George Street Reserve

Once a sanitary depot, this area is becoming a haven for wildlife

George St Reserve 2019

Overview

George Street Reserve

From 2010, the Town of Victoria Park has made significant steps towards conserving, restoring and expanding the bushland. In 2011, a ten-year program began to progressively revegetate the George St Reserve into bushland and integrate it in the Kensington Bushland.

In addition to vegetation from the local bushland, George Street Reserve also includes the Australian native trees, Corymbia maculata (the Spotted Gum) and the pink flowering species of Eucalyptus leucoxylon. 

History

The History of the George Street Reserve

Like the rest of Kensington, George St Reserve was banksia woodlands until the early 1900s when land was set aside for a sanitary depot to service South Perth and Victoria Park even though the area was considered one of the best for wildflowers and birds.

Indeed, the opening speech of the 1899 Victoria Park Wildflower show urged “care to guard against destruction of the indigenous flora.” (Western Mail, 23 September 1899, p6).

This is the first recorded clearing of bushland in what is now the Jirdarup Bushland Precinct.

The situation became increasingly controversial as the population increased until it was finally closed in the late 1940s.

The area then remained covered in grass and weeds until 2010 when the Town of Victoria Park initiated a program to regenerate the bushland.

George St Reserve 2003

Solar powered Cockitrough

Wildlife

A Haven for Wildlife

In November 2023, the Town of Victoria Park installed a solar powered Cockitrough in the George St Reserve. It took a week for the birds to find it. This is one of the quietest spots in Jirdarup and is expected to be increasingly popular for the birds and reptiles.