Hamelin Pool Stromatolites
Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve
Living stromatolites, among the oldest life forms on Earth, a “living fossil” of a 3.5-billion-year evolutionary history.
Hamelin Pool has seawater about twice as salty as normal ocean water and almost no predators, which allows cyanobacteria to build up layers that form stromatolites. Their shapes resemble the earliest life fossils on Earth, about 3.5 billion years old, making this one of the world's best living stromatolite sites. A timber boardwalk extends over the shallows, so at low tide you can clearly see clumps of dark brown “stones.” Nearby are an 1884 historic telegraph station and the ruins of a shell-brick quarry. Admission is free. The site is about 100 km from Denham, on the eastern section of the access road into the bay, so stop by on your way in or out of Shark Bay. Do not step on the stromatolites.
Opening hours
All day
Nearby sights
- Shell Beach
- Eagle Bluff
- Shark Bay Ocean Park Aquarium
- Monkey Mia
- Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre
- Denham Foreshore
- Little Lagoon
- Peron Homestead & Hot Tub