About the Park
The park was named after Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, a natural history artist aboard the "Naturaliste" on Hamelin's 1801 expedition. The French government commissioned the sister ships "Naturaliste" and"Geographe" to chart those areas of the coast not documented by Captain James Cook. Many features along the west coast bear the names of members of that expedition, including Mt Peron (the expedition's naturalist) and Mt Michaud (the botanist-gardener). Jurien Bay was named after Charles Marie, Vicompte Jurien, a naval administrator at the time.

Lesueur National Park covers 26,987 hectares. Its status as a national park recognises the area's outstanding conservation, landscape and recreational importance. This was identified in the 1950's when the Government botanist Charles Gardner, concerned by the effects of clearing for agriculture, recommended the creation of a reserve. The area surrounding Mt Lesueur itself was protected by being designated a reserve for educational purposes. Since then there have been proposals for a national park and a nature reserve, but concerns about the availability of coal resources in the area delayed action until the park was gazetted on 24 January 1992.

Flora
The park is extremely rich in species of flora. With more than 900 known species (about 10 per cent of the State's known flora), Lesueur National park ranks as one of the most important reserves for flora conservation in Western Australia.

Between the eastern boundary and the coastal road, a distance of 24 kms, there is a wide range of geological formations, landforms and soil types. These vary from salt lakes and remnant coastal dunes in the west through to laterite ridges in the east, and partly explain the huge diversity in the flora found throughout the park. Three fault lines have contributed to the exposure of a wide range of geological formations in the eastern part of the park.

Reptiles
The Lesueur area has been shown to be exceptionally diverse in these elusive creatures.

Surveys have identified 52 species of reptiles (41 lizards, 11 snakes) in Lesueur National park. With several other species found in nearby areas of comparable vegetation, it is not unreasonable to assume that these species could also be found within Lesueur. Research has revealed that the coastal heaths contain by far the highest lizard diversity of any of the world's Mediterranean climate ecosystems, and are comparable to the Australian deserts, which are recognised as having the world's most diverse lizard habitats. As with plants and birds, many reptiles species are found at the northern or southern limits of their known range.

Reptiles are generally most active during the day, with the exception of some geckos which are nocturnal.

Birdlife
The Lesueur area supports a wide variety of birdlife with 122 species of native birds and two introduced species recorded. This diversity of bird species has been attributed to the wide variety of habitats and large, undisturbed bushland area. Birds of the sandplain are particularly well represented with honey-eaters, thornbills, fairy wrens, southern emu-wrens, white breasted wrens and calamanthus.

The woodlands of Lesueur have been identified as one of the few remaining breeding habitats in the district for Carnaby's black cockatoos. The close proximity of breeding and feeding areas makes Lesueur a particularly important area for this species, as its population and range appear to be diminishing. Many species are also at, or near, the northern limit of their known range, including the western rosella, little wattlebird and the shy hylacola. The salt lakes and freshwater springs are important summer refugees for several species of waterbirds, including waders that migrate from the northern hemisphere.

Fauna
Fifteen species of native mammals are known to occur in Lesueur National park, making this one of the State's richest habitats for native mammals. Three (possibly four) species of dunnart occur in the park, and the honey possum is more abundant here than in any other conservation reserve north of Perth.

None of the known mammals is declared rare or in special need of protection, although fossil evidence suggests that many of the rare mammals still found in the South West could once be found in the park. Species that once occurred here include the woylie, the dibbler and the chuditch.