Regional parks in Western Australia are conservation areas with the purpose of serving as urban havens to preserve and restore cultural heritage and valuable ecosystems as well as to encourage sustainable nature-based recreation activities. As of 2021, there are eleven regional parks in the Perth region 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 ...

, as well as regional parks outside the metropolitan area. Apart from the already existing regional parks, future proposals exist, like the recently approved Kalgulup Regional Park, located within the

City of Bunbury The City of Bunbury is a local government area in the South West region of Western Australia, covering an area of along the coast about south of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The City of Bunbury is one of four local governments comp ...

Shire of Capel The Shire of Capel is a local government area in the South West region of Western Australia, taking in the land between the cities of Bunbury and Busselton about south of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of ...

Shire of Dardanup The Shire of Dardanup is a local government area in the South West region of Western Australia, immediately to the east and southeast of the City of Bunbury and about south of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its sea ...

and

Shire of Harvey The Shire of Harvey is a local government area of Western Australia. Harvey is located in the state's South West region, approximately 140 km south of Perth, and includes some of Bunbury's northern suburbs. The shire covers an area of 1, ...

, which encompass the former Preston River to Ocean Regional Park proposal, proposed for almost 40 years, and the Leschenault Regional Park along the Collie and Brunswick Rivers. Another one, the Darling Range Regional Park in 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 ...

, was proposed as the largest regional park in Australia, with 11,703 hectares, but never fully realised and eventually replaced by a number of smaller national and regional parks.

History

The concept of regional spaces in Western Australia open to the public was first proposed in 1955, when the Stephenson-Hepburn Report recommended preserving private land for future public use in what would become the

Perth Metropolitan Region The Perth metropolitan region or the Perth metropolitan area is the administrative area and geographical extent of the Western Australian capital city of Perth and its conurbation. It generally includes the coastal strip from Two Rocks in th ...

in 1963. The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) identified areas of significant conservation, landscape and recreation value in a report in 1983. In 1989, the

state Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

allocated the responsibility of managing regional parks to the

Department of Conservation and Land Management The Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. It was created by the ...

. A Regional Parks Taskforce was established in 1990 but the EPA reported in 1993 that the establishment of these parks encountered difficulties but, from the mid-1990s, a number of regional parks were established in Western Australia.

History

List of Western Australian regional parks

See also

References

External links