| Nuytsland Nature Reserve Western Australia | |
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  Nuytsland Nature Reserve | |
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| Nearest town or city | Esperance |
| Coordinates | 32°18′0″S125°52′0″E / 32.30000°S 125.86667°E |
| Established | 1969 |
| Area | 6,253.44 km2 (2,414.5 sq mi) |
| Managing authorities | Parks and Wildlife Service, Government of Western Australia |
| See also | List of protected areas of Western Australia |
Nuytsland Nature Reserve is a protected area of Western Australia in the south-eastern part of the state, on the south coast.
Nominally located at 32° 18' S 125° 52' E, it has an area of 6,253.44 km2, and takes in over 500 kilometres of coastline from Cape Pasley to Red Rocks Point. [1]
In the southwest the reserve includes the Israelite Plain, a coastal plain with broad beaches, dunes, sandplains, and coastal lagoons which includes Israelite Bay. The middle section of the reserve protects the Baxter Cliffs, dramatic seacliffs that extend up to 80 metres high for over 190 km along the coast. The Baxter Cliffs feature Toolinna Cove and Twilight Cove. The reserve boundary extends northwards near Cocklebiddy to encompass Cocklebiddy Cave on the Hampton Tableland. The eastern end of the reserve includes the western portion of the Roe Plains, with extensive coastal dunes and sandplains. Eyre Bird Observatory is located near Cocklebiddy, where the cliffs transition to the Roe Plains. [2] [3] [4]
At the reserve's western end it adjoins Cape Arid National Park. Ngadju Indigenous Protected Area bounds the western portion of the reserve on the north.
Plant communities include heath on the western coastal plains and headlands, woodlands and mallee dominated by eucalypts, and bluebush ( Maireana spp.) shrublands in the east. [2]
The reserve has been surveyed for the western ground parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris). [5]
The reserve was declared on 25 June 1965 and gazetted on 7 November 1969 [6] [7] and named for the Nuyts cadastral division within which it lies, named in honor of the infamous Pieter Nuyts, the highest ranking member of the Dutch East India Company aboard the 't Gulden Zeepaert when it mapped the southwestern Australian coast, after which it was sometimes known as Nuytsland (French : Terre de Nuits).
| Climate data for Eyre (6m elevation) 1991–2020 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27.5 (81.5) | 27.1 (80.8) | 26.3 (79.3) | 25.0 (77.0) | 22.1 (71.8) | 19.7 (67.5) | 19.1 (66.4) | 20.4 (68.7) | 22.2 (72.0) | 24.3 (75.7) | 25.4 (77.7) | 26.7 (80.1) | 23.8 (74.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 15.2 (59.4) | 15.9 (60.6) | 14.0 (57.2) | 11.3 (52.3) | 8.3 (46.9) | 6.0 (42.8) | 5.0 (41.0) | 5.5 (41.9) | 7.3 (45.1) | 9.9 (49.8) | 11.9 (53.4) | 14.0 (57.2) | 10.4 (50.7) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 27.1 (1.07) | 34.2 (1.35) | 31.5 (1.24) | 29.4 (1.16) | 31.4 (1.24) | 34.6 (1.36) | 36.5 (1.44) | 30.2 (1.19) | 28.0 (1.10) | 22.1 (0.87) | 27.6 (1.09) | 29.0 (1.14) | 361.2 (14.22) |
| Average rainy days | 5.6 | 6.2 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 11.0 | 10.3 | 9.1 | 7.8 | 7.5 | 6.2 | 101.2 |
| Source: bom.gov.au [8] | |||||||||||||
Cape Arid National Park is a national park located in Western Australia, 731 kilometres (454 mi) southeast of Perth. The park is situated 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Esperance and lies on the shore of the south coast from the eastern end of the Recherche Archipelago.
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, and occupies an area of about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi). At its widest point, it stretches about 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia.
The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.
Cocklebiddy is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It is the third stop after Norseman on the journey eastwards across the Nullarbor Plain. Like other locations in the region, the site consists of little more than a roadhouse. The current business name of the roadhouse is the Wedgetail Inn and, like most other Nullarbor establishments, has access to satellite television, as well as providing caravan park and hotel-motel facilities.
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone, one of Western Australia's Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia regions. It is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger West Australian Shield division.
Eyre Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Cocklebiddy is the nearest locality on the Eyre Highway, 49 km (30 mi) to the north. It is in the Hampton bioregion, which is sandwiched between the Nullarbor Plain to the north and the Great Australian Bight to the south, in one of the least populated places on the Australian continent. It was established in 1977 by Birds Australia in the disused Eyre Telegraph Station as Australia's first bird observatory, to provide a base for the study and enjoyment of the birds of the area.
Toolinna Cove is a cove on the south coast of Western Australia. It is a sea-cove along the Baxter Cliffs at the western end of the Great Australian Bight, in Nuytsland Nature Reserve. It is the only place between Point Culver and Twilight Cove where a boat can be landed.
Esperance mallee is an ecoregion on the south coast of Western Australia, a coastal strip where the predominant vegetation consists of short eucalyptus trees and shrubs.
Hampton is an interim Australian bioregion located in southeastern coastal Western Australia, with a small portion (4%) extending into adjacent South Australia. It has an area of 1,088,198 hectares. The Hampton bioregion is part of the Coolgardie woodlands ecoregion.
Yalgoo is an interim Australian bioregion located in Western Australia. It has an area of 5,087,577 hectares. The bioregion, together with the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions, is part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion as classified by the World Wildlife Fund.
Israelite Bay is a bay and locality on the south coast of Western Australia.
The Eyre Telegraph Station is a building on the remote south coast of Western Australia, on the Great Australian Bight.
The Coolgardie woodlands is an ecoregion in southern Western Australia. The predominant vegetation is woodlands and mallee scrub. The ecoregion is a transitional zone between the Mediterranean-climate forests, woodlands, and shrublands of Southwest Australia and the deserts and dry scrublands of the Australian interior.
Wolfgat Nature Reserve is a coastal nature reserve in Mitchells Plain on False Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa.
The Karroun Hill Nature Reserve is a 3097 km2 nature reserve in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about 310 km north-east of Perth.
The Roe Plains is a coastal plain in the southeastern corner of Western Australia.
Twilight Cove is situated at the end of the Baxter Cliffs on the south coast of Western Australia on the Great Australian Bight coastline. It has had other names, including Malbinya.
The Baxter Cliffs is a long stretch of coastal cliff on the south coast of Western Australia.