{{Short description|Conservation park south of Perth, Western Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox park | name = Rockingham Lakes Regional Park | image = Lake Cooloongup seen from Mandurah Road, August 2019 01.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = Lake Cooloongup seen from [[Mandurah Road]] | type = [[Regional parks in Western Australia|Regional park]] | location = [[City of Rockingham]] | coordinates = {{coord|32|17|44|S|115|47|26|E|display=inline,title|name=Rockingham Lakes Regional Park}} | area = {{convert|4270|ha|abbr=on}} | established = 1997 | administrator = [[Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia)|Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions]] | website = {{url| https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/rockingham-lakes}} | mapframe-stroke-width = 2 | mapframe-point = none | map_caption = Rockingham Lakes Regional Park }}
'''Rockingham Lakes Regional Park''' is a conservation park approximately {{convert|40|km}} south of [[Perth]], Western Australia, located within the [[City of Rockingham]]. The park, established in 1997, covers a non-continuous area of {{convert|4,270|ha}} and occupies approximately 16 percent of the area of the City of Rockingham.
In Western Australia, regional parks consist of areas of land that have been identified as having outstanding conservation, landscape and recreation values. The park contains remnants of the once widespread [[Swan Coastal Plain]] and two threatened ecological communities, [[Thrombolite|Thrombolites]] and [[Cyperaceae|Sedgelands]]. It provides evidence of the sea level changes over the past 7,000 years.
Rockingham Lakes is one of eleven regional parks in the Perth region of Western Australia. The purpose of these regional parks is to serve as urban havens to preserve and restore cultural heritage and valuable ecosystems as well as to encourage sustainable nature-based recreation activities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/news/field_downloads/20170169%20National%20Marine%20Regional%20Parks%20WA%20WEB.pdf |title=National, marine and regional parks in Western Australia |publisher=[[Department of Parks and Wildlife]] |access-date=28 May 2021 |date=June 2017 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602212427/https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/news/field_downloads/20170169%20National%20Marine%20Regional%20Parks%20WA%20WEB.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==History== The concept of regional spaces in Western Australia open to the public was first proposed in 1955, when the [[Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle|Stephenson-Hepburn Report]] recommended preserving private land for future public use in what would become the [[Perth Metropolitan Region]] in 1963. The Environmental Protection Authority, EPA, identified areas of significant conservation, landscape and recreation value, in a report in 1983. In 1989, the Western Australian State Government allocated the responsibility of managing regional parks with the [[Department of Conservation and Land Management]].<ref name="Report" >{{cite report |date=2010 |title=Rockingham Lakes Regional Park Management Plan 2010 |url=https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/parks/management-plans/decarchive/rockingham_lakes_regional_park_management_plan__cover.pdf |publisher=Conservation Commission of Western Australia, Department of Environment and Conservation & City of Rockingham |access-date=22 November 2019 }}</ref>
A Regional Parks Taskforce was established in 1990 but the EPA reported in 1993 that the establishment of these parks encountered difficulties. In 1997, the state government announced the establishment of the Rockingham Lakes Regional Park.<ref name="Report" />
==Areas== {{GeoGroup}} Rockingham Lakes Regional Park consists of the following major areas:<ref name="Report" /> {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Image || Name || Suburb || Description || Co-ordinates |- | [[File:Point Peron near John Point, July 2019.jpg|100px]] | [[Cape Peron]] | [[Peron, Western Australia|Peron]] | Rugged limestone cliffs with sandy beaches and offshore reefs<ref>{{cite web |url=https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/cape-peron-rockingham-lakes |title=Cape Peron - Rockingham Lakes |publisher=[[Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions]] |access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref> | {{coord|-32.265278|115.686111|name=Cape Peron}} |- | [[File:Lake Richmond, June 2019, Image 5.jpg|100px]] | [[Lake Richmond]] | [[Rockingham, Western Australia|Rockingham]] & [[Shoalwater, Western Australia|Shoalwater]] | Fresh water lake, 40ha, a maximum of 15 metres deep, home to [[Australian pelican]], [[black swan]], [[Australian shelduck]], [[musk duck]], [[white-faced heron]], [[common greenshank]] as well as [[thrombolites]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/lake-richmond |title=Lake Richmond |publisher=[[Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions]] |access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref> | {{coord|-32.28573|115.7143|name=Lake Richmond}} |- | [[File:Lake Cooloongup seen from Mandurah Road, August 2019 02.jpg|100px]] | [[Lake Cooloongup]] | [[Cooloongup, Western Australia|Cooloongup]] | Saline lake, 0.5 to 3.5 metres deep,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bushlandperth.org.au/treasures/rockingham-lakes-regional-park/ |title=Rockingham Lakes Regional Park |publisher=Urban Bushland Council WA Inc. |access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref> | {{coord|-32.295556|115.790833|name=Lake Cooloongup}} |- | [[File:Lake Walyungup, south-eastern end, August 2019 07.jpg|100px]] | [[Lake Walyungup]] | [[Warnbro, Western Australia|Warnbro]] | Salt lake, 430ha, a maximum of 3.5 metres deep, popular with landsailors<ref>{{cite web |url=https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/lake-walyungup |title=Lake Walyungup |publisher=[[Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions]] |access-date=23 November 2019 |archive-date=24 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324010614/https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/lake-walyungup |url-status=dead }}</ref> | {{coord|-32.340556|115.779167|name=Lake Walyungup}} |- | [[File:Becher Point, Western Australia, July 2019 02.jpg|100px]] | Port Kennedy Scientific Park | [[Port Kennedy, Western Australia|Port Kennedy]] | A [[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] wetland of international importance, one of the youngest formations on the [[Swan Coastal Plain]]<ref name="Report" /> | {{coord|-32.370979|115.717863|name=Port Kennedy Scientific Park}} |- | [[File:Lark Hill, Rockingham Lakes Regional Park, June 2021 03.jpg|100px]] | Lark Hill | Port Kennedy | Small area, owned by the Water Corporation<ref name="Report" /> | {{coord|-32.376635|115.752250|name=Lark Hill}} |- | [[File:Tamworth Hill, seen from Tamworth Hill Swamp, April 2020.jpg|100px]] | Tamworth Hill | [[Baldivis, Western Australia|Baldivis]] | Scenice viewpoint, site of a Water Corporation reservoir<ref name="Report" /> | {{coord|-32.3183|115.805|name=Tamworth Hill}} |- | [[File:Tamworth Hill Swamp, Baldivis, November 2019 01.jpg|100px]] | Tamworth Hill Swamp | Baldivis | Freshwater wetland<ref name="Report" /> | {{coord|-32.329229|115.809216|name=Tamworth Hill Swamp}} |- | [[File:Anstey swamp, Karnup, November 2019.jpg|100px]] | Anstey Swamp | [[Karnup, Western Australia|Karnup]] | Fresh to brackish wetland<ref name="Report" /> | {{coord|-32.406361|115.779763|name=Anstey Swamp}} |- | [[File:Paganoni Swamp, Karnup, November 2019 02.jpg|100px]] | Paganoni Swamp | Karnup | Fresh to brackish wetland<ref name="Report" /> and upland, home to tuart, jarrah, banksia and sheoak as well as brushtail possums, quenda, brush-tailed phascogales, bobtails, western blue tongues, dugites, heath monitors, black headed monitors, chuditch and Carnaby’s cockatoos<ref>{{cite web |url=https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/paganoni-swamp |title=Paganoni Swamp |publisher=[[Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions]] |access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref> | {{coord|-32.440163|115.782724|name=Paganoni Swamp}} |}
The park covers an area of {{convert|4,270|ha}} and occupies approximately 16 percent of the area of the City of Rockingham. Most of the park is surrounded by commercial and residential land, only in the south does it border rural areas.<ref name="Report" />
The park is non-continuous, with Cape Peron and Lake Richmond forming an isolated north-western block and Anstey and Paganoni Swamp a separate southern part. The Port Kennedy Scientific Park and Lark Hill block is separated from Lake Cooloongup, Lake Walyungup and Tamworth Hill by a major road- and rail corridor, while smaller roads still separate the other areas.<ref name="Report" />
==Unexploded ordnance== [[File:Unexploded Amunition Risk Area, Lake Walyungup, August 2019.jpg|thumb|A warning sign at Lake Walyungup highlighting the risk of unexploded ammunition]] The Lake Cooloongup, Lake Walyungup, Port Kennedy Scientific Park and Lark Hill areas are potentially contaminated with [[unexploded ordnance]], having been used as artillery range by the Department of Defence in the era around [[World War II]].<ref name="Report" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * Parks and Wildlife Service: [https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/rockingham-lakes Rockingham Lakes Regional Park] * Urban Bushland Council WA Inc.: [https://www.bushlandperth.org.au/treasures/rockingham-lakes-regional-park/ Rockingham Lakes Regional Park] * [https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/static/FullTextFiles/017798.pdf Proposed Port Kennedy and Rockingham Parks Management Framework (1997)]
{{Regional parks in Western Australia}}
[[Category:Rockingham Lakes Regional Park| ]] [[Category:1997 establishments in Australia]] [[Category:Parks in Perth, Western Australia]]