Glen Forrest, Western Australia
Glen Forrest is a suburb within the Shire of Mundaring, south of John Forrest National Park, west of Mahogany Creek, east of Darlington, north of the Helena River. Its northern boundary is determined by the Great Eastern Highway. Known as Smiths Mill after a prominent founder citizen, it is named after the first Premier of Western Australia, Sir John Forrest; the suburb is bisected by a disused railway track - the original route of the Eastern Railway -, now known as the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail, Nyaania Creek. It has a number of significant conservation reserves including the Glen Forrest Super Block, adjacent to Ryecroft Road, it has the only road that runs through to the Helena River valley from the suburbs between Mundaring Weir and the Helena Valley locations. The major extractive industries were early forestry, the Stathams brickworks, which had its own siding, just east of the railway yard; the brickworks was located on a patch of white clay, now a park and recreation area. It has two commercial areas - one adjacent to, just north of the former railway station site, the other at the intersection of Hardey Road and Great Eastern Highway.
Like Darlington to the west, Glen Forrest had at its earliest times a winery on the valley edge down which Hardey Road passes. Elliot, Ian. Mundaring - A History of the Shire. Mundaring: Mundaring Shire. ISBN 0-9592776-0-9. Spillman, Ken. Life was meant to be here: community and local government in the Shire of Mundaring. Mundaring: Mundaring Shire. ISBN 0-9592776-3-3. Glen Forrest on Geoscience Australia Mundaring and Hills Historical Society Website
Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia)
The Department of Parks and Wildlife was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 and implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. The minister responsible for the department was the Minister for the Environment; the Department of Environment and Conservation was separated on 30 June 2013, forming the Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Environment Regulation, both of which commenced operations on 1 July 2013. DPaW focused on managing national parks, marine parks and reserves. DER focused on environmental regulation and appeals processes, pollution prevention, it was announced on 28 April 2017 that the Department of Parks and Wildlife would merge with the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, the Zoological Parks Authority, the Rottnest Island Authority on 1 July 2017 to form the Department of Biodiversity and Attractions. The Department of Parks and Wildlife had management responsibilities in: nature reserves 100 national parks 19 conservation parks 17 marine parks 1 marine nature reserve 2 marine management areas State forests and other lands and waters throughout the stateAt 30 June 2017, the total area under Parks and Wildlife's care was 31,480,868 ha.
The land area managed by the Department was about 10.6 per cent of the land area of Western Australia. The lands and waters managed by the Department received in 2014-15 18.6 million visits a year, with visitor satisfaction at a high level of 89%. The average level of visitor satisfaction with their visit on Parks & Wildlife lands and waters was of 91.4% in 2015-16. Western Australian national parks and reserves received 20 million visits in a single year for the first time in 2016–17 and a visitor satisfaction level of 92.5 per cent. Each year Parks and Wildlife aimed for a satisfaction rating above 85 per cent, a figure it had achieved for more than 10 consecutive years. 10,910 people were registered volunteers with the Department in 2014-15 that helped in a range of projects across the State with 610,000 hours contributed. During 2015-16, 5,189 active volunteers of the total 13,737 registered individuals contributed 638,747 voluntary hours to more than 200 Parks and Wildlife environmental and recreational programs.
In 2016-17, Parks and Wildlife's volunteers have contributed to a record number of hours to help conserve and manage WA’s natural places, with 5,410 volunteers contributing 723,508 hours. Parks and Wildlife was responsible for the wildlife conservation project Western Shield, a pest animal and weed control program that included 4 million hectares of conservation reserves and State forests baited for feral animal control, as well as weed control on more than 89 million hectares of unallocated Crown land and unmanaged reserves. There are a number of internationally recognised biodiversity hotspots within Western Australia and in particular in the south west of the state. Parks and Wildlife managed two long distance trails: the 1,000 km Bibbulmun Track for walkers, the 1,000 km Munda Biddi Trail for cyclists. An important duty of the Department was to be responsible for bushfire prevention and suppression on its lands as well as fire prevention in unallocated Crown land and unmanaged reserves.
