Woodman Point Regional Park

Munitions structure.

Woodman Point Regional Park is one of the most fascinating places in the Perth metro, combining high order conservation values with equally high order heritage values.

It is located on the coast 9 kilometres south of Fremantle and is mix of very scenic seascapes and woodlands in an area of 252 hectares. It is a Bush Forever site. The Park consists of a relatively narrow beach-ridge plain that extends to a peninsula formed as a result of sediment accumulation.

Woodman Point, and its associated offshore tombolo, separates Owen Anchorage from Jervoise Bay and also marks the northern extent of Cockburn Sound.

The Park contains a wide variety of ecosystems including shrubland, heath and scrub, and Quindalup woodlands. This includes tracts of undisturbed coastal vegetation, including tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) , Rottnest cypress (Callitris preissii) and Rottnest tea tree (Melaleuca lanceolata) (identified as a threatened ecological community). The Woodman Point vegetation communities are also permanently listed on the Register of the National Estate. Importantly, some parts of Woodman Point have not suffered fire disturbance for over 100 years and are therefore benchmark examples of the floristic composition before European settlement in the early 1800s.

Woodman Point Regional Park is accessed from Cockburn Road. Start your visit to Woodman Point from either the northern end at John Graham Recreation Reserve or from the southern end via Woodman Point View Drive. See p39 of the Management Plan for details.

Birds at Woodman Point

The Park provides a range of habitats that support local and trans-equatorial migratory birds plus many bushbird species. The coastal foreshore at the western extremity of the headland is an important breeding ground for local species, as well as a roosting and feeding area for local and transequatorial migratory species.

Over a hundred species have been recorded at Woodman Point. Of these, 36 species are shore-birds and other waterbirds.

Common shore-birds include Caspian Tern, Crested Tern, Fairy Tern, Pied Cormorant, Little-pied Cormorant, Australasian Darter, Australian Pied Oystercatcher, Red-capped Plover, Australian Pelican. Occasionally seen near shore is Wedge-tailed Shearwater.

Trans-equatorial migratory birds are regular November to April visitors in low numbers including Grey Plover, Red-necked Stint, Ruddy Turnstone; also occasionally seen are Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, Red Knot. These birds are listed under the Japan-Australia Migratory Birds Agreement, the China-Australia Migratory Birds Agreement, and the Republic of Korea Migratory Birds Agreement. Arctic Jaeger is frequently seen offshore in April on its return migration to Arctic regions.

Bush-birds present in the Park include Weebill, Inland Thornbill, Spotted Scrub-wren, and Splendid Fairy wren. A population of Golden Whistlers is very significant owing to the scarcity of the species within bushland areas in Perth. The tall Tuart trees present at the Park also provide nesting sites for Brown Goshawks which breed infrequently on the Swan Coastal Plain.

The birds depicted in the Gallery below were photographed at Woodman Point.

Grey Plover. A summer migrant from the high Arctic. Photo: John Baas.

Grey Plover, image taken in an October showing why it is also known in some countries as ‘Black-bellied Plover’; this bird was a recent arrival from the breeding grounds, showing residual breeding plumage.

Great Knot. Breeds in the tundra of far eastern Russia. Listed as critically endangered due to industrial development over tidal staging flats in the Yellow Sea. Photo: John Baas.

Grey-tailed Tattler. Breeds in stony Siberian riverbeds. Uncommon at Woodman Point. Photo: John Baas.

Ruddy Turnstones are summer migratory waders from the Siberian tundra. Photo: John Baas.

Crested Tern with catch. Blue Sprat shoals are abundant off Woodman Point, accounting for the large numbers of Terns usually observed in the area. Photo: John Baas.

Caspian Tern (red bill) with Crested Terns. Caspians are common but mostly present in small numbers. Photo: John Baas.

Fairy Terns are frequently seen fishing off the Wapet Groyne, and occasionally roost there. Photo: John Baas.

Roseate Tern; uncommon south of about Wedge Island north of Perth, but a few usually seen annually at Woodman Point. Photo: John Baas.

Silver Gull; Woodman Point’s most common bird. Photo: John Baas.

Red-capped Plovers are an endemic Australian small plover. Sometimes seen at Wapet Groyne as was this bird. Photo: John Baas.

Little Pied Cormorant. Very common roosting on Wapet Groyne. Photo: John Baas.

Pied Cormorant. Extremely common. Photo: John Baas.

Australasian Darter. Single birds are not uncommon; here, drying feathers. Photo: John Baas.

Australian Pelican. These iconic birds are usually to be seen. Photo: John Baas.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater. Shearwaters are pelagic (oceanic) seabirds. Wedge-tails, however, occasionally come close to shore predating shoaling small-fish schools. Photo: John Baas.

Arctic Jaeger. Most often seen on their return northern migration to Arctic breeding grounds. Usually seen harassing Silver Gulls so as to induce regurgitation of stomach contents. Photo: John Baas.

Splendid Fairy-wrens (here a male in eclipse plumage) are one of Woodman’s most common bush birds. Can easily be found in the back dune areas. Photo: John Baas.

Splendid Fairy-wren; a male in breeding plumage. Photo: John Baas.

Black-shouldered Kites are occasionaly observed. Photo: John Baas.

Grey Shrike Thrush is occasionally heard melodiously calling in the Tuart woodland. Photo: John Baas.

Grey Fantail. Found in the Tuart woodlands. Photo: John Baas.

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike. Reasonably common in the Park. This bird was hunting, soaring low on the sea breeze over dunes. Photo: John Baas.

Welcome Swallows are frequently seen in numbers over the seaweed on beaches, hawking for flying insects. Photo: John Baas.

Landform

The Quindalup Dune System is the main geomorphic feature of the Park.

The landform of the Park is characterised by gently undulating coastal dunes and swales. The beach ridge formation that constitutes Woodman Point was formed during the Holocene period (over the last 7,000 years). Sand was preferentially deposited at Woodman Point where the shelter of off-shore islands and reefs reduced wave energy. Over time the triangular piece of land, called a tombola or beach ridge plain, was transformed into a promontory.

Cultural Heritage

There was a large Aboriginal presence in the Cockburn district during the early 1800s, prior to European settlement. Artefacts and rock engravings found in the district reflect the use of the land by Aboriginal (Nyoongar) people.

Woodman Point is also historically important for European settlement, and includes the former quarantine station, crematorium and gravesites, railway link to Fremantle, explosives magazines and jetty, as well as the naval shed and groyne.

The former munitions magazines and the former quarantine station (Woodman Point Recreation Camp) are permanently listed on the State Register of Heritage Places.

A granite plinth commemorates the historic failed Clarence Settlement venture of 1829, the year that Western Australia received its first British settlers. In that first year, 40 of the settlers died of scurvy, dysentry and other illnesses, and six from childbirth.

Recreational Values

Woodman Point Regional Park is a very popular beach-side area that provides boating access to Cockburn Sound and Owen Anchorage. Picnic and barbecue facilities are extensive.