The Perth Wetlands, also known as the Perth Great Lakes or the Great Lakes District, was a collection of fresh-water wetlands, swamps and lakes located on the Swan Coastal Plain north of the city of Perth in Western Australia. Over a period of 80 years from the first British settlement in Western Australia in 1829 most of the wetlands were reclaimed for use as housing, parks and market gardens.
The wetlands were spread from Claisebrook Cove, north of the present city on the Swan River, through to Herdsman Lake to the north-west of the city, approximately 3.8 km (2.4 mi) east of the coast. The lakes were located in the present-day suburbs of Perth, Highgate, West Perth, East Perth, Northbridge, North Perth, Leederville, West Leederville, Wembley, Glendalough, Mt. Hawthorn and Herdsman, and the local government areas of the City of Perth, the City of Vincent, the Town of Cambridge and the City of Stirling. Jualbup Lake, formerly known as Dyson's Swamp and Shenton Park Lake, is located in Shenton Park in the City of Subiaco.
Aboriginal tribes occupied the area around Perth for around 40000 years before European settlement, using the wetlands as a source of food (fish, waterfowl, crayfish and turtles) and fresh water. Local Nyungar tribes continued to use the lakes for resources and as a meeting place up until they were reclaimed for housing developments in the 1940s, with meetings of up to 400 people recorded in corroborees at Lakes Monger and Henderson as well at Hyde Park. [1]
Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling in June, 1829. The area on which Perth was built was described by George Seddon in Sense of Place (1972) as follows: [2]
The site [of Perth] was a well-timbered, low and narrow sand-ridge running east- south-east from Mt Eliza. ... To the north of this narrow ridge, there was a chain of freshwater lakes: Smith's Lake, Lake Henderson, Third Lake, Lake Sutherland, Lake Irwin, Lake Tompson, Lake Poulett, Stones Lake, and Tea Tree Lake, which was part of Clause's Brook. These lakes were in a broad valley running south-east from Lake Monger to the Swan River...
Following the arrival of the first Europeans in 1829, the township of Perth was gradually expanded. The area to the north of the township, was not considered ideal for settlement due to the extensive wetlands that stretched for almost 10 km (6.2 mi) immediately north of the town site. Gradually, lakes closer to the city were drained, with the first drainage work commencing in 1832. Some wetlands were reclaimed by individual settlers on whose land the lakes encroached, others were reclaimed to be used for public works and housing. At the same time, the Swan River foreshore was reclaimed to ease transportation along the river.
The last of the lakes were drained in the 1880s. However, some areas including Herdsman Lake, Lake Monger and Third Swamp (now Hyde Park) were unable to be drained due to their location, size or depth.
| Name | Former name(s) | Coordinates | Area | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ha | acre | ||||
| Lake Herdsman | Great Lake | 31°55′12″S115°48′25″E / 31.92000°S 115.80694°E | 300 | 741 | The largest of the lakes. It has retained much of its former shape, although most of its interior is swamp rather than permanent water. |
| Lake Monger | Triangle Lake; known by Noongar Peoples as Galup | 31°55′44″S115°49′40″E / 31.92889°S 115.82778°E | 70 | 173 | The second-largest remaining lake. Much of the area of the lake was reclaimed for residential development, as well as Leederville Oval. |
| Claise Brook | Claisebrook Cove; formerly known as Clause's Lagoon | 31°57′06″S115°52′53″E / 31.95167°S 115.88139°E | A small inlet of the Swan River located in East Perth south of the Graham Farmer Freeway. Claise Brook was a free-flowing seasonal brook, dry in summer and flooding in winter, up until the 1990s, until it was reclaimed for development. However, in recent years, the brook has been refurnished, and is now a much smaller still body of water known as Claisebrook Cove. A small footbridge known as Trafalgar Bridge crosses over it. [3] | ||
| Walter's Brook | Known by Noongar Peoples as Warndoolier | 31°56′32″S115°52′56″E / 31.94222°S 115.88222°E | A small tidal inlet of the Swan River located in Banks Reserve, Mt Lawley, originally named by Governor James Stirling after his older brother Walter. [4] The brook originally flowed much further inland, and was located to the north of an open swamp, near the site of the present-day East Perth railway station. The Mount Lawley Main Drain is located at Walter's Brook, and formerly supplied stormwater to Walter's Brook Engine House at East Perth Power Station. [5] [6] | ||
| Smith's Lake | Three Island Lake; known by Noongar Peoples as Danjanberup | 31°55′58″S115°51′02″E / 31.93278°S 115.85056°E | A small suburban lake located between Beatty Park and Charles Veryard Reserve in North Perth. The area was originally owned by the Gooey family who operated a market garden near the site, before it was resumed by the Perth City Council in 1959, and was drained and subdivided for industrial and residential use. The lake was reduced to approximately 1/30 of its original size. | ||
| Hyde Park Lakes | Formerly known as Third Swamp; known by Noongar Peoples as Boojamooling | 31°56′15″S115°51′46″E / 31.93750°S 115.86278°E | Hyde Park is located on the site of Third Swamp, and still contains two lakes that were originally part of the Perth Wetlands, but were unable to be drained due to their depth of 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). [7] | ||
Species that are or were prominent in the Perth wetlands include(d):
Species that are or were prominent in the Perth wetlands include(d):
Surveys have recorded over 30 different species of birds at Point Fraser, [9] and over 100 different species of native and non-native birds that inhabit Lakes Herdsman and Monger for some period of the year, around two-thirds of which breed there. [8] The most notable species include:
The Swan River is a major river in the south west of Western Australia. The river runs through the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia's capital and largest city.
