Lake Coogee is a

saline lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

in the suburb of

Lake Coogee Lake Coogee is a saline lake in the suburb of Lake Coogee, south-west of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is part of Beeliar Regional Park. The lake has given its name to a number of suburbs in th ...

, south-west of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

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 ...

, the capital of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is part of

Beeliar Regional Park Beeliar Regional Park is a conservation park approximately south of the central business district in Perth, Western Australia, located within the Citys of Cockburn, Kwinana and Melville. The regional park is named after the indigenous Beel ...

. The lake has given its name to a number of suburbs in the area, namely Coogee,

North Coogee North Coogee is a coastal, western list of Perth suburbs, suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. The suburb is immediately to the north of Coogee, Western Australia, Coogee, which takes its name from the lake, ...

and Lake Coogee. The lake itself was part of the suburb of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

until 30 March 2020, when it became part of the new suburb of Lake Coogee.

Overview

In the local

Nyungar language Noongar (; also Nyungar ) is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcastin ...

, the lake was originally called Kou-Gee, which was first recorded by European settlers in 1841 and variously spelled as Koojee, Coojee and Coogee. The latter spelling was officially approved in 1955. European settlers named it Lake Munster, after Prince William, the Earl of Munster, who became King

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

in 1830. The lake had and has mythological significance to the local indigenous people, the

Noongar 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 ...

people, who associate it with two birds who stole fire from the moon which, in turn, caused a bushfire that was extinguished by the rising ocean, which had been called to assist by the moon. The event is associated with the drowning of Noongar people and the formation of the lake. Lake Coogee was formed approximately 10,000 years ago after the last ice age. Lake Coogee differs from the other lakes of the western chain of Beeliar Regional Park, being saline while the others are fresh water. Its soil is a heavy clay deposit that is presumed to have been formed by a former river outlet and estuary at the lake's location, with the depression formed by the estuary becoming the lake. Early European settlement around Lake Coogee, from the 1830s onwards, was not very successful and generally ended in failure and the lake was generally shunned by the local Aboriginal population, too, unlike the other lakes in the area. In modern times, the eastern and northern shore of the lake are made up of housing estates while the western shore borders land owned by the

Water Corporation Water Corporation is the principal supplier of water, wastewater and drainage services throughout the state of Western Australia. It is the seventh successive agency to deal with the services in Perth, Western Australia. With offices in Perth ...

. A footbridge running just north of the lake, separating the lake from the Market Garden Swamp further north, was proposed in 1998 and constructed to hold sewage pipes running to the water treatment plant at the western shore.

References

External links

* Urban Bushland Council WA Inc.
Beeliar Regional Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coogee Beeliar Regional Park Lakes of Perth, Western Australia Saline lakes of Western Australia Noongar placenames