Geographical Features: Lakes

Lakes - North side of the Swan River

Loch McNess
Originally known as Yanchep Lake, n 1935, Lake Yanchep was renamed Loch McNess in 1935 in honour of Sir Charles McNess's contribution to the development of Yanchep Reserve. Loch McNess is a freshwater lake located near Yanchep. It is part of a chain of lakes in the northern part of the coastal plain of Perth. The lake is also known as Wagardu Lark by the Nyoongar aboriginals.


Boating on Loch McNess, Yanchep

Beonaddy Swamp
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp.

Mindarie Lake
An Aboriginal name first recorded by Alexander Forrest in 1874. The name is thought to be that of a ceremonial ground by the lake.

Coogee Swamp
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp. The Aboriginal name Kou-Gee was recorded in 1841 by Thomas Watson for a lake of the same name to the south of Fremantle. It has been variously spelt as Koojee, Coojee and Coogee.


Carabooda Lake

Carabooda Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Nowergup Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Lake Pinjar
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Neerabup Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Lake Adams (Mariginiup)


Lake Joondalup

Lake Joondalup
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake. Joondalup is an Aboriginal word first recorded in 1837, and possibly means "place of of whiteness or glistening". Another account states that a 'joondal' is a creature that can only move backwards.

Matginiup Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Lake Jandabup
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake, or said to mean "place of the little eagle". This lake was sometimes referred to as Big Dundebar Lake.


Lake Goollelal

Lake Goollelal
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Gnangara Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake, possibly meaning "spring" (water flows into the lake from the NW corner).

Lake Badgerup
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake.

Lake Yaking
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this swamp or lake. The name has the same origin as the suburb of Yokine, which is the local aboriginal name for the native dog, or dingo. The lake would have been so named as wild dingoes would have used the watehole for drinking purposes.


Big Carine Swamp

Carine Swamp (Big and Little)
The two swamps were first recorded as Carine Swamp by R Quin in 1865. These swamps are now known as Big Carine Swamp and Little Carine Swamp. Their name has the same origin as Lake Karrinjyp (see below), and that name as recorded by surveyor P. Chauncey in 1844 may have been a reference to all three swamps/lakes.


Emu Lake

Emu Lake
An ornamental lake in the suburb of Ballajura. It used to be part of Emu Swamp, hence its name. The suburb of Ballajura was developed in 1978. The lake was created by dredging and deepening Emu Swamp.


Lake Leschenaultia

Lake Leschenaultia
Originally known as Chidlows Well, the Lake was built in 1897 by the Western Australian Government Railway as a dam to replenish the steam locomotives travelling on the Eastern Railway line from Perth to to Northam, York and beyond. The line was closed in 1949, after which time the lake and surrounds were turned into a recreational reserve. Lake Lechenaultia is named after Lechenaultia macrantha, a species of low growing plant found on sandy or gravelly soils in Western Australia. It was named in honour of Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour, a French botanist and ornithologist who was the first person to document the species during his visit to the Swan River region as part of Nicolas Baudin's expedition in 1803.


Lake Karrinyup

Lake Karrinyup
In 1844 and surveyor P Chauncey first recorded a large swamp just to the east of Karrinyup as Careniup Swamp. This swamp is still known by this name today, and is the name from which Karrinyup is derived. It is of Aboriginal origin, but its meaning is not known. The lake is now within the ground of Lake Karrinyup Country Club.


Lake Gwelup

Lake Gwelup
The Aboriginal meaning of the name has been derived from "Gwelgannow" which means to "shift the position" and "step aside" and would therefore probably be "the lake that shifted position". The feature is recorded in Lands Department records in 1878 as Gwelup Swamp. As the surrounds have been cleared and filled in recent years, it has been recorded as a lake.


Jackadder Lake

Jackadder Lake (formerly Woodlands Lake)
The lake's current name is derived from Jackadup, its original Aboriginal name for the lake and its surrounds. This was later adapted to Jackadder, perhaps after having been misheard by early European settlers and thought to be a reference to snake in the area. In the 1960s, when the suburb of Woodlands was first being subdivided, it was referred to as Woodlands Swamp and Woodlands Lake, no doubt because it was a more appropriate name for a lake adjoining a new subdivision than one named after a snake. A 1991 subdvision near the lake named Floreat Lakes Estate inferred a new name for it, however Jackadder Lake has never been known as Floreat Lakes.


Herdsman Lake

Herdsman Lake
A groundwater lake located 6 km north-west of Perth, the lake was first known as Great Lake, but was recorded as Herdsman Lake by the Surveyor General, J S Roe in 1836. The name is probably descriptive as the area around it provided good grazing and stock were most likely herded in the area.


