Lightning Swamp Bushland is a area of natural

bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

and wetlands in

Noranda, Western Australia Noranda is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located in the City of Bayswater. The suburb was named in 1977 after Noranda Park, a town in the U.S. state of Florida. The portion north of Widgee Road was transferred to the City of Bayswater ...

, a suburb 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 ...

. It is bounded by

Reid Highway Reid Highway is a east-west highway and partial freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking North Beach with Middle Swan. As part of State Route 3, it forms half of Perth's outer ring road along with Roe Highway, wh ...

to the north, Malaga Drive to the west and south, Matthews Close to the south and Lightning Park Recreation Centre to the east. It is classified as an A class reserve. The reserve contains several wetlands, one in the north-east and several in the south-east and south-west of the reserve. The north-eastern wetland is a Conservation Class 4 wetland. It contains water year-round due to its peaty clay base. It is a perched wetland (meaning it is not connected to groundwater), which is somewhat rare for 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 ...

. The south-eastern and south-western wetlands are seasonal. An open stormwater drain managed 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 ...

flows along the length of the reserve and through them. This drain eventually flows into Bennett Brook. Lightning Swamp Bushland was first reserved in 1963 as part of the initial edition of the

Metropolitan Region Scheme The Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) provides the legal basis for land use planning within the Perth metropolitan region. It classifies land into broad zones and reservations and is administered by the Western Australian Planning Commission. I ...

. At the time, the surrounding area was undeveloped. The name comes from the lightning-attracting

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

in the area. The adjacent suburb of Malaga takes its name from the Aboriginal name for ironstone. Prior to 2008, Lightning Swamp Bushland was only an unofficial name for the reserve, with the official name being "Lot 3003 Crown Reserve 46880", but in 2008, the Geographical Names Committee approved a request by the Cities of

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

and

Swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

to rename the reserve to its current name. From 2000 to 2016, Lightning Swamp Bushland was part of the City of Swan, but managed by the City of Bayswater. On 1 July 2016, the portion of Noranda that was in the City of Swan was transferred to the City of Bayswater. One of the reasons for this was to make it easier for the City of Bayswater to manage the reserve. Restoring the reserve is done by the City of Bayswater and Friends of Lightning Swamp Bushland. Works included fencing the perimeter of the reserve to keep out motorbikes and off-road vehicles, creating of limestone track for people to walk or ride through the reserve whilst protecting it, planting native plants, controlling weeds and

dieback Dieback may refer to a number of plant problems and diseases including: * Forest dieback caused by acid rain, heavy metal pollution, or imported pathogens * The death of regions of a plant or similar organism caused by physical damage, such as from ...

, and creating a boardwalk next to the wetland.

References

{{reflist Swan Coastal Plain Nature reserves in Western Australia Remnant urban bushland Noranda, Western Australia