West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Friday 25 May 1934, page 23


RIVER RECLAMATION.

SOUTH PERTH PROJECT. Reserves and Riverside Drive.

Within six or seven weeks pumping- will commence in connexion with the work of reclaiming a large area on the southern bank of the Swan Rivea- westward of the

Causeway. In making this announcement yesterday, the Minister for Works (Mr. A. McCallum) said that the reclaimed area, together with some of the existing lowlying parts of South Perth, would be incorporated in a beautification scheme that would include a circus at the southern end of the Causeway, a recreation reserve imlediately to the westward, a spacious area for gardens and la.wns, a southern riverside drive, and new residential areas for subdivision! The Minister said that the work was being undertaken by the Public Works Department in co-operation with the Perth City Council and the South Perth Road Board. Under the original scheme for river reclamation the department would have had to build a retaining wall on the alignment where its activities must cease because the local authorities' rights would be interfered with by further 'encroachment. The result would have been unsightly, especially if the local authorities had left their areas untouched. The community of interest scheme now entered into by the Public Works Department and the two local authorities, had made possible a much more comprehensive scheme of beautification without much, if any, additional cost to the department. The local authorities would benefit from the subdivisional areas made available to them. The pumping work was. being done by the dredge Stirling at a price unapproached in any similar work undertaken in Australia. About 60 acres of land on a frontage of three-quarters of a mile' between the Causeway and Manning Point will be reclaimed under the scheme. A circus 400ft. in diameter will be built at the southern end of the Causeway and from the circus will commence' a riverside drive' extending along the reclaimed land to Manning Point. ' On the river side of this Toad gardens, and lawns will be laid but in an attractive manner. At the Causeway end 20 acres will be used for a recreation reserve. On the southern side of the riverside drive the land will be subdivided for sale as residential blocks.