Youngs Siding and the South Coast

Youngs Siding general store

Youngs Siding is a small hamlet with a general store, a volunteer fire brigade shed, automatic telephone exchange, district hall, sports oval and 12 houses. The immediate surrounding countryside is flat, generally farmland cleared of native vegetation, with a tendency to be swampy in winter. Between Youngs Siding and the ocean there are some low hills on which more of the original flora has been retained.

Local attractions and places to go within a few kilometres of Youngs Siding include Lowlands Beach and Anvil Beach, and the Meelia strawberry and Eden Gate blueberry farms. Just about everything, including tourist information, is available at the Youngs Siding store. Accomodation can be found at Kate's Cottage, Gilge Getaway (a self-contained chalet for up to four guests), Cape Howe Cottages (3½ star self-contained accomodation within walking distance of Lowlands Beach), and many other places.

The region has been named the Rainbow Coast, making a virtue of the fact that it has a reputation for wet weather; in fact Youngs Siding's annual rainfall is a reasonably modest 900 millimetres, most of which falls in the winter. The closest official Bureau of Metorology weather station is at Demmark, 15 kilometres west of Youngs Siding. The temperatures are mild; frosts are rare and the summers are cooler than almost everywhere else in Western Australia, where they are generally uncomfortably hot.

The main towns in the region are Albany, to the east of Youngs Siding, Denmark to the west and Mount Barker to the north.

Roadside mail boxes

Albany is one of the largest rural cities in Western Australia, with a population of about 35 000. It is the site of the first European settlement in Western Australia, and is located on Princess Royal Harbour which is connected to King George Sound, a beautiful and protected natural harbour surrounded by granite hills. To date Albany has no tall buildings, no parking meters and no traffic lights (but lots of roundabouts).

Denmark (population about 3000) is named after a British explorer, not the European country. It is situated on the Denmark River just before it flows into Wilson Inlet, a large shallow body of water which is normally only connected to the ocean at the end of winter when the water level rises and the sand bar is breached by the authorities to prevent local flooding. Where the inlet joins the ocean, Ocean Beach is the closest place for swimming and surfing, but it can be dangerous when rips form, especially in rough weather. The town has galleries, caravan parks, hotels, restaurants and cafés as well as a hospital and other services.

Farms around the region are generally on a small scale, less than 100 hectares, usually running sheep or beef cattle. Properties of this size are insufficient to provide a living for a family in Australia, so most people have an additional source of income - a separate business, a job, a government pension of some sort or a private income. The exceptions are the more intensive farming enterprises such as fruit growing and vineyards.

Paperbark tree on the edge of Wilson Inlet

Tourism is a major industry on the south coast, with many visitors travelling to the area in the summer school holidays at Christmas time and later. They come to escape the heat in Perth, to visit the wineries and tourist attractions, go fishing in the inlets and rivers and along the coast, and enjoy the spectacular coastal scenery, the forests, flowers and birds. There are also things to do and see in winter, including whale-watching in Albany, once the home of a whaling station which is now a museum including a café.

West Cape Howe National Park is a relatively small reserve to the east of Youngs Siding, protecting a small area of karri forest, swamps containing the carnivorous Albany Pitcher Plant, and low windswept coastal vegetation. The coastline is spectacular, with high cliffs stabilised by granite and limestone. The cliff behind Shelley Beach is a popular site for hang-gliding in summer and the park has several walking trails. The cape has the distinction of being the southernmost point of mainland Western Australia. On the way to the national park you can call in to Torbay Glass and browse the items for sale in the gallery.

North-east of Albany are the Stirling Ranges, which include Bluff Knoll, the highest point in the south of the state. Although Western Australia has no real alpine regions, every few years it gets cold enough to snow on Bluff Knoll, but the snowfalls are light and melt away rapidly. Further east from Albany the rainfall decreases, the land is drier with more shrubby plants and less tall trees. The area west of Denmark still preserves a considerable amount of native forest, with spectacularly tall karri trees and thick undergrowth.

South coast slide show