Kimberley Stock Photos Western Australia

The Rowley Shoals Marine Park consists of three coral atolls, approximately 270km west of Broome on the edge of the continental shelf. The three atolls have shallow lagoons inhabited by corals and abundant marine life, with each atoll covering an area of 80 to 90 square kilometres. The three shoals are strikingly similar in dimension, shape, orientation and distance apart. Each atoll is north-south orientated, pear-shaped, with the narrow end towards the north. The Shoals rise with nearly vertical sides from very deep water. Mermaid Reef, the most northerly, rises from about 440 metres, Clerke from 390 metres and Imperieuse from about 230 metres. The Rowley Shoals were named in 1818 by Captain Philip Parker King, who first described their relative positions. He discovered and named the most north-easterly of the trio Mermaid Reef, after his ship. He gave the middle shoal the name Clerke Reef after Captain Clerke, who had reported it from a whaler sometime between 1800 and 1809. The south-western shoal was dubbed Imperieuse Reef after the vessel from which it was sighted by Captain Rowley in 1800. Information courtesy DEC WA website.

Underwater images from Western Australia's Kimberley coast.