TEN FUN FACTS
ABOUT LANCELIN
A Dutch treasure ship, a 1974 rocket launch and two world records. Ten surprising stories from Lancelin’s past and present.
Most people know Lancelin for its wind, its white dunes and its crayfish. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find shipwrecks, rockets, world records and a name that almost wasn’t. Here are ten stories from one of WA’s most characterful coastal towns.
1. It’s named after a French expedition writer
Lancelin takes its name from Lancelin Island, just off the beach. French navigator Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, sailing aboard the Naturaliste in 1801, was the first European to find and name the island, choosing the name of scientific writer P. J. Lancelin. His ship was part of Nicolas Baudin’s expedition, the same voyage that gave the WA coast names like Geographe Bay and Cape Naturaliste.
The island itself is far older. It formed roughly 10,000 years ago from ancient dunes that hardened into limestone, and it marks the southern end of a chain of 40 islands stretching 150 kilometres up the Turquoise Coast.
2. It was almost called Wangaree
The Noongar peoples are the traditional inhabitants of the Lancelin area. When the town was gazetted in 1950, it was named Wangaree, an Aboriginal word for “fish”. Three years later it was renamed Lancelin at the request of the Gingin Road Board.
It was a fitting first name for a town whose story has been shaped by what comes out of the water.
3. A Dutch treasure ship lies just down the coast
In the early hours of 28 April 1656, the Dutch East India Company ship Vergulde Draeck, or Gilt Dragon, struck a reef off Ledge Point and broke apart. Of the 193 people aboard, 75 reached shore. She was carrying trade goods and eight chests of silver.
Seven crew sailed a small boat to Batavia to raise the alarm, arriving 40 days later. Rescue ships found the remains of the survivors’ camp, but no survivors were ever found.
The wreck stayed hidden until 14 April 1963, when 15-year-old Graeme Henderson found it while spearfishing with Alan Robinson and three other divers. It was the first Dutch East India Company ship discovered off Australia.
And the story is still unfolding! Finds in 2022 and 2024, followed by excavations that turned up an intact 17th-century clay pipe, point to the long-lost survivors’ camp. The site is now protected under WA’s heritage laws.
“Lancelin has always been a place people find, and then can’t stay away from.”
4. It began as a holiday camp
Holiday shacks started appearing along this coast in the 1920s, and for decades Lancelin was mostly a camping spot. That changed when the crayfishing industry arrived in 1947 and the town grew into a working fishing port.
One boat that worked here has an unexpected backstory. The Trixen began life in 1904 as a pearling lugger. In the 1960s she was converted into a trawler and fished for crayfish at Lancelin. Restored to her pearling glory, she has been on display at the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle since 2002.
5. Lancelin has launched rockets
During the total solar eclipse of 20 June 1974, two sounding rockets were launched from Lancelin for solar research.
Sounding rockets fly straight up to carry instruments into the upper atmosphere, above the reach of balloons but below satellites. One of the Lancelin flights was a US-built Terrier-Sandhawk that observed the eclipse in ultraviolet light and climbed to around 320 kilometres.
6. It holds not one but two Guinness World Records
The Lancelin Ocean Classic began in 1986 as a 25 km downwind race from Ledge Point to Lancelin. Since 2008, that race has held the Guinness World Record for the longest windsurf race.
In October 2016, the town added a second title at the Lancelin Off Road Muster. 449 vehicles crossed the start line, smashing the previous record of 154 set in Qatar in 2014, and more than 2,000 people came to be part of it.
7. There’s a wildlife sanctuary just offshore
Lancelin Island Nature Reserve sits around half a kilometre off the beach. The small limestone island is a breeding site for seabirds and a resting spot for sea lions. It’s also the only home of the threatened Lancelin Island skink, a lizard named after the island.
A boat trip to the island is a popular summer outing, and a walkway lets visitors see the wildlife. Neighbouring Edwards Island is a high-level nature reserve and off limits.
8. January 15 is a big date on the local calendar
Lancelin is home to a fleet of more than 20 rock lobster boats, and the quota season starts on 15 January each year. That’s why the Ocean Classic has traditionally been held before that date.
The fleet is part of a fishery with a global reputation. In 2000, the western rock lobster fishery became the first in the world to be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. It’s also Australia’s most valuable single-species wild-catch fishery.
9. The town more than triples in size over summer
Lancelin’s permanent population is a little over 700. Over the Christmas and New Year holidays, that number swells to around 2,500 as families return to the coast year after year.
For many of those families, Lancelin is a summer tradition. The beach, the dunes and the fish and chips stay the same, while the kids get taller every year.
10. Summer rain is almost a rumour
Lancelin’s Mediterranean climate means warm, dry summers. December averages just 8.3 mm of rain, January’s average maximum is a comfortable 29.1°C, and most of the year’s roughly 588 mm falls in winter.
Even winters are mild, with July averaging a daytime high of 19.3°C.
The next chapter
From French navigators to Dutch sailors, holiday shacks to cray boats, Lancelin has always been a place people find and then can’t stay away from. Lancelin South is the next part of that story, with an approved plan for 7,000 homes giving more people the chance to make this coastline home.
Want to be part of what comes next? Explore the current release or register your interest.
