Lake Cooloongup, sometimes also referred to as White Lake, is a shallow

saline lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

in the suburb of Cooloongup, south of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, the capital 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 ...

. It is part of

Rockingham Lakes Regional Park Rockingham Lakes Regional Park is a conservation park approximately south of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Rockingham. The park, established in 1997, covers a non-continuous area of and occupies approximately 16 percent ...

. In the local

Nyungar language Noongar (), also Nyungar (), is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broa ...

, Cooloongup means "place of children".

Overview

The lake is bound in the east by

Mandurah Road Mandurah Road is the name given to two roads in the cities of Perth and Mandurah, Western Australia, which link together at Stakehill Road, Karnup, Western Australia, Karnup. Route description The northern part starts in the Kwinana Beach, We ...

and in the west by the suburb of Cooloongup, with the reserve south of the lake stretching to

Safety Bay Road Safety Bay Road is an east-west metropolitan road located in the City of Rockingham, about south of Perth, Western Australia. The road starts in Rockingham's coastal suburbs and heads south from Peron past Lake Richmond. The road then turns ...

, to the south of which Lake Walyungup is located. Like Lake Walyungup, Lake Cooloongup is thought to be drying because of reduced rainfalls. Depths of both lakes fluctuate from 0.5 to 3.5 metres, with the permanent pools of Lake Walyungup being the deepest points. Both lakes are also increasing in salinity, with Walyungup being more saline than Cooloongup. Unlike Lake Cooloongup, which has a groundwater outflow towards the sea, Lake Walyungup is a closed system, with water from the lake discharging through

evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) refers to the combined processes which move water from the Earth's surface (open water and ice surfaces, bare soil and vegetation) into the Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of w ...

only. Both lakes have small freshwater wetlands on their western edge, which is made up of dunes, while the eastern edge is formed by a limestone ridge. The Lakes Cooloongup and Walyungup continue to be of spiritual significance for the local indigenous population as the place where the Sea Waugal laid her eggs. Walyungup, in the Nyungar language, means "place where Nyungars talk", leading to the conclusion that the northern lake was a place for children while the southern one was for adults. Lake Cooloongup as well as Lake Walyungup, Port Kennedy Scientific Park and Lark Hill, all within Rockingham Lakes Regional Park, are potentially contaminated with

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

, having been used as artillery range by the Department of Defence in the era around

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In the late 1980s, the Western Mining Corporation carried out

limnology Limnology ( ; ) is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. It includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteristics of fresh and saline, natural and man-made bodies of water. This includes the study of lakes, ...

and

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

studies on the lake, which however were not published.

Flora and fauna

A flora survey carried out by volunteers identified a large number of previously unsurveyed species at Lake Cooloongup, among them '' Billardiera heterophylla'', '' Hakea varia'', '' Hakea trifurcata'', '' Ptilotus drummondii'', '' Pimelea calcicola'', '' Lobelia tenuior'', '' Viminaria juncea'' and '' Arthropodium strictum''. The stands of

tuart ''Eucalyptus gomphocephala'', known as tuart, is a species of tree and is one of the six forest giants of Southwest Australia. The trees usually grow to a height of and mostly have a single stem, but can have multiple stems under some condit ...

, marri and

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with rough, fibro ...

trees support populations of the

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, i ...

and

western brush wallaby The western brush wallaby (''Notamacropus irma''), also known as the black-gloved wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in the southwestern coastal region of Western Australia. The wallaby's main threat is predation by the introduced red fox (' ...

while, in the water, small freshwater crayfish have been reported.

References

External links

* Parks and Wildlife Service
Rockingham Lakes Regional Park
* Urban Bushland Council WA Inc.
Rockingham Lakes Regional Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooloongup Rockingham Lakes Regional Park Lakes of Perth, Western Australia Saline lakes of Western Australia Noongar place names