The attractions offered by the town mainly involved fishing and snorkelling. We could swim with whale sharks if we wanted to - but we didn't want to, we prefer to grow old gracefully. Or even disgracefully, as long as we continue to grow old.
While in the Tourist Information Centre, we asked why there were no Aborigines in Exmouth. It appears there are evil spirits on the North West Cape. We asked if it was possible to 'acquire' some of these evil spirits to take with us. No, we were told with a large smile, the residents of Exmouth were quite happy to keep the evil spirits just where they were.
The crime rate is very low. Situated as it is, near the
tip of the North West Cape, any person with evil intent would have to
drive a hundred kilometres up the cape to carry out a crime in the town,
then drive the same distance back along the one and only sealed road to
escape, perhaps with Senior Constable Plod on his tail. Hence Exmouth
is a remote but peaceful little town with just the occasional crime of
opportunity taking place when someone leaves their property unsecured.
A Condensed History of the Cape.
The first Europeans to land on the cape were the Dutch in 1618; they initially
thought they had landed on an island and found human footprints on the
beach. I wonder if that's where Daniel Defoe got the idea for his book,
Robinson Crusoe? Later another Dutch explorer, Commander Willem de Vlamingh
explored the coast. The tip of the cape, and later the lighthouse, were
named Vlamingh Head and Vlamingh Head Lighthouse in his honour. Two centuries
later the famous French explorer, Nicholas Baudin, sailed up the coast
and named Cape Murat after Napoleon's brother-in-law. Much good that did
him, poor chap. Phillip Parker King explored the cape in 1818 and named
the gulf "Exmouth" after Viscount Exmouth RN. Yet more brown
nosing. King reported that the whole area was desert and therefore unsuitable
for settlement. So much for him!
During World War II, Exmouth Gulf became an important submarine base for
Australian and US submarines. The base, nicknamed 'Potshot' by the Americans,
operated between 1942 and 1945 when most of the facilities were destroyed
by a cyclone. It was during the war that the Learmonth airbase, named
after Wing Commander Charles C. Learmonth, was opened.
The town of Exmouth came into being after it was gazetted in 1963 to service
the Harold E. Holt Naval Communications Station to its north and, to a
lesser extent, the Learmonth airbase to its south.
The Communications Station was a joint U.S./Australian facility and most
of its personnel were Americans. Critics of the base argued that in the
event of a nuclear war it would be a prime target as its thirteen huge
radio masts monitored the movements of US warships in the Indian Ocean
and western Pacific.
In 1964 there were four houses in Exmouth; most of the population lived
in caravans. Development continued and the population peaked in the late
sixties at around 4,300, many being US service personnel. The Americans
pulled out in 1992 and the permanent population today has settled to around
2,000 people.
The Learmonth air base is still operational, as is the downsized Harold
E. Holt Naval Communications Station. The masts which support the Very
Low Frequency (VLF) antenna are higher than the Eiffel Tower and the tallest
is the second highest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Very important
statistics, are these.
For the technically minded the VLF transmitter is the world's most powerful,
operating on a frequency range from 14 - 28 KHz and the antenna is capable
of radiating two million Watts. The tower assembly is designed to withstand
winds up to 500 km/h.
Climate
Exmouth has a dry climate with hot summers and beautiful winter
days which are just perfect; we can personally vouch for that. In summer
there may be several consecutive days over 40° Centigrade but, strangely,
it's a very dry heat and as such, much more tolerable. I say 'strangely'
because low humidity is something I would not expect in a town
almost surrounded by sea.
The average annual rainfall is a mere 267 mm. (As a guide, Perth receives
860 mm.) Exmouth has an average of 26 rainy days each year; now that
I could live with, how about you? The wettest month is June when you could
expect five rainy days. The driest period is September through to December
when it might rain once or twice.
The cape is subject to a tropical cyclone every couple of years. The tapering
waters of the Exmouth Gulf concentrate the cyclonic winds towards its
southern end. A wind speed of 267 km/h was measured at Learmonth
Airport in March 1999, the highest wind speed ever recorded on the Australian
mainland.
Up by the lighthouse is a lookout where the remains of a World War II radar stands.
left of the framework which supported the camouflage over the scanner dish.
Again we were spoilt by the profusion of wild flowers. Many of the blooms were tiny and delicate, others large and robust.
As well as the flora we saw some interesting fauna. As
we prepared to leave the lookout a kangaroo popped its head above a ridge,
gave us a quick stare and then hopped it.
Footnote on the spelling of Vlamingh Head:
On maps and in tourist literature, the name Vlamingh frequently has the
final 'h' left off. Often both spellings are used in the same document.
Which is correct? I honestly don't know but my best guess would be that
the 'h' is more likely to have been omitted in error rather than added
in error.
Turtles and a Shipwreck
We drove down to a turtle display area near the beach. From October to
December the female turtles come ashore at night, dig a hole in the sand
and lay up to a hundred eggs before filling in the hole and returning
to the sea, job done. Much then will depend upon the temperature of the
sand. The warmer it is the shorter the incubation period and greater proportion
of the hatchlings will be female. On hatching they dig themselves towards
the surface, waiting until dark to emerge when their chance of reaching
the sea is greatest. Their predators are many, both on the beach and in
the water, and very few will reach maturity.
The display educated people on how to observe the females coming ashore
and laying their eggs - what to do and what not to do. The path through
the dunes was illuminated by small lights powered by batteries charged
by solar panels. Somebody had gone to a lot of trouble and expense to
provide this facility.
Still, it's an ill wind. The outcome was that a plan to build four lighthouses along the north-west coast of Australia was expanded to include the one on Vlamingh Head.
