Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve - History

History

The name "Two Peoples Bay" is from an incident in 1803 when an American whaling ship used the sheltered waters to lay anchor at the same time as a French vessel that was exploring the coastline east of Albany. John Gilbert, a naturalist, surveyed the area in the 1840s giving his name to the Gilbert's Potoroo and discovering the Noisy Scrub-bird. Two Peoples Bay was declared a Nature Reserve in 1967.

A bush fire broke out on private land near the reserve on 12 October 2012 and a team of about 20 fire-fighters arrived to combat the blaze. Following a sudden change in wind direction a track carrying two of the fire crew was engulfed in flames. The two women, both females, received terrible burns. The 45 year old woman received burns to 60% of her body was admitted to haspital in critical condition and the 24 year old had burns to 40% of her body and was also critical but stable. Both women were transferred from Albany via the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Perth. Three other fire crew were injured, a second truck was burnt out and over 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of bushland were burnt before the fire ws contained later the same day. The older woman, Wendy Bearfoot, died in Royal Perth Hospital 1 November as a result of her injuries. WorkSafe launched an investigation to investigate the circumstances.