Meelup Regional Park

DUNSBOROUGH - WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Meelup Regional Park is an area of outstanding beauty with exceptional landscape appeal including stunning beaches, rugged granite outcrops and headlands, rocky outcrops and natural bushland with high biodiversity values.

The Park is located in the south western corner of Western Australia, approximately 250 kilometres south of Perth. The Park is a Class A reserve vested in the City of Busselton with the gazetted purpose of conservation and recreation. The Park is approximately 577 hectares and extends 11.5 kilometres along the coastline from Dunsborough to Bunker Bay. The Park’s coastline faces north-east, which is rare in Western Australia, therefore it is sheltered from prevailing salt-bearing south westerly winds which results in tall trees and dense vegetation growing down to the water’s edge.

The Wadandi people (Salt Water People) are the Aboriginal custodians of the area, and named Meelup ‘place of the moon rising’ because the full moon appears to rise out of the sea on a few days of the year. The Park offers excellent recreation facilitates among pristine coastal bushland and has a stunning visual landscape, due to its protected coastline and the stark contrast between the rustic granite outcrops and turquoise ocean. The Park is a special place for visitors, providing a unique connection to the ruggedness, beauty and inspiration of nature.

The Park lies within the Busselton-Augusta Biodiversity hotspot, in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. A Biodiversity hotspot is an area rich in plant and animal species, particularly high in endemic species and is under pressure from a variety of threats. The Park’s size and relatively pristine condition of much of the vegetation means that the Park has local, national and international conservation significance.

Image:  by Mark Oliver - Baudin's Black Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii)
Granite Claw flower (Calothamnus graniticus subsp graniticus)