Beeliar, Western Australia

Historically, "Beeliar" has referred to a variety of things. The settler-colonialist, Robert Menli Lyon, recorded the term "Beeliar" with a dual reference. "Beeliar" has been translated by many to mean "river". "Boodjar" is a Noongar term, translated as "land". Some historians regard the majority of the City of Cockburn to have been "Beeliar Boodjar", or the land of the Beeliar-Noongar. Early written sources of the Beeliar suburb show boundaries beyond the present suburb of Beeliar due to historical developments and geographic changes since European contact. Parts of Beeliar Regional Park are not within the present boundaries of the suburb, but the entire Regional Park was initially under the Beeliar suburban boundaries. == Noongar Dreaming and creation stories ==

The Dreaming of the Noongar believes that the Waakal, the Rainbow Serpent, created the landscapes and boundaries of the regions in south-west Western Australia, including the water features (the "bilya" or "beeliar"), flora and fauna found in Beeliar's area. Historians translated parts of the Dreaming to say the local creation story was that "Waakal twisting up and down [making hills]… to Fremantle and south to Mandurah", which shaped the creation of the Beeliar Wetlands features. Since the pre-contact era, Beeliar, as a suburban area, holds important spiritual, economic and "medicinal" value for the local Aboriginal peoples. This is partly due to wetlands having “biologically productive” soil, which led to beneficial flora and fauna to live in Beeliar. == History ==

Pre-contact Using the oral history transcripts and the few written records by early settler-colonialists, scholars suggest that Beeliar and its surrounding suburbs of the local council (City of Cockburn) were the lands of the Noongar/Nyungar peoples. During the hot seasons, with minimal rainfall, the land would dry, "which allowed the Noongar people to practice their traditional low-intensity firing regime in the area. Following this execution, Midjegoorong's son Yagan had a bounty imposed on him by the local government. He outlined the boundaries of this area as being "north-south from the Swan and Canning Rivers to Mangles Bay, and east-west from the sea to the Darling Scarp". Oral history records reveal that many Beeliar citizens remember a “different” state of nature in the Wetlands, claiming that the instalment of pipes led to the "semi-dryness" of the Beeliar Wetlands. In the 1980s, the Wetlands Education Centre of Cockburn was established. This institution relies on the sites of Beeliar Wetlands, as well as Thomsons Lake (which is located within the suburb's newer boundaries) for its research and educational excursions. Historians have claimed that the Noongar peoples of the Beeliar area continued to camp and regularly practice ceremonies “through [to] the 1980s”. In addition to the Wetlands Education centre being established in the 1980s, the state government also agreed to develop Beeliar Regional Park. The naming of the suburban region, Beeliar, was officially approved by the state government on 2 December 1993. However, similar to Bibra Lake, which became a separate suburb from Beeliar, the Beeliar suburban boundaries have continued to evolve and change as new suburbs are established since the mid-20th century. Two years after the approval of the name "Beeliar", the suburb was redefined again and shared the land with another suburb, named Yangebup. Beeliar Drive cuts through Beeliar Regional Park and marks the boundary between the two suburbs. Thus, only a portion of the Beeliar Regional Park still belongs within the suburb of Beeliar. == Geographic ==

Nature and environment Within the official council boundaries of Beeliar since the 1990s, the Beeliar Regional Park and the Beeliar Wetlands are split between Beeliar and its neighbouring suburbs, Yangebup (north) and Wattleup (south). The main road, Beeliar Drive, marks the division between the Beeliar and Yangebup. Likewise, another major road, a section of Russell Road, marks the boundary between Beeliar and Wattleup. Beeliar's section of Beeliar Wetlands and Beeliar Regional Park include Kogolup Lake and Thomsons Lake. Thomsons Lake Nature Reserve (sometimes spelt as "Thompsons") is the largest portion of the Wetlands within Beeliar. Smaller reserves within Beeliar are: Habitat Reserve, Hakea Reserve, Owgan Reserve, and Luttrell Gardens. Environmental threats The Department of Parks and Wildlife (2006) identified the following threats to Beeliar's wetlands: "Drainage, excavation and filling; Pollution including eutrophication; Water level changes; Salination; Aesthetic disruption (Section 24); Aquatic or declared weeds (Section 19); and Insect pest control (Section 21)". Of the identified threats, four have been the selected targeted areas for environmental protection: "Drainage, excavation and filling; 2. Pollution including eutrophication; 3. Water level changes; and 4. Salination". The Department (2006) reports that "406 native taxa" are found within the Beeliar features. This report also identified Thomsons Lake and Koholup Lake as Aboriginal sites under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972. == Urban features ==

Parks and recreational sites One of the two major recreational parks is Radonich Park. The facilities that are granted for public access include barbeque stations, exercise equipment, and a playground. The public facilities available at this location are barbeque stations, a playground, sporting features, and toilets. It has two main facilities: a main room and a meeting room. Schools and education facilities There are two schools in Beeliar: • Beeliar Primary School – public • South Coogee Primary School – public Drive Thru Art Gallery Three of the 30 of the Cockburn Drive Thru Art Gallery artworks are located in Beeliar. There are two murals and one sculpture. At the Beeliar Community Centre, there is street art created by Lesley King and local Beeliar young people. The other mural, by Chandy Pendergrast and Aran Cummins Devereaux (and Beeliar Residents Advancement Group and Emmanuel Catholic College), is located on the Beeliar Railway Abutment Bridge on the western end of Beeliar Drive. The final artwork is a metal sculpture depicting crops in a market garden by Dawn and Phillip Gamblen (local Croatian community representatives) installed at Spearwood Avenue. ==Transport==

Bus • 530 and 532 Cockburn Central Station to Fremantle Station – serve Beeliar Drive • 531 Cockburn Central Station to Fremantle Station – serves Beeliar Drive, The Grange, Starflower Grove, Tindal Avenue, Ivankovich Avenue, Merevale Gardens, Congdon Avenue, East Churchill Avenue and Watson Road • 534 Aubin Grove Station to Wattleup – serves Russell Road • 549 Fremantle Station to Rockingham Station – serves Stock Road and Rockingham Road == Demographics ==

According to the 2016 Census, 7,454 people are living in Beeliar. 1.7% identify as Indigenous Australians. There are more females than males, and the median age is 33. One-quarter of Beeliar's residents identify as having English ancestry (25.3%). The majority were born in Australia (62.4%), with other countries of birth including England, the Philippines, New Zealand, South Africa, and Portugal. Although most of Beeliar's populace was born in Australia, only 36% had both parents born in Australia. 34.9% of Beeliar's residents affiliate with Catholicism, which is higher than the state average (21.4%). Less than 20% of Beeliar's populace has some university qualification, which is slightly lower than the national average (22%). 22.6% of those currently studying or involved in the education system in 2016 were in public primary schools. The census reports 2,053 families in Beeliar, with an average of 1.9 children per family with children. The average number of people per household is 2.9 people. The majority of Beeliar's population aged 15 or over are married (52.2%), with an additional 12.4% involved in a de facto marriage. The majority of families have one parent working full-time, and the other works part-time (26.3%). Households have, on average. 2.1 vehicles. The majority of Beeliar's residents work full-time (59.6%), which is higher than the state average (57%). The most popular industries that they work in are hospitals (4.1%), primary education, supermarkets, aged care services, and iron ore mining. The median household income is $2045 per week. The median monthly mortgage repayments are $2167. The median weekly rent is $400. Households with Indigenous people pay a median of $385 per week. They pay $2470 per month on mortgage repayments, which is 148% more than the national median for Indigenous Australians ($1660 per month). ==Notes==