Ravensthorpe Shire’s camping reserve on the Hamersley Inlet, shown here in yellow.
Ravensthorpe Shire has taken the first step towards tourism development in the Hamersley Inlet, 24km west of Hopetoun.
Shire president Tom Major said it was an “exciting step in the right direction”.
“There’s a lot of tourism potential there,” he said.
“It’s the gateway to the National Park — you’ve got the Hakea Trail, you’ve got the Inlet, the coastline.”
Unusually, the 145ha reserve is surrounded by the Fitzgerald River national park but vested in the Shire for camping.
“There’s always been a campground there,” he said.
“In our tourism strategy, we are seeking to expand that further into other potential tourism avenues but to do that we needed a variation of the management order to include the word ‘tourism’.”
Council agreed to this on Tuesday.
Further tourism development of the site has been identified in the Shire’s tourism strategy, and staff have been working with the State Government agency Tourism WA to progress this.
“It’s quite unusual for a local government to have a management order inside the national park like that, so we definitely intend to make the most of it,” Mr Major said.
“It’s an exciting prospect.”
Shire chief executive Matt Bird told council that access was via a sealed all-weather road and the existing nature-based campground provided 20 sites for smaller caravans, camper trailer and tents.
“This is still in the early state of the project proposal,” he wrote.
“Issues still to be investigated and addressed include Native Title Indigenous Land Use Agreement, flora and fauna surveys, water and sewerage, fire risk management, and various planning proposals.”
He said this was likely to take several years before Council could consider any substantial development proposal.
