Wellard Swamp / Bollard Bullrush Swamp

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic Value: The place has aesthetic value as an attractive wetland, and combined with the drains used to channel water away from the swamp, combine to create distinct cultural environs.

Historic Value: The place is associated with the early settlement of the Wellard Area, particularly the Group Settlement Scheme which attracted numerous settlers to the area during the 1920s and 30s. The place is associated with the Peel Estate drainage project, which involved draining lowland swamps to open up new tracts of land for farming. The place is associated with Mr. Alexander Robert Richardson, who purchased the swampland in 1898, and was considered its namesake during the 1920s.

Scientific Value: As part of the Beeliar Regional park, the place is an important component of one of the most important systems of lakes and wetlands remaining in the Perth metropolitan area. In particular the wetland is an important summer refuge for birds.

Representativeness: The remaining wetland is representative of the indigenous fauna and landscape prior to farming.

Level of significance: Exceptional

Physical Description

Bollard Bulrush swamp is the southernmost swamp of the eastern chain of wetlands, at the interface of the Spearwood and Bassendean dunes. The place has suffered some clearing and has been grazed, however there is still dense growth of paperbarks and flooded gums, with bulrushes through the very wet areas. The drains constructed during the Inter-War period still pass through the swamp and can be seen on Bertram Road, comprising narrow but deep drains, marked by their mounded earth banks.

History

Mr Alexander Robert Richardson, born in 1847, arrived in WA from Portland Bay, Victoria in May 1965. He was described as a farmer and grazier of ‘Lowlands’, Serpentine, when he gained certificates of title to 8,100 acres around the swamp east of Kwinana in 1898. The locality was generally referred to as ‘Richardson’s Swamp’ from 1923, although the correct name, which had appeared on maps from around 1900, was ‘Bollard Bulrush Swamp’.
Richardson also owned 1,857 acres to the west of Bollard Bulrush Swamp, all of which was transferred to the Crown in 1922 and eventually became the site of Wellard townsite, surveyed in 1923.
Bollard Bulrush Swamp was part of the Peel Estate drainage project which commenced in the 1920s, whereby lowland swamps were drained to reveal more fertile soil than the surrounding dry land could provide. The drains were designed by engineer-in-charge, R.J. Anketell, and the main drain started east of Mandogalup, passing through Beenyup, The Spectacles, Bollard Bulrush Swam, Baldivis and Folly Pool, onto Mandurah where it discharged into the sea.
Bollard Bulrush Swamp was subject to farming as part of the Group Settlement Scheme during the 1920s and 30s, with a number of settlers known to have occupied lots adjoining the swampland such as Mr. A.J. White, who had 120 acres on the west side of the swamp, and George Foster who acquired Lots 71 and 93 from his brothers Robert and Alan, who had both given up farming them before him.
(Source: Laurie Russell, Kwinana “Third Time Lucky”, 1979)

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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Last Update

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This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.