Reclamation work on Leschenault Peninsula completed

The $3.2 million program to turn Leschenault Peninsula from a waste disposal area to a coastal park was finally completed today when responsibility for the 12 kilometre strip was officially handed over to Environment Minister Jim McGinty. 

After 30 years as a site for acidic effluent disposal, teams of workers have reclaimed and rehabilitated the effluent 'lagoons', reconstructed dunes, and introduced a revegetation program stretching across tens of hectares. 

South-West Minister David Smith described the rehabilitation program as one of the most significant undertaken in Western Australia. 

"Government agencies such as the State Development Department, the Waterways Commission and the Department of Conservation and Land Management have worked on the project for five years," Mr Smith said. 

"Their work has demonstrated that when disposal areas are no longer needed they can be rehabilitated and in the case of the Leschenault Peninsula are superb." 

Mr McGinty said the turnaround had been amazing. 

"We now have an attractive park that will not only provide an important new recreation area, but a reserve for ringtail possums, pythons, waterbirds and a host of other wildlife," he said. 

"The new recreational area will be declared an A Class Conservation Park and will be known as the Leschenault Peninsula Conservation Park." 

The peninsula was first used for waste disposal in the early 1960s soon after the State's first sulphate process pigment plant started operations at nearby Australind. 

As part of the agreement establishing the plant, the State Government agreed to manage the plant's effluent disposal for 50 years. 

The effluent was piped to the area through a 2.8 kilometre pipeline built across the Leschenault Estuary. 

As part of the rehabilitation scheme, the old pipeline has been removed but part of the groyne has been retained for recreational use. 

A draft management plan for the park will be released by CALM in the first half of next year.