Dog Swamp

Dog Swamp
The name, originally Native Dog Swamp, is the English version of the waterhole's aboriginal name, Yokine, which refers to the dingo, or native dog. The lake would have been so named as wild dingoes would have used the watehole for drinking purposes. The nearby suburb of Yokine, which originally was known as Yokine Hill, then Mt Yokine when it was subdivided, has the same origin and probably referred to the fact that it was the hill beyond Yokine or Native Dog Swamp.


Perry Lakes

Perry Lakes
The name of the lakes recalls Joseph Perry, who in 1879, purchased the Limekilns Estate, which included Bold Park and surrounding land, including Perry Lakes. The property included a vineyard, a slaughter house and horse breaking and stock dealing facilities near the lake. The parkland surrounding Perry Lakes in the suburb of Floreat was the site of Perry Lakes Stadium, the main venue for the 1962 Perth British Empire and Commonwealth Games.


Lake Monger

Lake Monger
Originally recorded as Lake Goorgianna, it was the first of a string of lakes that fed Claise Brook, which still empties into the Swan River at East Perth. The lake has been known by a number of names - Lake Galup, Lake Kalup or Keiermulu are all recorded as its aboriginal name. After European settlement, it became known as either Large Lake or Triangle Lake (based on its roughly triangular shape) before being named Monger's Lake in 1831. In April 1932 it was changed to its current name of Lake Monger. The name recalls John Henry Monger who acquired 200 acres beside the lake adjoining the land grant of William H Leeder, whose name is remembered in the suburb of Leederville.


Hyde Park Lake

Hyde Park Lakes
The lakes in Hyde Park were originally called Third Swamp. It was one of a string of lakes which fed Walters Brook, sections of which still flow underground and empty into the Swan River at Banks Reserve, East Perth. The other lakes were Stone's Lake (Perth Oval), Lake Poullet (First Swamp, part of what is now Birdwood Square), Lake Thomson (Mews Swamp, between Lake, Brisbane and Beaufort streets); Lake Henderson (parts of what is now Robertson Park and Dorrien Gardens); Second Swamp (Bulwer Street, east of Lake Street); Three Island Lake and Smith's Lake (now Charles Veryard Reserve). Third Swamp was a regularly used campsite for local aborigines when the first white settlers established the Swan River Colony in 1829. Prior to the establishment of a path around the lake and other modifications in 1899, Hyde Park was known as Third Swamp Reserve.


Gobba Lake

Gobba Lake (Bayswater)
Gobba Lake adopted its name from Gino Gobba, who served on the Bayswater Council as a member of the Health and Building Committee from 1975-78. The lake is a remnant claypit from the earliest industry in Bayswater, Walkenden's Brickworks, which was established in 1887. It is situated in the middle of an area that was once market gardens and pasture land for dairy cattle. The disused clay pit was excavated and transformed into a deep water lake. It has been filled with water since the closure of the brickworks in 1910.

Munday Swamp (within Perth International Airport)


Lake Brearley

Lake Brearley (Maylands)
One of two ornamental lakes at the southern end of the Maylands peninsula, they have been formed from the brickpits of the old Maylands Brickworks. The Meckering earthquake of 1968 seriously damaged the brickworks. By 1984 all brickmaking had ceased. Kiln curing sheds and a tower have been retained and restored for their historic significance. The lake is today part of a residential development.
The name recalls Sir Norman Bearley, an aviator and pioneer of commercial air transport in Australia. In 1921 he established Western Australian Airways, which became part of Australian National Airways in 1936. Brearley operated the Perth Flying School at Maylands aerodrome in 1927. The lake is situated alongside what was once the end of the aerodrome's main runway. The lake and surrounded streets all have names associated with the Maylands aerodrome and the Australian aviation industry.


Lake Bungana, Maylands

Lake Bungana (Maylands)
One of two ornamental lakes at the southern end of the Maylands peninsula, they have been formed from the brickpits of the old Maylands Brickworks. (see above). As early as 1955, the Stephenson/Hepburn Report suggested that the peninsula would be an ideal location for a major arterial road crossing the Swan River. It was again part of the Metropolitan Region Scheme of 1963, and the strip down the centre of the peninsula was reserved for a highway. The highway was never built and part of the reserved land is used by the WA Police Academy. The lake's name is the aboriginal name for a campground near swampy ground at the end of the peninsula.

Lakes - South side of the Swan River


Lake Claremont

Lake Claremont
Though originally known as Butler's Swamp after John Butler, an early landowner (see also Butlers Hump), it has always officially been called Lake Claremont. Claremont Estate was the name given by Mr James Morrison, to his property, Swan Location 702, which he named after his wife Clara Charlotte (nee de Burgh) whom he had married in 1869, and on account of the hilly nature of the country. The suburb of Claremont, which also takes its name from the property, is built on Morrison's estate.

