Camden Sound

Camden Sound is relatively wide body of water in the Indian Ocean located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Camden Sound is bounded by the Bonaparte Archipelago to the east, the Buccaneer Archipelago to the west, and Montgomery Reef to the south. There is no road access and the nearest town is Kalumburu, 268 kilometres (167 mi) to the east.

Camden Sound was discovered by Captain Phillip Parker King on HMS Bathurst on 15 August 1821. He named the sound Camden Bay after John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden.

Camden Harbour was a short lived settlement within the sound.

The area is a drowned valley in the western end of the MacDonald Range, the islands that are found within the sound are remnant emergent features formed by basalt and sandstone formations. Camden Sound includes Augustus Island, at its northern extent, Champagny, Byam Martin and the Heywood Islands to the West, Bumpus Island, Rice Rocks, Sampson Inlet, Deception Bay and Prior Point to the South. As with the rest of the Kimberley coast, the area is marked by an extreme tidal variation of up to 11 metres (36 ft) on a spring tide.

The area has received worldwide recognition as a crucial breeding and calving area for the Breeding Group D population of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) – at approximately 22,000 individuals, the world's largest Humpback Whale population. The calves are suckled in the warm, tropical waters for several months until they gain the strength for the journey back to the Antarctic for summer feeding. Camden Sound is rich in other cetaceans including the Australian Snub-fin dolphin (first described as a separate species in 2005), Blue Whales, Pygmy Killer Whales, Pilot Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins. In addition, the area is surrounded by fringing reefs with hard and soft corals, turtles, molluscs, fish and marine invertebrates.

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