The Brixton Street Wetlands is an environmentally significant

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

area in the city of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. The wetlands are located in the suburb of Kenwick, in the south-east of the city not far from the foot of the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

. The Brixton Street Wetlands occupies adjoining urban residential developments, schools and remnant semi-rural properties in an area which is rapidly urbanising.

Roe Highway Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Middle S ...

, a major transport artery, runs along one boundary of the wetlands, together with a parallel railway line. The wetlands contain a huge number of plant species for such a small area, some of which are rare and endangered. Over 400 plant species, comprising some 20% of the flora species of the Perth area, can be found in the wetlands. Of these, about 80 flowering plants are considered endangered and are not commonly found on the

Swan Coastal Plain 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 geol ...

on which Perth is located, and the plant communities located here are in fact the last substantial wetland plant communities on the plain's claypans. Four of the species are classified as Declared Rare Flora, including Purdie's donkey orchid (''Diuris purdiei''). Fauna include frogs, snakes and insects, but the wetlands are especially important as a habitat for the rare

southern brown bandicoot The southern brown bandicoot (''Isoodon obesulus'') is a short-nosed bandicoot, a type of marsupial, found mostly in southern Australia. It is also known as the quenda in South Western Australia (from the Noongar word ''). Taxonomy George Shaw ...

(''Isoodon obesulus''), often known by its

Nyoongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

Aboriginal name of quenda. The wetlands were entered into ''

A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA) is a list of wetlands of national importance to Australia published by the governmental agency Environment Australia. Intended to augment the list of wetlands of international importance under th ...

'' in 1992 (recorded there as the Brixton Street Swamps), and were placed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

of the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

on 21 November 2000.

References

External links

* *{{cite web , title=Brixton Street and Associated Wetlands, Brixton St, Kenwick, WA, Australia , date=21 November 2000 , website=Australian Heritage Database, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment , publisher=Commonwealth of Australia , url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=19538 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708012655/http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=19538 , archive-date=8 July 2020 , access-date=8 July 2020 Protected areas of Western Australia DIWA-listed wetlands Swan Coastal Plain Wetlands of Western Australia Western Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate