<P> The record of Australian Aboriginal occupation of Shark Bay extends to 22,000 years BP . At that time most of the area was dry land , rising sea levels flooding Shark Bay between 8,000 BP and 6,000 BP . A considerable number of aboriginal midden sites have been found , especially on Peron Peninsula and Dirk Hartog Island which provide evidence of some of the foods gathered from the waters and nearby land areas . An expedition led by Dirk Hartog happened upon the area in 1616 , becoming the second group of Europeans known to have visited Australia , after the crew of the Duyfken , under Willem Janszoon , visited Cape York in 1606 . Shark Bay was named by William Dampier , on 7 August 1699 . </P>
<P> The record of Australian Aboriginal occupation of Shark Bay extends to 22,000 years BP . At that time most of the area was dry land , rising sea levels flooding Shark Bay between 8,000 BP and 6,000 BP . A considerable number of aboriginal midden sites have been found , especially on Peron Peninsula and Dirk Hartog Island which provide evidence of some of the foods gathered from the waters and nearby land areas . An expedition led by Dirk Hartog happened upon the area in 1616 , becoming the second group of Europeans known to have visited Australia , after the crew of the Duyfken , under Willem Janszoon , visited Cape York in 1606 . Shark Bay was named by William Dampier , on 7 August 1699 . </P>
who sailed into shark bay in western australia 1616
who sailed into shark bay in western australia 1616
An expedition led by Dirk Hartog
An expedition led by Dirk Hartog