Lake Clifton is a small town located on the east side of the lake of the same name in the Peel region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

just off the Old Coast Road, between

Mandurah Mandurah ( ) is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 90,306. Mandurah's central business dis ...

and Bunbury at the north end of the

Yalgorup National Park Yalgorup National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 105 km south of Perth, and directly south of Mandurah. The park is located on the western edge of the Swan Coastal Plain and contains a chain of about ten lakes; the name rises ...

. At the 2021 census, Lake Clifton had a population of 759.

History

Lake Clifton is named for Marshall Waller Clifton, who arrived in Western Australia as Chief Commissioner of the Western Australian Land Company, settled at

Australind Australind is a town in Western Australia, located 12 km north-east of Bunbury, Western Australia, Bunbury's central business district. Its Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area is the Shire of Harvey. At the 20 ...

, and was later a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. Explorers Dr

Alexander Collie Dr Alexander Collie (2 June 1793 – 8 November 1835) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who journeyed to Western Australia in 1829, where he was an explorer and Colonial Surgeon. Early life Collie was born in Insch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on ...

and Lieutenant William Preston RN first came across what are now Lakes Preston and Clifton while exploring the coastline between Mandurah and Bunbury in 1829. After the introduction of

convicts A convict is "a person found Guilt (law), guilty of a crime and Sentence (law), sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a commo ...

to the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

in the 1850s, the "Old Coast Road" south of Mandurah was rebuilt. For most of its length, the road went through well-timbered, sandy limestone country of little value to agriculture. The area's first European settler was John Fouracre, who built a house in this area in 1852 and had established a wayside inn and changing station at Wellington Location 205 in 1854.

Railway

The townsite of Lake Clifton was developed in 1920 as a result of the W A Portland Cement Co. seeking to mine a lime deposit there. A railway to Waroona was built and the local Progress Association sought the declaration of a townsite for the company's employees. The town was initially gazetted as Leschenault in 1921, but this name was seen as too confusing because of the name's connection with Bunbury. It was then renamed Garbanup, but the Government railways complained as this was too similar to Dardanup, so in 1923 it changed again to Lake Clifton. For a very short period it was a busy company town, but the mine closed at the end of 1923 and the railway was removed and transported to Lake Grace for use in a railway to Newdegate. The government acquisition of the railway resulted in a commission of inquiry. The ''Waroona-Lake Clifton Railway Act 1924'', an act by the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...

assented to on 31 December 1924, authorised the closure and removal of the railway line.

Present day

Lake Clifton contains basic accommodation and shopping, and a community hall offering a range of activities. A couple of roadhouses for passing trucks and motorists are located on Old Coast Road, while rural residential estates have sprung up at Tuart Grove. The

was established in the 1970s to protect the coastal lakes, swamps and tuart woodland in the area. The area is also central to waterbird migration patterns. At the edge of Lake Clifton, rock-like structures called

thrombolite Thrombolites (from Ancient Greek θρόμβος ''thrómbos'' meaning " clot" and λῐ́θος ''líthos'' meaning " stone") are clotted accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary ...

s (similar to

stromatolites Stromatolites ( ) or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations ( microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria) ...

) can be seen, built by tiny micro-organisms believed to resemble the earliest forms of life on Earth. Scientists have suggested their presence here may be due to upwellings of fresh groundwater high in calcium carbonate. An observation walkway has been constructed to allow visitors to view these fragile structures. An action has been started by the French artists "Art Orienté objet" in 2011 to list Lake Clifton as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Transport

The main road route through the area is the Old Coast Road ( Highway 1, Mandurah to Bunbury). Perth-Bunbury buses operated by

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport between Perth and the ...

under the Public Transport Authority also stop here. It is also the terminus of the

Forrest Highway Forrest Highway is a highway in Western Australia's Peel (Western Australia), Peel and South West (Western Australia), South West regions, extending Perth's Kwinana Freeway from east of Mandurah down to Bunbury, Western Australia, Bunbury. ...

References

External links