The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Esperance (121.90E 33.87S) is a small port on the south coast of Australia, south of Kalgoorlie. It is the only port of any significance for hundreds of miles.
The area was first visited by Westerners in 1792, when the French ships L'Esperance and Recherche sheltered from a storm in the anchorage. The area was originally used by sealers and whalers, then ranchers, but became an important port with the Kalgoorlie gold rush of 1895. Early attempts at agriculture were stymied by the alkaline soil, and farming practices to overcome this difficulty and transform the area into an agricultural center were not developed until postwar.
References
Official site (accessed 2014-5-1)
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