Tomato Lake (Kewdale)


Blue Gum Lake

Blue Gum Lake (Mt Pleasant)
Presumanly named because of blue gums around the lake's perimeter.

Piney Lakes (Winthrop)
Named because of its proximity to Applecross Pine Plantation.

Manning Lake
Recalls Henry Manning of High Holburn, London, who bought land beside the lake in 1856, and Manning's grandson, John Daniel Manning, who had a dairy here. During subdivision of the estate, the name Manning Estate was used and Manning eventually became the official name of the area.


Booragoon Lake

Booragoon Lake
Booragoon is the Aboriginal name for the lower reaches of the Canning River. It was first used by white settlers as the name of the lake and was chosen as a suburb name in the early 1950s by the then Melville Road Board from a list published in the West Australian on 3rd January 1925.


Bibra Lake

Bibra Lake (Lake Walliabup)
The existence of the lake was first reported by A C Gregory during a survey of George Robb's land in May 1842. Gregory recorded the Aboriginal name of the lake as "Walubup". During the following year, Benedict Von Bibra, surveying his own selection on the southern shores of the lake, recorded the name as "Walliabup" and the latter version was used exclusively on maps for more than half a century. In 1877, it was found the Von Bibra's association with "Lake Walliabup" was apparently still recalled by locals who referred to the feature as "Bibra's Lake". This alternative name was added to plans and eventually in 1967, adopted in place of the Aboriginal name. The suburb of Bibra Lake takes its name from the lake which is within its boundaries.

North Lake
Its location in relation to Bibra Lake

South Lake
Its location in relation to Bibra Lake

Park Lake (Southern River)


Mary Carroll Lake

Mary Carroll Lake
Named in 1971 in honour of Mrs Mary Carroll, a well-known teacher at the nearby Gosnells Primary School. Mary Carroll Lake is a major breeding wetlands. It supports large numbers of water birds, songbirds, reptiles, turtles and a reservoir of wetland flora.

Wright Lake (Westfield)

Market Garden Swamps (Coogee)
In the early days, there were many market gardens established in this area which got their water from these swamps.


Lake Coogee

Lake Coogee
The Aboriginal name Kou-Gee was recorded in 1841 by Thomas Watson and variously spelt as Koojee, Coojee and Coogee. The suburb of "Coogee" takes its name from the lake. Originally, this lake and the nearby suburb were named Lake Munster after Prince William, the Earl of Munster and later King William IV. The name was changed because of the negative connotation with the television show, The Munsters.

Little Bush Lake (Yangebup)


Yangebup Lake

Yangebup Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

Kogolup Lake (Beelair)
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

Harrisdale Swamp (Canning Vale)

Balannup Lake (Southern River)
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

Brownman Swamp (Munster)

Mt Brown Lake (Henderson)
Thought to be named after Peter Brown, the first colonial secretary.


Thompsons Lake

Thompsons Lake (Jilbup Lake)
Jilbup is a name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake. The lake and reserve which surrounds it are part of the Beeliar Regional Park. The lake takes its present name from that of an early European settler.

Banganup Lake
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

Banjup Lake (Banjup)
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

Forrestdale Lake
Originally known as Lake Jandakot, an Aboriginal word said to mean "place of the Whistling Eagle". During subsequent years the name was recorded variously as "Jandicoot", "Jandakoot" and "Jandakott" but the spelling eventually adopted was "Jandakot". The lake name was changed to Forrestdale Lake in 1973 because it is closer to Forrestdale than Jandakot.

Long Swamp (Hope Valley)
Descriptive of its shape.

Lake Balmanup (Mandogalup)
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

Mangenup Lake (Wandi)
The name is of Aboriginal origin. It is believed to be the Aboriginal name for this lake.

The Spectacles Wetlands
Their shape (they consist of two round lakes).


Lake Cooloongup

Lake Cooloongup (Rockingham)
Lake Cooloongup was recorded by Surveyor AC Gregory in 1843. The meaning of the Aboriginal name is not known. The suburb of Cooloongup, which takes its name from the lake, was gazetted in 1974.

Lake Richmond (Rockingham)

Rottnest Island's Lakes

Salt lakes occupy ten per cent of the area of Rottnest Island. Many of them - including Lake Baghdad, Lake Vincent, Herschel Lake, Garden Lake, Government House Lake and Serpentine Lake - are permanent and have surrounding beaches. Other lakes such as Pink Lake, Lake Sirius, Lake Negri and the twin Pearse Lakes may dry out in summer.
The lakes of Rottnest were collectively named Duvaldilly Ponds by French explorer, Louis de Freycinet, on 17th June 1801, after Antoine Henry Mengy Duvaldilly, midshipman of survey vessel Naturaliste. This was the first recorded name for the lakes, however the name was never used or officially adopted.


