Community Legacies
Southern Gateway Alliance were committed to, not only constructing and delivering a world class road, but also to reducing its impact and improving the local environment where possible. As a result, a series of legacy projects have been created that will contribute social and environmental benefits for present and future generations.
Anstey Wetlands
The largest and most visible legacy on the project, the Anstey Wetlands, comprises 20.4 hectares of transformed land adjacent to the Kwinana Freeway extension. The majority of the area is dedicated wetlands with the remaining areas providing transitional land and dry land revival.
The wetlands are located south of the Karnup Road interchange, on the eastern side of the freeway. Being close to the Serpentine River and adjacent to Bush Forever sites, the wetlands will provide an extensive breeding habitat for waterbirds and attract fauna back into the region.
Thousands of seedlings were planted to help create fauna habitat, as well as improve the water quality and minimise erosion. The flora species planted, including Eucalyptus and Melaleuca, all naturally occur in the area and are therefore suited to the soil and environment conditions.
Limestone tracks have been installed around and throughout the wetlands for public use and fencing has been erected to prohibit trail bike riders from disrupting the development of native flora.
When the vegetation has matured, the gates and fencing will be dismantled. The wetlands will be maintained by Main Roads WA.
History
Work to create the Wetland commenced in early 2007 with the waste removal, clearing and burning of deteriorating pine plantation.
In the late spring of the same year, the excavation and land shaping took place and the 700,000 cubic metres of fill that was extracted from the site was used on the highway.
The provision of fill material from this site resulted in an improved use of sustainable resources and reduced heavy traffic on local roads.
The area was designed by Southern Gateway Alliance member Karl Karu and features 13 hectares of wetlands, with the remaining 7.4 hectares utilised as transition land and dry land revival.
Meadow Springs Regional Open Space
As a social legacy, the Alliance as a part of a joint venture arrangement, undertook the bulk earthworks required to establish the Meadow Springs Regional Open Space, which provided new state-of-the-art sporting and passive recreation facilities for the local community.
As part of the works, the Alliance quarried some 300,000 tonnes of limestone from the site, using this material at the Lakes Road interchange and on sections of the alignment between Paganoni Reserve and the Pinjarra interchange.
Following the excavation, the Alliance then imported approximately 65,000 tonnes of sand to support the formation of the playing fields. The coordination of the two regional projects created significant savings to the City of Mandurah and provided close access to raw materials required for the construction of Kwinana Freeway extension and Forrest Highway.
The City of Mandurah had been working towards creating public open space
for Meadow Springs since 2004, with the project becoming a reality due to
the collaborative efforts of the State and Federal Government, and the Alliance.
Winjan Community
In 2008, Southern Gateway Alliance donated a large amount of ochre from the project site to the Winjan Aboriginal Community Centre in Greenfields, Mandurah.
The ochre, which is also known as iron stone, is most commonly used for ceremonial purposes and was discovered just west of the alignment, approximately one kilometre south of Paganoni Road in Karnup.
Local Aboriginal elder Harry Nannup noticed the remnant ochre within the cleared alignment footprint while on a site inspection and subsequently requested the donation for use at the Community Centre.
SGA extracted the ochre and transported some of the material from the site to the Community Centre in Greenfields. The remaining ochre was stockpiled at the site for future use by the Aboriginal community.
Recently after the project’s completion, Southern Gateway Alliance also donated two demountable units to the Winjan community that were previously used as project site offices. The offices were placed at the Winjan Community Centre in late September 2009 and will be used for a variety of functions.
