Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A town on the sound.
An introduction to Albany and King George Sound, the coast where the whaling station stands on Frenchman Bay.
On this page
Read the town
Albany lies on King George Sound, about 418 km south-east of Perth. Founded as a military outpost on 26 December 1826, it is the oldest colonial settlement in Western Australia, older than Perth and Fremantle.
A guide can give context without turning a town into a backdrop. Notice how the harbour, the sound and the granite headlands shape the town and the roads out to the coast.
Granite headlands
South of the town, Torndirrup National Park holds some of the region’s most rugged coastline, including the Natural Bridge and the Gap.
Begin with a detail and ask who uses it, who looks after it and how it changes through the year. A photograph alone cannot tell you that.
A whaling chapter
Whaling was a major source of income for Albany from 1952 to 1978. The station on Frenchman Bay keeps that chapter of the town’s history.
Look at the meeting of the two: a working factory built on the shore, and the open water beyond it.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the station’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the people who run them.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
- Wikipedia: Albany, Western Australia
- Wikipedia: Albany’s Historic Whaling Station
- Albany’s Historic Whaling Station: Location and opening times
Links lead to the original publishers.