Perth Zoo is a 17-hectare (41-acre) zoological park in South Perth, Western Australia. The zoo first opened in 1898 and by 2011 housed 1258 animals of 164 species and an extensive botanical collection. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
Gwelup is a suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia 12 km north of Perth's central business district (CBD) along the Mitchell Freeway. Its local government area is the City of Stirling.
Herdsman is the suburb of Perth, Western Australia where Herdsman Lake and the surrounding Herdsman Lake Regional Park are situated. Its local government area is the City of Stirling.
Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna.
The common yabby is an Australian freshwater crustacean in the Parastacidae family. It is listed as a vulnerable species of crayfish by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), though the wild yabby populations remain strong, and have expanded into new habitats created by reservoirs and farm dams.
Wembley is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the Town of Cambridge. Its postcode is 6014.
Lake Monger is a large urban wetland on the Swan Coastal Plain in suburban Perth, Western Australia nestled between the suburbs of Leederville, Wembley and Glendalough.
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone, one of Western Australia's Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia regions. It is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger West Australian Shield division.
Whadjuk, alternatively Witjari, are Noongar people of the Western Australian region of the Perth bioregion of the Swan Coastal Plain.
Herdsman Lake, also known as Herdsmans Lake, is a freshwater lake located on the Swan Coastal Plain, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north-west of Perth, Western Australia, in the suburb of Herdsman. The main shared use path around the lake is approximately 8 kilometres in length, whilst the wetland perimeter of the lake is approximately 7.5 kilometres.
Hyde Park is an inner-city park in Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is located in the north-east corner of the suburb of Perth – 2 km (1.2 mi) north of the central business district – surrounded by Vincent, William, Glendower and Throssell Streets.
The western swamp turtle or western swamp tortoise is a critically endangered species of freshwater turtle endemic to a small portion of Western Australia. It is the only member of the genus Pseudemydura in the monotypic subfamily Pseudemydurinae.
Toolibin Lake is a seasonal fresh to brackish water perched lake or wooded swamp, in south-western Australia. The lake is contained with a 493-hectare (1,218-acre) nature reserve and it is located about 200 kilometres (124 mi) south-east of Perth, in the Shire of Narrogin, and 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of the town of Narrogin, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The lake is listed by the Australian Government as a threatened ecological community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Claise Brook is a stream which empties into Claisebrook Cove before running into the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. The area surrounding the stream is on the outskirts of the Perth CBD and is part of the suburb of East Perth. Claise Brook was once an important water course from which the numerous interconnected fresh water lakes north of Perth emptied into during the wet season before entering the Swan River.
Chelodina steindachneri, commonly known as the dinner-plate turtle, Steindachner's turtle and or Steindachner's flat-shell turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is the least known of the Australian turtles and also one of the smallest members of the long-necked turtles of the genus Chelodina. It is a member of the subgenus Chelodina making it closely related to the Chelodina longicollis group of species.
The eastern swamp crayfish is a species of small freshwater crayfish from coastal New South Wales, Australia. It is distinguished from related species by large genital papilla on the males, large raised postorbital ridges, a laterally compressed carapace, and elongated chelae.
The Spectacles Wetlands is a wetland located in the eponymous suburb, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is part of Beeliar Regional Park.