This included conducting controlled burns to reduced fuel load, research into the behaviour and effects of bushfires. More than 247,360 hectares were prescribed burnt in the three forest regions during the 2016-17 financial year, in addition to the significant burns that have been undertaken by staff in the South Coast, Wheatbelt, Mid West and Kimberley regions up to 2,988,394 hectares; some of the most severe West Australian bushfires that the Department had to suppress, in chronological order, include: Earlier forms of Nature conservation in Western Australia were under: Department of Lands and Surveys: 1 January 1890 - 31 December 1895 Wood and Forests Department: 1 January 1896 – 31 December 1918 Forests Department: 1 January 1919 – 21 March 1985 State Gardens Board: 15 December 1920 – 30 April 1957 National Parks Board: 1 May 1957 – 30 July 1977 Department of Fisheries and Fauna: 1 October 1964 – 31 December 1973 National Parks Authority: 1 August 1977 – 15 April 1985 National Parks Authority Wildlife section of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife: 1 January 1974 – 21 March 1985 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Department of Conservation and Land Management: 22 March 1985 – 30 June 2006 Department of Environment and Conservation: 1 July 2006 – 30 June 2013 Swan River Trust: 1989 - 1 July 2015 The Department maintained and coordinated a range of specialist equipment and emergency response vehicles.
This included pumpers and tankers and other equipment relating to operations involving search and rescue and firefighting. The Department of Parks and Wildlife had 3 types of uniforms: a standard khaki and bottle green uniform with appropriate badging was supplied to and worn by staff whose duties included the monitoring of legislative compliance, a work wear for those that worked in the field and personal protective equipment or clothing (TecaSafe gold overshirt, TecaSafe dark green trouse
Fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. Foxes have a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed upturned snout, a long bushy tail. Twelve species belong to the monophyletic "true foxes" group of genus Vulpes. Another 25 current or extinct species are always or sometimes called foxes. Foxes live on every continent except Antarctica. By far the most common and widespread species of fox is the red fox with about 47 recognized subspecies; the global distribution of foxes, together with their widespread reputation for cunning, has contributed to their prominence in popular culture and folklore in many societies around the world. The hunting of foxes with packs of hounds, long an established pursuit in Europe in the British Isles, was exported by European settlers to various parts of the New World; the word fox comes from Old English. This in turn derives from Proto-Indo-European *puḱ-, meaning ’thick-haired. Male foxes are known as dogs, tods or reynards, females as vixens, young as cubs, pups, or kits, though the latter name is not to be confused with a distinct species called kit foxes.
Vixen is one of few words in modern English that retains the Middle English southern dialect "v" pronunciation instead of "f". A group of foxes is referred to leash, or earth. Within the Canidae, the results of DNA analysis shows several phylogenetic divisions: The fox-like canids, which include the kit fox, red fox, Cape fox, Arctic fox, fennec fox; the wolf-like canids, including the dog, gray wolf, red wolf, eastern wolf, golden jackal, Ethiopian wolf, black-backed jackal, side-striped jackal and African wild dog. The South American canids, including hoary fox, crab-eating fox and maned wolf. Various monotypic taxa, including the bat-eared fox, gray fox, raccoon dog. Foxes are smaller than some other members of the family Canidae such as wolves and jackals, while they may be larger than some within the family, such as Raccoon dogs. In the largest species, the red fox, males weigh on average between 4.1 and 8.7 kg, while the smallest species, the fennec fox, weighs just 0.7 to 1.6 kg. Fox-like features include a triangular face, pointed ears, an elongated rostrum, a bushy tail.
