "Archipelago of the Recherche". (Recherche was the name of L'Esperance's sister ship) With its sweeping white sands, clear turquoise water and tiny islands it is a magnificent sight to see. (site to sea?)

Organised cruises visit the islands and their wildlife. Overnight camping is possible on some islands.
Fishing trips can be arranged from Esperance, also diving expeditions in the crystal clear waters.
Inland there is the Pink Lake which is (of course) pink - the incredible colour is the result of an algal bloom and the intensity varies throughout the year due to climatic changes.
Some fascinating safari tours are available for you to explore the surrounding area.

Cape LeGrand National Park is a beautiful impressive natural area with a tremendous view from Frenchmans Park
Bays like Thistle Cove, Hellfire Bay and Lucky Bay are some of the most picturesque in Australia.

It is certain that the coast was visited by other Dutch explorers, and probably sealers and whalers, in the 165 years between 1627 and 1792, but 1792 was the next important date when the visitors were Captain Bruni d'Entrecasteaux (commanding Le Recherche) and Captain Huon de Kermandec (of L'Esperance) who were searching the Australian waters for the missing explorer La Perouse while charting the coastline and exploring the new continent.

Forced to seek protection from a storm the two vessels sheltered on the lee side of Observatory Island and that night d'Entrecasteaux wrote in his journal 'I decided to give the harbour the name of Esperance Bay, that of the first frigate to enter it.'

There is a monument to the discovery and naming of the area at Observatory Point, which is beyond Twilight Bay Road west of the town. The next explorer to visit the area was Matthew Flinders who arrived in the Esperance area on 8 January 1802 and stayed until 17 January exploring the islands and the mainland. In the 1820s and 1830s the harbours and bays around Esperance were commonly used by sealers and whalers who lived a primitive and brutal life mistreating the local Aborigines, fighting with each other, living in primitive huts and surviving on a diet of seal meat and supplies they picked up at infrequent intervals from the colony at Albany.

The next explorer into the area was Edward John Eyre who, exhausted from his journey across the Great Australian Bight, reached Rossiter Bay (now part of Cape Le Grand National Park to the east of Esperance) in June 1841. Eyre's description of his arrival at the bay is one of sheer elation.

'In a short time I arrived upon the summit of a rocky cliff, opposite to a fine large barque lying at anchor in a well sheltered bay (which I subsequently named Rossiter Bay, after the captain of the whaler) immediately east of Lucky Bay and at less than a quarter of a mile distant from the shore...I tied up my horses, therefore, to a bush and waited for Wylie, who was not long in coming after me, having driven the poor horses at a pace they had not been accustomed to for many a long day. I now made a smoke on the rock where I was, and hailed the vessel, upon which a boat immediately put off, and in a few moments I had the inexpressible pleasure of being again among civilised beings and of shaking hands with a fellow countryman in the person of Captain Rossiter, commanding the French whaler Mississippi.'

The sailors on the Mississippi had established a kind of settlement in the area and were growing vegetables and raising sheep and goats during the non-whaling season.

Eyre was followed through the area by John Septimus Roe's surveying expedition of 1848 but Roe's report on the coast was unenthusiastic and did little to encourage settlement. The first settlers were the Dempster brothers who took up a grazing lease of 304,000 acres in 1863. The former Dempster Homestead, located at 155 Dempster Street, is listed on the National Estate as an important relic of the early history of the area. Built in 1863 by the Dempster brothers it is rough in construction having used local limestone and a design based on needs rather than aesthetics. It has been restored and is now in private ownership and not open to the public.

Annie Dempster wrote of her brothers in 1865: 'Andrew describes the place where they intend eventually to have their house - it must be a pretty spot at the entrance of Esperance Bay with a beautiful view of the bay which is twenty miles across - a good landing and a capital harbour - the bay seems almost land locked with islands and the sea so quiet that when rough outside they could take a boat about to any part of it. Also enough good land for a garden and a field, and plenty of good water'.

Access to the outside world was greatly improved when the Overland Telegraph was opened in 1876. There were five telegraph stations along the southern coast at Bremer Bay, Esperance, Israelite Bay, Eyre (now the Bird Sanctuary south of Cocklebiddy) and Eucla. 200 km to the east of Esperance (the last 100 km is restricted to 4WD vehicles only and there are no facilities) is Israelite Bay where the ruins of the Israelite Bay Telegraph Station, which operated from 1877-1917, can be seen. The original building was constructed of timber. It was replaced by a stone building in 1896. The complex includes the ruins of a cottage built in 1884 and two graveyards where telegraph operators and others who lived in the area are buried. Although very inaccessible Israelite Bay offers both good fishing and good swimming. The road passes through Cape Arid National Park.

The town of Esperance came into existence in 1893 as a port facility for the Coolgardie goldfield, but its importance was short lived in this role. The arrival of the railway from Perth to Kalgoorlie in 1896 meant that most miners took the route from the west. The hotels, breweries, stores and guest houses that had sprung up in Esperance to cater for the miners disappeared overnight.

For most of the twentieth century the area around Esperance was regarded as too infertile for intense agriculture. It wasn't until 1949 that the Esperance Downs Research Station discovered that the local soil only needed additional trace elements to make it fertile. This simple discovery turned the area into a successful producer of wheat, sheep and cattle. The success of this venture is vividly expressed in the fact that in 1954 there were 36 farmers on about 8,000 hectares and by the mid 1980s there were 600 farmers utilising over 400,000 hectares. It was a good combination of Australian technology and American capital.

Today Esperance thrives on agriculture, fishing, farm forestry and tourism. The Port of Esperance imports fertiliser and fuel products and exports wheat, barley, lupin and oats. The most significant export commodity is iron ore railed from the Portman Mining operation at Koolyanobbing. Nickel concentrate from a number of producers in the Goldfields is also exported via Esperance. See www.esperanceport.com.au. For Esperance Port statistics

Tourist information is available from www.westernaustralia.net/discover/esperance.

Website: www.esperance.wa.gov.au

Contact information for the Shire of Esperance

Contact: Telephone: (08) 9071 0666

Facsimile: (08) 9071 3427

Address: PO Box 507, Esperance WA 6450

Email: shire@esperance.wa.gov.au

Economic Statistics of Esperance