Armadale-Gosnells Landcare Group has now commenced a restoration project at Roley Pools Reserve, where it will redevelop the foreshore.
Shane Hunter, who has been with the not-for-profit group since 2014, describes the goals of the project as being: “Focussed on really connecting our community with the local environment and getting people engaged, and contributing, towards looking after nature.
“So, we do that by organising volunteer events where people come out and help us with hands-on activities like planting or removing weeds, monitoring wildlife, and all of that sort of stuff. This restoration project at Roley Pools Reserve will be the same thing.
“It will be done in partnership with the City of Armadale, from which some of our funding also derives, so you really have more than one group involved.
“We’ve done restoration up at Roley Pools, on and off, since the earliest days of our landcare group, which would have been in the late 90s. Since the state government started contributing funds, we’ve really been able to ramp things up. It’s led to revegetation of large portions of the river. This year, that’s one of our main goals, to plant thousands of seedlings in the area.”
According to Mr Hunter, volunteers come from several sources, including local schools.
“They like to get their students involved. I believe we’ve got them again this year. We also do a weekend community planning day, in which we partner with the bush care group up in Roleystone, another not for-profit environmental organisation. They normally focus on the bushland areas, not so much the river, but we partner with them every year and do a bit of a planting along the river somewhere,” he said.
To ensure that public awareness of human impact on such locations as Roley Pools remains strong, Mr Hunter has emphasised the role of workshops and education in his group’s activities.
“We do these things as well, you know, since it’s all part of the same goal really.”
The funding for this event is part of a series of grants that followed expressions of interest sent to the WA government, which has released several rounds of grants in the past for rejuvenation projects of the Swan Canning Riverpark.
According to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions: “The State Government reaffirms its commitment to protect the Swan and Canning rivers by providing significant funds for rehabilitation and revival projects.
“As part of the 2025-26 Riverbank funding, almost $620,000 will be shared by local governments, with more than $321,000 going towards the construction of a river wall at Northbank in the City of Fremantle. It is among seven projects approved for funding as part of a program to which state governments have contributed more than $31 million for restoration projects over almost 25 years.
“The ecological restoration of the Canning River in the City of Gosnells, foreshore restoration at Roley Pools in the City of Armadale and detailed designs for Hinds Reserve and Riverside Gardens in the City of Bayswater will also receive notable contributions,” they have declared.
Riverbank protection has quite a long history in WA, with this program tracing its origins back to the Gallop administration in 2002. In the years since its beginning, more than 370 sites along the Swan and Canning rivers have been worked on.
“The State Government has invested millions in helping to protect, rehabilitate and revive these areas through the riverbank funding program and will continue to do so,” Minister for the Environment Matthew Swinbourn has said.
“These vital projects help address health and environmental issues, ensuring the Swan Canning Riverpark continues to thrive.”
At Roley Pools, weeding work is currently in progress, with seeding slated to occur in winter. If interested in participating and contributing to the upkeep of the much-loved reserve, or any of their other projects, contact Armadale-Gosnells Landcare Group.
