JournalJournal of ofthe the Royal Royal Society Society of ofWestern Western Australia, Australia, 79(4), 79:225–240, December 1996 1996 History of conservation reserves in the south-west of Western Australia G E Rundle WA National Parks and Reserves Association, The Peninsula Community Centre, 219 Railway Parade, Maylands WA 6051 Abstract Focusing on the Darling Botanical District, reservation in the south-west of Western Australia largely involves the forest estate. The remaining natural bushland today is mainly reserves of State forest and so further opportunities to create new national parks or nature reserves of any significance would generally mean converting a State forest reserve to some other sort of conser- vation reserve. Thus, the history of Western Australia’s State forest reservation is important. The varied origins of some of the region’s well-known and popular national parks are of special interest. Their preservation as conservation reserves generally had little to do with scien- tific interest and a lot to do with community pleasure in the outdoors and scenery. Their protec- tion from early development had little to do with the flora and habitat protection needs that are the focus of these Symposium proceedings. Factors such as lack of shipping access, the discovery of glittering caverns, and the innovation of excursion railways were involved in saving the day. In contrast, the progressive reservation of State Forest was a hard slog by an insular Forests Depart- ment against many opponents. The creation of a comprehensive system of conservation reserves in this part of Western Australia is an on-going modern phenomenon with continued wide popular support. While there are controversies concerning forest reservation and the conservation of urban bushland, these largely involve matters of detail over particular pieces of land. However, remaining unresolved is controversy over State forest management which might impact upon strategic wildlife habitat. Management of State forest for multiple uses, including ecologically sustainable timber produc- tion and wildlife values, is adopted Government policy. Introduction ations where there is added justification to do this when key ground water aquifers within the deep sands of the coastal plain need to be protected from the likelihood of Geographical context pollution arising out of urban and agricultural develop- The Darling Botanical District is generally synony- ment. mous with several significant natural attributes, includ- ing the high rainfall area (over 500 mm per annum) of Administratively, the Darling Botanical District is also Western Australia’s south-west, and a zone of active closely synonymous with several regions. These include streams and rivers, whereas the hinterland beyond is the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) Systems largely characterised by more arid conditions and un- 1, 2 and 6 collectively, which were designated in the coordinated drainage (Beard 1981). early 1970s as part of a State conservation reserve assess- ment project (Ride 1975). State forest and the bulk of Tall forest and tall woodland formations are confined Western Australia’s conservation reserves are today to this part of the State and today comprise the domi- managed by the Department of Conservation and Land nant area of uncleared land. Of particular significance, it Management (CALM). The contiguous CALM regions forms a large block of generally contiguous reserves of of Southern Forest, Central Forest and Swan (formerly State forest. Created originally to support an export saw Southern Forest and Metropolitan Regions) are also ba- milling industry, today’s forest management emphasis sically confined to the Darling Botanical District. is on multiple use objectives of which catchment protec- tion for water supply is arguably the most important. Historical context West of the forest of the Darling Plateau, the fringing Over the past 120 years of history of Western narrow Swan Coastal Plain is the earliest part of West- Australia’s conservation and forest reserve systems, ern Australia that was extensively settled by Europeans. there have been a number of Acts of Parliament passed The bulk of this land was released into private owner- and consolidated that have enabled; ship within the first hundred years of this settlement, • land (and waters) to be reserved, with little consideration given to a need for bushland conservation. Converting uncleared remnants into con- • the provision of degrees of security for reserves servation reserves there now usually requires the buying against alienation for other purposes, and back of land that is in private ownership. There are situ- • the management of reserves by specific agencies. Over that period, the principal reserve management agencies have also had name changes, or have been re- Symposium on the Design of Reserves for placed by another agency. The phases of forest and con- Nature Conservation in South-western Australia servation reserve establishment can be summarised as © Royal Society of Western Australia 1996 follows: 225 Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 79(4), December 1996 • Colonial Era: 1829–1889 Little was appreciated emerging change in forest management toward about the relationship of wildlife and habitat de- more intensive productivity, both for timber and pendence, and the need was not seen for conser- broader community benefits of catchment man- vation reserves in a region which was still rela- agement, recreation and habitat management. tively undeveloped and unpopulated. Little inter- • Present Era: 1970-1995 There was State Govern- est was shown in protecting forest resources. ment acknowledgment that sound grounds ex- • Early Self-Government: 1890-1929 In this brief 40 isted for expansion of Western Australia’s conser- year period, gold rushes to the Murchison and vation reserve system, and also the need for better Eastern Goldfields led to a rapid population in- conflict resolution processes. During this recent crease via immigration and the promotion of rail- period the conservation reserve system dramati- way development. In turn, both events stimulated cally increased. the creation of recreation-based reserves (e.g. This period has also been notable for its forest today’s John Forrest and Leeuwin-Naturaliste Na- management controversy. This situation devel- tional Parks). oped as the wider community began to appreciate A shift away from labour-intensive shallow that production management for timber was fo- fossicking to mechanised deep mining on the cussed on the manipulation of the natural struc- goldfields diverted development interest to agri- ture of production forests. Up to this time, there cultural expansion, especially in the forested had been general acceptance that forest produc- ‘south-west’ (Darling Botanical District) and ad- tion management had little impact on wildlife joining Wheatbelt, aided by a developing railway habitat. network. There has been some rationalisation between con- The emphasis on conservation reserve selection re- flicting land uses and also rationalisation of re- mained oriented toward scenic landscape and rec- serve management agencies through the creation reation with new national parks being created at of the Department of Conservation and Land Pemberton and Nornalup. The need for strategic Management. Overall, reserve management has reserves for habitat protection was ignored, par- become better resourced during this current pe- ticularly in the Wheatbelt. riod although not necessarily adequately resourced. Unresolved conflicts remain. Mecha- At the same time, there was rapid expansion of nisms to deal with many of these are absent or do the timber industry, but also a growing awareness not have broad acceptance. that better protection and management was needed for the forest estate. This need was en- hanced by the utilisation of some forested Colonial Years (1829 - 1889) catchments for water supply dams. A significant step was the passing of a Forest Act in 1918, the The first 60 years formation of a Forests Department, and the estab- lishment of a million ha of State forest reserves by Although the first European settlement in Western 1929. Australia was established at King George Sound (Al- bany) in 1826, it was an outlier of the New South Wales • Modern Era: 1930-1969 While there was little colonial administration. In practical terms the first settle- change over the period of the Great Depression ment was on the Swan River in 1829, under the charge and World War II, post war reconstruction of Captain James Stirling as Lieutenant Governor. Early brought major change. Rapid agricultural, mining, land development was based on garden, orchard and industrial and urban expansion brought an aware- agricultural plots close to homesteads, spread along the ness of the need to secure more natural areas for Swan and Canning estuaries and lower river reaches on habitat protection and as ‘refuges’ for passive rec- the coastal plain near Perth. However, pastoral land use reation. There was also an emerging realisation of expanded in the 1840s, from north of Perth to the Gingin the need for professional and well-resourced man- area; northward from the already settled Avon Valley agement of reserves, and lobbying for improve- district to the Victoria Plains and New Norcia-Moore ment was a feature of this period. River areas; and southward from the Avon Valley, fol- Characteristically, it was an era of land-use con- lowing the inland route between Williams