The Old Pearler Restaurant

Denham (including Nanga)
Main township for travellers wanting to visit Monkey Mia and Shark Bay
This should be read in conjunction with the entry on Shark Bay.

Denham is both the western most town in Australia (at the 113°32" East meridian of longitude) and the gateway to Monkey Mia with its friendly dolphins. Located on the western coast of the Peron Peninsula it is 23 km southwest of the dolphins and 831 km north of Perth.

The area was the first part of the Australian mainland discovered by European sailors (see Cape Inscription for a detailed history of the Dutch exploration of the area). After the Dutch came William Dampier who wrote in his successful book A Voyage to New Holland that it 'Twas the 7th of August when we came into Shark's Bay; in which we Anchor'd at three several Places, and stay'd at the first of them (on the W. side of the Bay) till the 11th. During which time we searched about, as I said, for fresh Water, digging Wells, but to no purpose.' Dampier wasn't experiencing a drought year. Even today the area around Shark Bay receives such a low rainfall that the fresh water at Denham comes from a desalination plant. There are strict controls on the consumption of water in the town with threats that excessive use of fresh water will incur penalties. The penalty: to pay the full price for the desalination.

After Dampier came the Frenchmen Freycinet, Hamelin and Baudin who passed through the area in the early 1800s. They discovered the Geographe Channel which was named after Baudin's ship and, over the period from 1801-1818 visited the area three times. The dryness of the landscape and the obvious lack of water did little to create any real French enthusiasm for the region. The coast remained uninhabited by Europeans until the mid-nineteenth century. In 1858 Shark Bay was chartered by Captain H.M. Denham - the town is named in his honour.

Around this time F.L. Von Bibra settled on Dirk Hartog Island and convicts briefly came to the area to dig guano (bird droppings). It was as a result of this that Lieutenant Helpman, who had been sent to the area to sort out the issue of convicts being used to dig guano, discovered the pearl shells which abounded in the bay.

In his book on Broome, Port of Pearls, Hugh Edwards writes of Denham 'The first pearls to be found in Western Australia were in Shark Bay in 1854 by a Lieutenant Helpman known as the 'Admiral of the Swan River Navy'.

'Excited by finding dense beds of the small oyster Pinctada radiata he applied for the sole concession to work the Shark Bay pearl beds.

'This was initially agreed to but a public outcry made the beds open to everyone. The technique of pearling had none of the romance and danger which was later associated with the pearling fleets which operated out of Broome. The pearl shells were dredged and put on the beach in what were called 'pogey-tubs' and left to rot. Eventually the shells fell open and the pearls, if there were any, dropped out. The smell of the 'pogey-tubs' was horrific. The experiment was short lived as the pearl beds were overfished early. The only interesting consequence was that Denham's streets achieved the unique distinction of being paved with pearl shells. In an extraordinary act of vandalism the local roads board put bitumen over the pearl shells in the 1960s thus destroying what could have been a remarkable tourist attraction.'

Feeding the dolphins at Monkey Mia near Denham

Today the town survives on the influx of tourists who come to the area to see the dolphins. With only a single caravan park-motel-backpacker destination at Monkey Mia people requiring other accommodation stay at either Denham or Nanga or take bus trips from Carnarvon.

But this sense of Denham as a stopover is to undervalue the beauty of the township. It has an almost Mediterranean feel about it with a small and beautiful beach and a jetty from which fishing and boating are popular activities.

Things to see:  

Shell Beach near Denham

Interesting Buildings and destinations
Most of the buildings in the town are of no particular interest with St Andrews Church (on the corner of Hughes and Brockman Streets) and The Old Pearlers Restaurant (on the waterfront at Durlacher Street and Knight Terrace) being notable exceptions. Both have been built from coquina shell block - a shell aggregate (a kind of shell stone) which comes from Shell Beach (see Shark Bay) near the town.

In Denham's Pioneer Park is a slab of rock marked 'Herald; Denham; 1858' which was inscribed at Eagle Bluff (see Shark Bay) by Captain Denham during his survey in 1858.

48 km south of Denham is Nanga Station, a huge sheep station which has embraced the growing tourism in the region by providing caravan sites as well as bunkhouse, cabin, home unit and motel accommodation, a restaurant, liquor store and shop.

	Tourist Information
	Shark Bay Tourist Bureau 83 Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1253 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1253
	Motels
	Heritage Resort Shark Bay Motel/Hotel Cnr Knight Tce & Durlacher St Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1133 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1134 Rating: ***
	Shark Bay Motel/Hotel 43 Knights Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1203
	Holiday Homes & Units
	Bay View Villas Fry Court Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1323
	Denham Holiday Village Sunter Pl & Capewell Dr Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1323 Rating: ***
	Denham Villas 4 Durlacher St Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1264 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1264 Rating: ***
	Shepards Flat Holiday Units 71 Hughes St Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1328 Rating: ***
	Tradewinds Holiday Village 11 Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1222 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1161 Rating: ***
	Tropical Holiday Villas 29 Hartog Cres. Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9734 1882
	Cottages & Cabins
	Shark Bay Holiday Cottages 43 Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1206, 1800 681 777 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1206
	Farm & Eco Holidays
	Dirk Hartog Island Station Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1211 Facsimile: (08) 9316 2959 Rating: **
	Lodges & Chalets
	Bay Lodge Holiday Units 109 Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1278, 1800 812 780 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1031
	Caravan Parks
	Blue Dolphin Caravan Park Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1385 Rating: ***
	Denham Seaside Caravan Park Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1242 Facsimile: (08) 99481196 Rating: ***
	Shark Bay Caravan Park 119 Spaven Way Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1387 Facsimile: (08) 9948 1050 Rating: ***
	Restaurants
	Heritage Resort Shark Bay Motel/Hotel Cnr Knight Tce & Durlacher St Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1133
	Old Pearler Restaurant Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1373
	Shark Bay Hotel Motel Knight Tce Denham WA 6537 Telephone: (08) 9948 1203