The story of this place
Wave Rock near Hyden in Western Australia is a 15-metre-high, 110-metre-long granite formation that has been eroded into the precise shape of a breaking ocean wave — a geological coincidence so perfect it seems impossible. The rock formed 2.7 billion years ago as molten granite pushed up through ancient seabed. Over millions of years, chemical weathering dissolved the softer rock beneath an overhang, undercutting it and creating the curved, wave-like profile. The dark vertical stripes running down the wave face are mineralised water stains from millions of rains.
The Ballardong Noongar people knew this rock as Katter Kich — the young woman's water hole. The curved rock face funnels rainwater directly into a catchment wall that was built by European settlers in 1928 to collect drinking water for the isolated farming community. The wall still exists and still channels water. Wave Rock receives around 140,000 visitors annually — the second most visited natural attraction in Western Australia after Monkey Mia — and has been used in advertising campaigns worldwide as an emblem of Australian natural wonders.