MANDURAH

HEMA Map reference 74/E2

32° 37' 18" S 115° 40' 10" E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Services

Attractions

Peel / Harvey Estuary, Cooper’s Cottage, Murray River, Hall’s Cottage, Eacott Cottage, Allandale, Hardy’s Cottage, Lake Clifton.

Buildings of note

Hall's cottage c1850.

Calendar of events

January: Beach Party, Concerts (to March) March: Crab festival. May: Art festival October: Childrens Festival, Car spectacular. November: Fishing classic. December: Community fair, Christmas pageant & foreshore party. Saturday: Markets.

Dawsville cut

Description

The area was explored by boat in 1829 and was first settled in 1830 by Thomas Peel. A site called Peel was set aside for development which never eventuated. Named after an Aboriginal word, ‘mandjar’ which may mean meeting place, or watering place. (One source also quotes ‘trading place’ as a possible meaning.)

Thomas Peel held land in the area, some of which he surrendered to the government in 1855 to cover monies owing. Later it was found that this land was in fact held by a Fremantle resident G.C. Knight. How Peel managed to surrender land that he didn’t hold title to isn’t explained.
 

George Mackenzie was speared and killed on July 17 1830 and due to the ferocity of the local Aborigines, a garrison of 15 soldiers under the command of Lt. Erskine had been established by the end of 1830. The following year the local tribe launched an attack on the barracks that was driven off. Attacks continued and in 1832 Private George Budge was speared and Sgt. Wood attacked and wounded.

Attacks continued in the area until the battle of Pinjarra after which things settled down considerably.

In the 1870s a fish canning factory was established by C.E. Broadhurst and it was successful enough for a second factory to start up in 1880.

In 1878 the ship James Service struck a reef off Mandurah and was lost with all hands.

The Harvey, Serpentine and Murray Rivers all empty into a large sheltered body of water known as the Peel/Harvey Estuary. Mandurah stretches along the coast between the estuary and the sea.

A great deal of development has occurred in the area in the last 10 years, yet the natural beauty of the waterways remains unspoiled. Houseboats can be rented and the area is well known for large catches of Blue Manna (or Blue Swimmer) crabs in early summer.

Housing developments along man made canals make the area most attractive, and despite the fact that Perth is 80km north, many people commute between the two to work. Development continues unabated in this area and we can only hope that the area won’t be completely ruined as a result.

A simple formula for working out how to ruin a nice place is: Paradise lost = paradise + too many people.

Unfortunately since we first wrote this page, development in Mandurah has exploded exponentially. Housing developments along the coast have mushroomed south and there are only pockets of the quiet peaceful setting that used to exist along the estuary.

Although we can only comment on what we have seen ourselves, it appears as though the numbers of crabs appearing in the estuary has sharply declined since the late 1990s. Sand flats where there were once hundreds of crabs now seem to be empty in peak season. This would appear to be directly related to the numbers of people moving in to the area and the huge numbers of crabs being removed from the system.

The same also appears to be true of prawn and mullet numbers in the waterways.

The Dawsville Cut, put through some years ago to help flush the estuary out, was a success for a short time and marine life in the estuary seemed to recover for a while. From our own observations, we believe that too much pressure is being put on the estuary and that total bans on crabbing and netting may need to be put in place before the damage is irreversible.