The Spectacles history: two lakes, Nyoongar country and a wetland saved from industry

The Spectacles takes in two wetlands, Large Eye and Small Eye, joined into one system. The land was bought for industry in the 1970s, and the lakes are now protected within Beeliar Regional Park.

How The Spectacles got its name

Landgate records that the name comes from two swamps, Large Eye Swamp and Small Eye Swamp, which have been recorded together as The Spectacles since Surveyor Thomas Watson’s first survey of the area in 1841. It was approved as a suburb name in 1978.

Before the reserve

Because the lakes hold water all year, the Whadjuk Nyoongar used them as a food source in every season, and the place is still valued by the local Aboriginal community. The City of Kwinana lists The Spectacles with Chalk Hill and Sloan’s Reserve as important Nyoongar camping, hunting and gathering places.

There was little settlement before the 1920s. The Peel Estate group and soldier settlement scheme then brought farmers to nearby Mandogalup, but many left because of the swamps and the poor sandy soils. A railway passed nearby, and steam engines took on water from the east side of Large Eye.

How it was kept

In the 1970s the Industrial Lands Development Authority and Alcoa bought the land for future industry. Studies for residue disposal found the wetland unsuitable and of high conservation value. In 1997 it was assessed for the Register of the National Estate as part of Beeliar Regional Park and nearby areas, and judged one of the most important remaining lake and wetland systems in metropolitan Perth. The Kwinana Freeway was built along its eastern side in the early 1990s.

The Spectacles today

The wetland is on the City of Kwinana heritage list in the highest category. It supports breeding scarlet robins, weebills and rufous night herons, along with black-gloved wallabies and short-nosed bandicoots.

More about The Spectacles

For what The Spectacles is like to visit now, read our suburb profile of The Spectacles. If you own a property in The Spectacles and are thinking about selling, start with buyers for your property.

Sources

• Landgate: Perth and surrounds suburb names (archived 2022)
• inHerit: The Spectacles (Spectacles Wetland, Beeliar Regional Park)
• City of Kwinana: History and heritage
• Trails WA: Spectacles Aboriginal Heritage Trail

Top image: The view from Biara Lookout over The Spectacles wetlands, August 2023. Photo: Calistemon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Dates and names are drawn from the sources above. Where sources differ, we have said so or given an approximate date.

By Key Performance Real Estate, 338 Beaufort Street, Perth