Foxes are digitigrade, thus, walk on their toes. Unlike most members of the family Canidae, foxes have retractable claws. Fox vibrissae, or whiskers, are black; the whiskers on the muzzle, mystaciae vibrissae, average 100–110 mm long, while the whiskers everywhere else on the head average to be shorter in length. Whiskers are on the forelimbs and average 40 mm long, pointing downward and backward. Other physical characteristics vary according to adaptive significance. Fox species differ in fur color and density. Coat colors range from pearly white to black and white to black flecked with white or grey on the underside. Fennec foxes, for example, have short fur to aid in keeping the body cool. Arctic foxes, on the other hand, have tiny ears and short limbs as well as thick, insulating fur, which aid in keeping the body warm. Red foxes, by contrast, have a typical auburn pelt, the tail ending with white marking. A fox's coat color and texture may vary due to the change in seasons. To get rid of the dense winter coat, foxes moult once a year around April.
Coat color may change as the individual ages. A fox's dentition, like all other canids, is I 3/3, C 1/1, PM 4/4, M 3/2 = 42. Foxes have pronounced carnassial pairs, characteristic of a carnivore; these pairs consist of the upper premolar and the lower first molar, work together to shear tough material like flesh. Foxes' canines are pronounced characteristic of a carnivore, are excellent in gripping prey. In the wild, the typical lifespan of a fox is one to three years, although individuals may live up to ten years. Unlike many canids, foxes are not always pack animals, they live in small family groups, but some are known to be solitary. Foxes are omnivores; the diet of foxes is made up of invertebrates such as insects, small vertebrates such as reptiles and birds, can include eggs and plants. Many species are generalist predators. Most species of fox consume around 1 kg of food every day. Foxes cache excess food, burying it for consumption under leaves, snow, or soil. Foxes tend to use a pouncing technique where they crouch down to camouflage themselves in the terrain using their hind legs, leap up with great force to land on top of their targeted prey.
Using their pronounced canine te
Beelu National Park
Beelu National Park is a national park east of Perth, Western Australia. Lying south of Mundaring, Western Australia, west of the Mundaring Weir Road, it is part of the group of parks known as the Parks of the Darling Range; the park was named Mundaring National Park. Mundaring National Park was established and gazetted in 1995 as part of the Protecting Out Old Growth Forests policy of the State Government; the park was renamed in 2008 as an acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the area. The word Beelu is derived from the Noongar word for stream; the Beelu people were the original peoples of the area whose district was bounded by the Helena and Canning Rivers. The park contains an abundance of native flora including Jarrah, Zamia, Bull Banksia and Grass tree; the park contains toilets, wood barbecues, picnic tables and a variety of hiking and mountain biking trails. An information centre, the Perth Hills National Parks Centre is located within the park and is open between 10.00am and 4.00pm to offer advice and refreshments to visitors.
A lookout is located South Ledge with a view over Lake CY O'Connor. The largest Oak Tree in Western Australia is found in Fred Jacby Park. Two campsites are available to use within the park. Protected areas of Western Australia Mitchell, Samille What's in a name? Parks of the Darling Range Landscope Volume 24 number 2, pp. 40–46
Shire of Mundaring
The Shire of Mundaring is a local government area in eastern metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The Shire covers an area of 645 square kilometres and had a population of 38,000 as at the 2016 Census; the Greenmount Road District was created on 17 April 1903. On 29 March 1934, it was renamed Mundaring. On 1 July 1961, it became the Shire of Mundaring after enactment of the Local Government Act 1960. Mundaring Shire has published the following statistics for the period 1994-2006: Population: 35,097 Area: 643.32 km² Rateable area: 205.91 km² Rateable properties: 13,600 Revenue: A$17.4M Vested reserves: 104.60 km² Forests and National Parks: 238.30 km² The shire is divided into four wards. West Ward South Ward Central Ward East Ward The Shire contains three national parks and numerous nature reserves: Beelu National Park Greenmount National Park John Forrest National Park Lake Leschenaultia Mundaring Weir and Interpretation Precinct The Shire is recognised for its natural environment and has numerous walk and ride trails: Bibbulmun Track C Y O'Connor Trail Eagle View Walk Trail Forsyths Mill Mountain Bike Track Kep Track Lake Leschenaultia Trails Munda Biddi Trail Railway Reserves Heritage Trail Weir View Walk 2014 Perth Hills Bushfire Official website
