The South Coast is a natural geographic region which began to form 100 million years ago when Antarctica broke away from Australia. Since then, new rivers have been draining to the Southern Ocean creating a series of catchments with unique soils and landforms. During the Eocene period about 60 million years ago, the ocean covered much of the South Coast region leaving behind up to 50 metres of silty sediments. At this time most, if not all, of the current mountain peaks were isolated islands where unique flora evolved.      Today, it is the unique biological and landscape features and significant cultural and pioneering heritage, that make the South Coast region one of the most spectacular in Australia.  Geography The South Coast Region covers an area of 5.4 million hectares covering 2 per cent of Western Australia. It includes the Shires of Denmark, Plantagenet, Cranbrook, Tambellup, Broomehill, Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Ravensthorpe, Esperance and the City of Albany. It also includes parts of the Shires of Kojonup, Manjimup and Kent.   The South Coast NRM region takes in all the southerly flowing river catchments and some internally draining areas between Walpole in the west and Cape Arid in the east and to Broomehill, Mount Madden and Salmon gums in the north.   The region is divided into six sub-regions on the basis of climate, drainage, soil landform and conservation values.   Diversification   The major contributors to the region's economy are agriculture, forestry and fishing, community services, and wholesale/retail trade and manufacturing- which is predominantly oriented towards supplying the agriculture and fishing sectors as well as processing commodities for both domestic and international markets.