The Reserve
Two lakes, one story
80 hectares of wetland reserve in the heart of inner Perth — recovering, thriving, and worth knowing.
Photo: Ian Stewart
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80 ha
Total reserve area
12.6 ha
Open water across East & West Lake
83
Bird species recorded
Since 2021
Under active community stewardship
Perry Lakes Reserve sits in the middle of Floreat, eight kilometres from the Perth CBD, and most people drive past it without knowing what’s there. Two interconnected lakes. Eighty hectares of wetland, woodland, and open space. Eighty-three species of birds. Turtles, quenda, microbats, frogs. A groundwater system that reaches across the Swan Coastal Plain. And a community of people who have made it their business to understand and care for all of it.
The reserve has a long story — longer than the suburb around it, longer than the 1962 Commonwealth Games stadium that reshaped its edges, longer than the decades of drying that followed. That story is still unfolding. The pages below are the best way in.
Explore
Five ways into the story
Country & History
Country and history
Whadjuk Noongar country, the 1962 Commonwealth Games transformation, and the community stewardship story that began in 2021.
Country and history →
Hydrology
How the lakes work
The Gnangara Mound aquifer, the replenishment scheme, and the hydrology behind Perry Lakes’ recovery. Includes our interactive water story.
How the lakes work →
The Challenge
Why the lake needs us
Declining groundwater, nutrient loading, invasive species — and why consistent community attention makes the difference.
Why the lake needs us →
The Work
How we care for it
Weeding, planting, water monitoring, fauna surveys — the practical work of caring for Perry Lakes, season by season.
How we care for it→
tHE fRAMEWORK
What guides us
The Town of Cambridge Management Plan and FoPL Ecological Plan — the framework that makes our work coherent and accountable.
What guides us→