Greens Pool

{{Short description|Beach in Western Australia}}

{{for|the extended play by Pond|Greens Pool (EP)}}

File:Greens Pool, William Bay, Denmark WA.jpg

Image:GreenspoolWA.JPG

File:Greens pool - William Bay NP - WA.jpg

Greens Pool is a sandy white beach with boulders on the south coast of Western Australia between Denmark and Walpole.

This sheltered area is part of William Bay National Park{{cite web|url=http://www.australiassouthwest.com/en/Natural+Wonders/William+Bay+National+Park.htm|title=Australias Southwest - William Bay National Park|year=2007|accessdate=17 April 2008}} and has a sandy white beach ringed by large granite boulders that prevent the swell of the Southern Ocean reaching the shoreline.

The pool is roughly {{cvt|560|m}} long from east to west and {{cvt|290|m|abbr=on}} at its widest point from the beach to the protective rocks.{{cite web|url=http://www.peterkeelan.com.au/GreensPool/downloads/GPM_Proposed_Protection_Area.pdf|title=Proposed Habitat Protection Area|accessdate=5 December 2018|publisher=Peter Keelan|author=Peter Keelan}}

Early settlers of the region used the beach location for outings and picnics.{{Citation | author1=Austin, Edith Harvey | author2=Conochie, Enid, 1925-2007 | author3=Denmark Historical Society | title=[Interview with Edith Austin nee Marwick] | publication-date=1989 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/159334624 | accessdate=5 December 2018 }}

The area has a car park, viewing platform and toilet facility with a reasonably steep sandy path down to the beach.{{cite web|url=http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Pages/Attraction.aspx?n=William_Bay_National_Park&pid=9001627|title=Welcome to Western Australia - William Bay National Park|year=2008|accessdate=17 April 2008}}{{Citation | author1=Regan, Grant | author2=APACE Green Skills | author3=National Ecotourism Program (Australia) | title=Green's Pool Beach, Denmark W.A. : towards a model methodology for assessing the environmental impacts of ecotourism in Australia | publication-date=1996 | publisher=APACE Green Skills and the Federal Dept. of Tourism | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34907774 | accessdate=5 December 2018 }}

The granitic rocks along much of the south coast formed 1.5 billion years ago, placing them among some of the oldest rocks in the world.{{cite web|url=http://www.westernaustralia-travellersguide.com/william-bay-np-nature.html#.XAdV3OgzbIU|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222015442/http://www.westernaustralia-travellersguide.com/william-bay-np-nature.html#.XAdV3OgzbIU|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 22, 2013|title=William Bay NP - Nature and Landforms|accessdate=5 December 2018|publisher=Western Australia Travellers Guide|year=2013}} As the Australian continent collided with Antarctica, the rocks along the south coast became part of the Albany-Fraser Orogen, and 600 million years ago the area was a massive mountain range. The mountains eroded away long ago and the remaining rocks were once deep down in the base of the range. The high pressures and temperatures these rocks experienced during the mountain building event caused them to melt then recrystallise, forming granitic gneisses and migmatites, which are referred to as granites.

The pool is a popular tourist attraction within the National Park; in 1993-1994 the park had 110,000 visitors, and in 2011-2012 the park had some 218,105 visitors.{{cite web|url=https://www.denmark.wa.gov.au/Profiles/denmark/Assets/ClientData/Documents/nrm/William_Bay_National_Park_Recreation_Master_Plan_ExecutiveSummaryWBNP_v4_WithMaps.pdf|title=William Bay National Park Recreation Master Plan - Executive Summary|accessdate=5 December 2018|date=May 2013|publisher=Department of Environment and Conservation}} In 2020, Greens Pool was ranked 13 in TripAdvisor's Top 25 Beaches in the South Pacific{{Cite web|title=Best Beaches in the South Pacific - Travelers' Choice Awards - Tripadvisor|url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Beaches-cTop-g8#13|access-date=2020-09-16|website=www.tripadvisor.com|language=en}}

Greens Pool was named to honour Police Inspector John Green, who was originally a farmer in Denmark. His son, Victor Green, drowned in nearby Wilson Inlet in 1922, and often used to fish at the pool. It was originally known as Green's Pool but the Lands Department dropped the apostrophe for many place names although the letter "s" was retained.{{cite web|url=http://www.peterkeelan.com.au/GreensPool/downloads/book/GPM_paradise2.pdf|title=Part 1 : William Bay|accessdate=5 December 2018|publisher=Peter Keelan|author=Peter Keelan|year=2015|archive-date=5 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205103616/http://www.peterkeelan.com.au/GreensPool/downloads/book/GPM_paradise2.pdf|url-status=dead}} Robert Byleveld constructed the first track to Greens Pool in the early 1920s when most of William Bay was inaccessible and visited infrequently.

Many species of fish inhabit the area, including; estuary cobbler, southern garfish, species of flathead, southern blue devil, King George whiting, skipjack trevally and Australian herring.{{cite web|url=http://www.peterkeelan.com.au/GreensPool/downloads/GPM_Fish_Count.pdf|title=Table : Fish species seen and counted through Salt Water Treasures monitoring in Greens Pool, Nov 2007 - Feb 2009|accessdate=5 December 2018|publisher=Peter Keelan|author=Peter Keelan}}