Albany

Albany, Western Australia

Albany, southernmost town and seaport of Western Australia. It lies on the northern shore of Princess Royal Harbour, King George Sound.

The area was inhabited by the Minang Noongar Aboriginal people for some 18,000 years before it was first encountered by Europeans. During the summer they lived along the coast, where they caught fish with stone traps in the naturally broad, deep, sheltered harbour, and in winter they moved inland. The harbour was visited and charted by George Vancouver in 1791. In 1826 the first European settlement in the state, a penal colony called Frederickstown (for Frederick Augustus, duke of York and Albany), was established there by the British. Known as Albany by 1832, it became an important whaling base during the 1840s. Until its closure in 1978, the base was the last surviving shore-based whaling enterprise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Beginning in 1852, Albany served as a coaling depot for ships sailing the Indian Ocean. When the newly improved harbour at Fremantle opened in 1900, Albany began a temporary decline, but, with the later development of its hinterland, it has revived to become the leading port of the south coastal area.

Albany lies along the Great Southern Railway and the South Western and Albany highways to Perth-Fremantle, 240 miles (386 km) northwest. The town serves an area of wine growing and dairy, beef, lamb, fruit, and potato farming. Albany has a mild summer climate and serves as a resort for Perth and a retirement destination for the Wheat Belt. It is a popular location for watching humpback and southern right whales during their annual migration (May to October) and has a whaling museum housed in a former whaling station. Pop. (2006) local government area, 31,574; (2011) local government area, 33,650.