Nominally located at 32° 18' S 125° 52' E, it has an area of 6,253.44 km2, and takes in over 500 kilometres of coastline from Cape Pasley to Red Rocks Point.[1]
In the southwest the reserve includes the Israelite Plain, a coastal plain with broad beaches, dunes, sandplains, and coastal lagoons which includes Israelite Bay. The middle section of the reserve protects the Baxter Cliffs, dramatic seacliffs that extend up to 80 metres high for over 190 km along the coast. The Baxter Cliffs feature Toolinna Cove and Twilight Cove. The reserve boundary extends northwards near Cocklebiddy to encompass Cocklebiddy Cave on the Hampton Tableland. The eastern end of the reserve includes the western portion of the Roe Plains, with extensive coastal dunes and sandplains. Eyre Bird Observatory is located near Cocklebiddy, where the cliffs transition to the Roe Plains.[2][3][4]
Plant communities include heath on the western coastal plains and headlands, woodlands and mallee dominated by eucalypts, and bluebush (Maireana spp.) shrublands in the east.[2]
The reserve was declared on 25 June 1965 and gazetted on 7 November 1969[6][7] and named for the Nuyts cadastral division within which it lies, named in honor of the infamous Pieter Nuyts, the highest ranking member of the Dutch East India Company aboard the 't Gulden Zeepaert when it mapped the southwestern Australian coast, after which it was sometimes known as Nuytsland (French: Terre de Nuits).
^Riley, Kathy (1 January 2007), "Nature in the raw.(Nuytsland Nature Reserve)(Geographic overview)", Australian Geographic (85), Athena Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd: 94–99, ISSN0816-1658
