Beach Number:

wa0399

Includes Beaches:

Middleton Beach (slsc)

State/Region:

WA - Collingwood Park

Post Code:

6330

General Beach Hazard Rating:

4/10 (Moderately hazardous)

Beach

Middleton Beach (WA 399) (Fig. 4.94) is the main beach for the Albany, a city of 25 000 people. The city is located on the protected shores of King George Sound, with the main anchorage inside the almost landlocked tributary Princess Royal Harbour. The Sound is 5 km wide at the entrance, with Middleton Beach located 10 km inside the entrance in the northwest corner. The beach is 4 km long, faces the southeast and receives low refracted waves. Sandy Emu Point forms the northern boundary and granite Wooding Point, capped by 100 m high Mount Adelaide, the southern boundary. Waves are usually 1 m or less and maintain a low energy beach fronted by a continuous shallow bar, usually free of rips (Fig. 4.94). The southern end is called Middleton Beach, which is an eastern suburb of Albany and site of the Albany Surf Life Saving Club (Fig. 4.95 & 4.96). The Surf Club, which was established in 1956, is located in a grassy foreshore reserve, and patrols the beach on Sundays between January and March. The well laid out reserve also provides parking, a kiosk and other amenities. In the southern corner, called Ellen Cove, is a wooden walkway that runs out past the jetty to Wooding Point. The small jetty is popular with swimmers and fishers. Right behind the reserve is a resort hotel and shopping centre, with a caravan park just up the beach. The beach is backed by a 500 m wide foredune ridge plain which has been largely developed. The central section is occupied by Albany golf course, with the northern half called Emu Beach, which has a large caravan park and the northern suburb of Emu Point. The Albany Surf Life Saving Club patrols the southern end of the beach (Figs. 4.95 & 4.96). The point forms the boundary between Oyster Harbour and the Sound, with a narrow inlet linking the two.

Swimming

This is a relatively safe beach with waves averaging 1 m and less, with surf breaking across a shallow bar usually free of rips. There is deep water and tidal currents in Emu Point inlet off beach WA 398.

Surfing

Usually just a low beach break