Looking across Jacques Bay to Murchison River Mouth. Kalbarri. Murchison Region, Western Australia.

On the 28^th of February 1839 Explorer George Grey set sail from Shark Bay to explore the coastline to Gantheume Bay near Kalbarri. His party consisted of 12 men in 3 whale-boats. One boat was lost during a storm at a first attempt to leave Bernier Island. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the other two boats were wrecked in an attempt to make land fall in Jacques Bay during a storm. The party had to carry their provisions back to the Swan River. The surviving six explorers arrived at Swan River on the 21st of April 1839.

Kalbarri, situated at the mouth of the Murchison River is best known for its rugged coastal and river gorges. In 1951 the town was gazetted to accommodate the growing Western Rock Lobster industry (locally known as crayfish)  Kalbarri has had a long association with Europeans, the coastline around the area has been the scene of the shipwreck, mutiny, executions, and punishments which surrounded the wrecking of the Batavia on the Houtman Abrolhos in 1629. The area was known as “Wurdimarlu” to the Nanda local aboriginal people.