Perth, Western Australia hosts a variety of unique and biologically diverse habitats found nowhere else on Earth. [1] Many of these habitats include islands. Islands provide habitat and safe refuge for endangered native fauna as they are free of invasive species and the pressures of human development. Coastal islands of this region heavily feature limestone as their base structure, while the inland islands are predominantly made of serpentine soil. [2]
The coastal islands of the Perth metropolitan region are:
Name | Location | Size (m2) | Distance from Rottnest Island (m) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dyer Island | 32°01′07.8″S115°33′0.35″E / 32.018833°S 115.5500972°E | 7,000 | 730 | Australian sea lions sun themselves on the northern beach. [10] |
Green Island | 32°01′00.5″S115°29′57.1″E / 32.016806°S 115.499194°E | 1,800 | 60 | Lies within the Kitson Point snorkelling trail. [11] |
Wallace Island | 32°00′44.6″S115°33′18.8″E / 32.012389°S 115.555222°E | 1,300 | 140 | Known for seabirds resting on the island. |
Parakeet Island | 31°59′14.9″S115°30′51.3″E / 31.987472°S 115.514250°E | 800 | 30 | Lies within a popular snorkelling area near Parakeet Bay. |
Inland islands include those located in the Swan River, Canning River, and Beeliar Wetlands.
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia (WA). It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of the metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which the city's central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Perth is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 45,000 years.
Western Australia is a state occupying the western 33 percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres (975,685 sq mi). It is the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. As of 2021, the state has 2.76 million inhabitants – 10 percent of the national total. The vast majority live in the south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated.
Karijini National Park is an Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricorn, 1,055 kilometres (656 mi) from the state's capital city, Perth. Formerly known as Hamersley Range National Park, the park was officially renamed in 1991.
Yanchep is a national park in Western Australia, 42 kilometres (26 mi) north of Perth adjacent to the locality of the same name Yanchep.
Rottnest Island, often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a 19-square-kilometre (7.3 sq mi) island off the coast of Western Australia, located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land.
The quokka, also known as the short-tailed scrub wallaby, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. It is the only member of the genus Setonix. Like other marsupials in the macropod family, the quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal.
Carnac Island is a 19-hectare (47-acre), A Class, island nature reserve about 10 km (6.2 mi) south-west of Fremantle and 3.5 km (2.2 mi) north of Garden Island in Western Australia.
The City of Cockburn is a local government area in the southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of Fremantle and about 24 kilometres (15 mi) south of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of 167.5 square kilometres (64.7 sq mi) and had a population of over 104,000 as at the 2016 Census.
Burswood is an inner southeastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located immediately across the Swan River from Perth's central business district (CBD). Its local government area is the Town of Victoria Park. Burswood is the location of the State Tennis Centre, Perth Stadium, Belmont Park Racecourse, and the Crown Perth casino and hotel complex.
Golden Bay is an outer southern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located within the City of Rockingham. The suburb is located between Secret Harbour and Singleton, and just off the Mandurah Road. Originally known as Peelhurst, the locality name was officially changed in 1985. Golden Bay shore is a segment of the Swan Coastal Plain, which runs along the coast of the Indian Ocean.
The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth metropolitan area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government is commonly known as Perth City Council. The City covers the Perth city centre and surrounding suburbs. The City covers an area of 20.01 square kilometres (8 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 21,092 as at 30 June 2015. On 1 July 2016 the City expanded, absorbing 1,247 residents from the City of Subiaco.
The dugite is a species of venomous, potentially lethal, snake native to Western Australia, a member of the family Elapidae.
Hesperocolletes douglasi, the Rottnest bee or Douglas's broad-headed bee, is a rediscovered species of plasterer bee that is endemic to Australia, and the sole known member of the genus Hesperocolletes.
The Perth metropolitan region or the Perth metropolitan area is the administrative area and geographical extent of the Western Australian capital city of Perth and its conurbation.
The Winnit Club is a voluntary service organisation that has been going to Rottnest Island since 1931. Primarily the Winnits do work on the island under the direction of the Rottnest Island Authority that benefits all those who use the island for work and recreation. Club members raise funds and provide their expertise and labour for many of these requirements. The club specialises in the construction of access boardwalks and stairs.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 and implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. The minister responsible for the department was the Minister for the Environment.
Boyagin Rock is located 10 km (6.2 mi) south west of Brookton and 26 km (16 mi) north west of Pingelly in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, which is approximately 175 km (109 mi) south east of Perth. The Boyagin Rock outcrop rises 50 m (160 ft) above the surrounding land and is an crestal area of a granite inselberg within the geological Yilgarn Craton framework.
Ron Courtney Island is a small uninhabited manmade river island in the Swan River, located in the suburb of Ascot in Perth, Western Australia. It was named in honour of the first chairman of the Swan River Conservation Board, which was formed in 1959.
The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government department responsible for managing lands and waters described in the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984, the Rottnest Island Authority Act 1987, the Swan and Canning Rivers Management Act 2006, the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority Act 1998, and the Zoological Parks Authority Act 2001, and implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. The Department reports to the Minister for Environment and the Minister for Tourism.
Fremantle Fortress was the combined coastal defences protecting the harbour of Fremantle, Western Australia, since the mid-1930s and, predominantly, during World War II. The coastal defences of the Fremantle Fortress stretched along the coastline of Perth from Cape Peron to Swanbourne and also included installations on Garden Island and Rottnest Island. While the first coastal batteries of the future Fremantle Fortress were installed at Arthur Head in 1906, the military installations protecting the harbour were expanded in the 1930s, being eventually dismantled again by 1963.