In 2009, an emergency landing of the flight Qantas 72 was made at the nearby Learmonth Airport / RAAF Base Learmonth. The A330 had an incident involving the ADIRU which confused AoA (Angle of Attack) data with altitude data, making the plane think it was in a 16° pitch up when it was flying level. So the protection measures on the plane forced a 16° pitch down twice and brought negative G forces on all passengers and it made them float for about 15 seconds. There were no deaths, but 1 crew member and 11 passengers suffered serious injuries.[6][7]
Tourism
Vlamingh Head lighthouse
The town relies more on tourism than the station for its existence. At the 2016 census, Exmouth had a population of 2,486.[8] At the height of the tourist season, the population swells to 6,000.
Exmouth is popular for diving and snorkelling.[9] Some of the most famous snorkeling spots include Turquoise Bay and Oysters Stacks.
The Cape Range National Park, which has several gorges, is an area of 506 km2 (195 sq mi) and its main area is focused on the west coast of the Cape, which provides a large variety of camp sites on the coastal fringe of the Park. Yardie Creek and Charles Knife Gorge are land based attractions.
Exmouth is also home to two of Australia's Big Things: The Big Whale Shark (constructed 2002) and The Big Prawn (constructed 2005) both of which were constructed by Brian Paskins.[12][13]
There is an ongoing "Prawn War" between this Big Prawn and the Big Prawn in Ballina, New South Wales; the Big Prawn in Ballina is larger but Exmouth locals say theirs is much more realistic.[14]
Climate
Exmouth has a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). Temperatures often reach over 40 °C (104 °F) in summer; however, winters are warm with daytime temperatures around 25 °C (77 °F). There is no specific wet and dry season in Exmouth, although rain is most likely to fall between January and July, usually with monsoonal showers and storms from January to April and from the northern edges of cold fronts in May, June and July. The area occasionally gets caught by tropical cyclones. The period from August to December is usually dry.
On 22 March 1999, Tropical Cyclone Vance reached category 5 status as it made landfall near Exmouth. This resulted in the highest wind gust ever reported on the Australian mainland, 267 km/h (166 mph) at Learmonth, 35 km (22 mi) to the south. Vance caused significant flooding and property damage. There were no casualties.[16][17]
In April 2014, Exmouth was hit by a massive flash flood, nearly destroying the caravan park and seriously damaging much of the town's infrastructure, causing a severe blow to tourism in the region.[18]
Notes
^According to British conventions of pronunciation, as applied in the cases, eg, of Bournemouth, Falmouth, Plymouth, and Portsmouth, England, the pronunciation of Exmouth, Western Australia, would be /ˈɛksməθ/ (EX-muth), as for its namesake, Exmouth, England. However, the local pronunciation of Exmouth, Western Australia, is /ˈɛksmaʊθ/ (EX-mowth).[19]
Barker, Anthony J; Ondaatje, Michael L (2015). A Little America in Western Australia: The US naval communication station at North West Cape and the founding of Exmouth. Crawley, WA: UWA Publishing. ISBN9781742586854.
Western Australia. Ministry for Planning.(1998) Exmouth-Learmonth (North West Cape) structure plan. Perth, W.A. : Western Australian Planning Commission. ISBN0-7309-9007-9 (The draft Structure Plan for Exmouth-Learmonth (North West Cape) has been prepared by the Ministry for Planning under the guidance and direction of the Gascoyne Coast Planning Coordinating Committee (GCPCC) and the North West Cape Technical Advisory Group)
