- Passengers leaving the Silver Star river steamer ferry at Coffee Point (site of the South of Perth Yacht Club), with the old Canning Bridge in the background, c. 1906
- Canning River and Bull Creek, c. 1932
Canning River Nyungar: Djarlgarra | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Australia |
State | Western Australia |
City | Perth |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Wandering [1] |
Mouth | Swan River |
• location | Melville Water |
• coordinates | 32°00′11″S115°51′02″E / 32.0031568°S 115.8506084°E |
Length | 110 km (68 mi) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Bull Creek, Bannister Creek, Lambertia Creek, Southern River, Churchmans Brook |
• right | Yule Brook, Bickley Brook, Ellis Brook, Stoney Brook, Stinton Creek |
The Canning River (Nyungar : Djarlgarra [2] [3] or Nyungar : Dyarlgarro [4] ) is a major tributary of the Swan River in the South West Land Division of Western Australia. It is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species.
With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount Pleasant, before joining the Swan at Melville Water just downstream of the Canning Bridge. [5]
The first European contact was in 1801 [6] when a French exploring party spotted the mouth. The crew subsequently named the mouth Entrée Moreau [6] after Charles Moreau, a midshipman with the party.
The Canning River received its contemporary name in 1827 when Captain James Stirling aboard HMS Success following an examination of the region in March 1827 named the river after George Canning, [6] an eminent British statesman who was Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time and whose government facilitated the funds for the expedition.
In November 1829, just five months after the founding of the Swan River Colony, an exploring party led by now Governor James Stirling chose a site for a new town named Kelmscott [7] on the banks of the Canning River.
Convicts partly constructed and maintained the Canning River Convict Fence. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] This structure is still a notable landmark to this day. It was built primarily for the use of barges carrying timber from Mason's Timber Mill in the Darling Ranges.
Algal blooms occur naturally in the Canning River system; they are caused by a buildup of nutrients in the river. Human activities including farming, residential gardens and parklands are the major causes of increases in levels; the blooms are potentially toxic to both mammal and marine life. The Swan River Trust monitors the levels of nutrients and growth of the algae, issuing warnings and closing sections of the river to all activities. The Trust also operates cleanup programs to reduce the amount of nutrients reaching the river, as well phosphorus removal and oxygenation in areas were blooms have been identified. [13]
The Trust is encouraged by the appearance of Azolla carpets on sections of the Canning River as this fern is known to reduce the amount of sunlight available to the algae as well as absorbing large amounts of phosphorus and other nutrients from the water. However, it is possible that Azolla carpets can cause deoxygenation and emit a strong sulphur smell. [14]
The Swan River is a major river in the southwest of Western Australia. The river runs through the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia's capital and largest city.
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, 418 kilometres (260 mi) southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King George Sound. The central business district is bounded by Mount Clarence to the east and Mount Melville to the west. The city is in the local government area of the City of Albany. While it is the oldest colonial, although not European, settlement in Western Australia — predating Perth and Fremantle by over two years — it was a semi-exclave of New South Wales for over four years until it was made part of the Swan River Colony.
Mandurah is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately 72 kilometres (45 mi) south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 90,306.
Cockburn Sound is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about 25 kilometres (16 mi) to Point Peron near Rockingham. The total area of the sound is about 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi).
The City of Canning is a local government area in the southeastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about 10 kilometres (6 mi) southeast of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of 64.8 square kilometres (25.0 sq mi) and had a population of approximately 90,000 as at the 2016 Census.
Riverton is a southeastern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. Its local government area is the City of Canning.
Perth Water is a section of the Swan River on the southern edge of the central business district of Perth, Western Australia. It is between the Causeway to the east, and Narrows Bridge to the west – a large wide but shallow section of river, and the northern edge of the suburb South Perth. It is considered a landmark of the City of Perth.
Rossmoyne is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, within the City of Canning. Rossmoyne is located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of central Perth, and is bounded by Leach Highway to the south, the Bull Creek to the west, the Canning River to the north, and Shelley to the east. The area has a river front and parks.
Shelley is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Canning.
Crawley is a western suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. The area is part of the local government area of the City of Perth and was previously shared between the City of Subiaco and City of Perth. It is about 5.8 kilometres (4 mi) from the Perth CBD via Mounts Bay Road.
Rossmoyne Senior High School is a public co-educational high day school in the City of Melville, located on Keith Road, Bull Creek, a southern riverside suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1968, it is one of the largest schools in Western Australia, with 2,694 enrolled students as of 11 May 2024.
Melville Water is a significant section of the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. It is located west and downstream of Perth Water, from which it is separated by the Narrows Bridge.
Perth is the capital city of Western Australia. It was established by Britain as the Swan River Colony in 1829. The area had been explored by Europeans as early as 1697, and occupied by the Indigenous Whadjuk Noongar people for millennia.
Freshwater Bay is a bay of the Swan River, in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. It is about 5 km (3.1 mi) upstream from the mouth of the river at Fremantle and is overlooked by the suburbs of Dalkeith, Claremont, Mosman Park and Peppermint Grove. Freshwater Bay was named after Freshwater Bay and Freshwater, Isle of Wight by Henry Charles Prinsep (1844–1922), who had a riverside family holiday cottage there, The Chine.
Mount Henry Peninsula is a land feature and reserve located 11 km (6.8 mi) south of Perth, Western Australia, on the north bank of the Canning River near the Mount Henry Bridge in Salter Point, Western Australia. It covers 11.9 hectares, and includes both Banksia attenuata and Banksia menziesii woodland, and a muddy and desert biome. The peninsula features limestone slopes, shoreline vegetation, wetlands, and contains the most inland vegetated knoll of the Spearwood dunes on the Swan-Canning estuary, as well as a significant variety of natural conditions for birds and other fauna. The Mount Henry Peninisula is a designated Bush Forever Site, number 227.
The Peel-Harvey Estuarine System is a natural estuarine system that lies roughly parallel to the coast of Western Australia and south of the town of Mandurah.
The Murray River is a river in the southwest of Western Australia. It played a significant part in the expansion of settlement in the area south of Perth after the arrival of British settlers at the Swan River Colony in 1829. It should not be confused with the Murray River in southeastern Australia, which is the longest river in the country.
The Beeliar Wetlands is a wetland located in the southwest portion of Western Australia. It is made up of two chains of lakes and wetlands that run parallel to the west coast of Australia. They are situated on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Darling Escarpment and the Indian Ocean. Beeliar was the name given to the area by the Aboriginal people that lived and hunted in the area.
Mounts Bay Road is a major road in Perth, Western Australia, extending southwest from the central business district along the north bank of the Swan River, at the base of Kings Park.