Swan Express
The Swan Express was a weekly English language newspaper published in Midland, Western Australia. The Swan Express was published from 1 December 1900 until 8 November 1979, it was printed by William Heller at 184 Barrack St, published at The Crescent, Midland Junction. It was established by Frederick Davis, who had worked as the second in charge at The Sunday Chronicle. Davis owned and edited the newspaper for 8 and a half years before he sold the business to Herbert James Lambert, who took control on Monday 3 April 1909. Lambert was an experienced journalist and had worked as sub-editor at the Morning Herald. During World War I, Lambert ran the soldiers' camp newspaper, Camp Chronicle: the soldier's paper, he went on to become editor of The West Australian. Camp Chronicle was published at Blackboy Hill army camp, recording the day-to-day events of the camp; the newspaper contained personal paragraphs and matters pertaining to the life of a soldier. The weekly newspaper served the eastern suburbs of Perth, including Midland, which in 1900 was a major railway junction.
Issues of The Swan Express and the Camp Chronicle have been digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program of the National Library of Australia in cooperation with the State Library of Western Australia. Microfilm and hard copies of The Swan Express and the Camp Chronicle are available at the State Library of Western Australia. List of newspapers in Australia List of newspapers in Western Australia The Swan Express at Trove Camp Chronicle at Trove
Avon River (Western Australia)
The Avon River is a river in Western Australia. A tributary of the Swan River, the Avon flows 240 kilometres from source to mouth, with a catchment area of 125,000 square kilometres. Lake Yealering in the Shire of Wickepin is the point of origin for the upper Avon River, the catchment size above the confluence with the Salt River at Yenyenning Lake is 91,500 square kilometres; the basin covers much of the West Australian wheatbelt and extends beyond that in some areas near almost-always-dry Lake Moore in the northeast, water is received from only the extreme western edge of the basin. Indeed, until an abnormally wet year in 1963 it was not realised that the northeastern part of the basin beyond Wongan Hills drained water into the river. Under present climatic conditions, it is impossible to produce runoff from anywhere outside the extreme west of the basin because the amount of rain required to fall before runoff would begin is as high or higher than the mean annual rainfall; the river has three main sub-catchments: catchments for the Mortlock and Lockhart rivers.
The river flows past County Peak. Thirty creeks and rivers flow into the Avon. Most of these watercourses are only flow after rain events in winter and spring; some permanent pools exist along the course of the river including Burlong Pool, Robins Pool, Long Pool, Cobblers Pool and Jimperding Pool. The Avon River Valley is the third and final route for the Eastern Railway line through the Darling Scarp between Midland and Northam, having been constructed in the 1960s, it is the site of an annual whitewater boating the Avon Descent. Due to the extraordinary age of the soils in the basin, the rooting density of native flora is high and its average specific discharge the lowest of any basin of comparable size in the world; the extreme age of the soils means that, at least after clearing for agriculture all rivers in the basin have salinities above 0.3% and some much more than that. Passing through some of the oldest settled European agricultural areas in Western Australia, the catchment area has extensive soil salinity issues, which have attracted governmental programmes to alleviate the loss of agricultural lands.
Catchment groups that oversee projects in the tributary parts of the river have had considerable support and funding from commercial and non-governmental sources as well. List of rivers in Western Australia Harris, T. F. W; the Avon: an introduction Perth, W. A.: Water and Rivers Commission ISBN 0-7309-6989-4 http://www.wheatbeltnrm.org.au/ – the Avon Catchment Council – known now as the Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management Inc