Government House Lake and part of Serpentine Lake (foreground)

Government House Lake
It could be seen from Rottnest Island's Government House, the summer residence of the Governor of Western Australia. Government House, which is now the Rottnest Hotel, was built between Government House Lake and Thomson Bay and first occupied by Gov Hampton in 1864.

Pearse Lake
Recalls Frederick Pearse, the last Superintendent of the Aboriginal prison on Rottnest Island, who commenced his tenure in 1898. The prison was officially closed in 1903 along with the island's salt works and reformatory.


Garden Lake

Garden Lake
The island's first European settler, Robert Thomson and his family, established a market garden beside the lake in the 1830s, to provide food for their table.


Herschell Lake

Herschell Lake
In the 1830s Lakes Bagdhad, Vincent and Herschell, which were originally inter-connected, were known singularly as Threefold Lake. The names of Mount Herschell and Herschell Lake have the same origin. The reason for the lake's name is not known.


Serpentine Lake

Serpentine Lake
This lake is a very long stretch of hypersaline water orientated east-west in the central eastern half of the island. It's the largest body of water on the island because when it carries a brackish layer on the surface caused by winter rainfalls it also envelops a few adjacent depressions which have been distinguished in the past as individual lakes. The reason for the lake's name is not known. though it is thought the lake's name is a reference to its shape.


Lake Bagdhad

Lake Baghdad
In the 1830s Lakes Bagdhad, Vincent and Herschell, which were originally inter-connected, were known singularly as Threefold Lake. Lake Bagdhad and Lake Vincent then became known as the Settler's Lakes as it was on their shores that the island's first European settlers, the Thomson family, established their 200 acre farm in the 1830s. Robert Thomson (1791-1865), his wife Caroline and their seven children were eventually evicted from the island when it became a notorious Aboriginal prison. Lake Bagdhad is now isolated from Lakes Vincent and Herschell, possibly by minor earthworks to create or protect a vehicle track. The reason for the lake's name is not known.


Lake Vincent

Lake Vincent
Recalls Henry Vincent, the first Superintendent of Rottnest Island Aboriginal Prison. Vincent had been wounded and lost an eye in the Battle of Waterloo. He was the Gaoler at Fremantle from 1831 until given the job of constructing the "Rottnest Native Establishment" eight years later, when he was appointed Sperintendent of the Rottnest Island Aboriginal Prison for 21 years from 1839 to 1867.

Lake Sirius
Possibly named for HMS Sirius, the flagship of the 'First Fleet' which enabled the establishment of the first British colony in Australia, at Sydney in 1788. The ship was commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, the colony's first Governor. There is no record as to who named the lake - it may well have been Phillip Parker King RN who visited the island on HMS Bathurst in 1822. King was named after Arthur Phillip; his father, Philip Gidley King (1758-1808) had served under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip and was Phillip's second lieutenant on HMS Sirius as part of the First Fleet.


Lake Negri

Lake Negri
Possibly named for Pola Negri (1897-1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. There is no evidence to support this claim.

Lake Timperley
Recalls William Henry Timperley (1833-1909), policeman and civil servant who was superintendent of the native prison on Rottnest Island from July 1886 to 1890.

Bulldozer Swamp
The reason for the lake's name is not known, however it may have something to do with the bulldozers that were used extensively on the island to build the island's coastal-defence artillery and anti-aircraft installations during the Second World War. Alternatively, a number of swamps on the island were mined in the 1970s for marl (a clay-like substance) in the 1970s which was used as a base in the construction of Island roads. Bulldozers were used to extract the marl.


Pink Lake

Pink Lake
Probably named because of its colour.

Salmon Swamp
The reason for the swamp's name is not known.

Bickley Swamp
Recalls Wallace Bickley, an 1830s settler who acquired a land grant on the island and married a daughter of the Thomson family. Bickley Bay and Bickley Point have the same origin.

Lighthouse Swamp
Named because it is situated at the base of Wadjemup Hill, the site of the main Rottnest lighthouse. Lighthouse Swamp was once a fresh-water ecosystem, before it was mined for marl (a clay-like substance) in the 1970s which was used as a base in the construction of Island roads. This extraction removed an important layer at the base of the swamp and turned what was once a freshwater system saline. Lighthouse Swamp was once an important freshwater source for fauna including birds, reptiles and quokkas as well as various invertebrates, which have disappeared from the area following the increase in salinity.

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