Western Australian Sites
Booyeembara Park
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CITY OF FREMANTLE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Landscape Architects: Ecoscape, Fremantle
Scope of Work:
The site was quarried for limestone by the early settlers of Fremantle to construct the buildings and later the roads. After quarrying this site until the 1960’s, it became the land fill site for the surrounding city’s non-organic wastes. It was then left a wasteland of rubble and weeds. At the same time it became a treasured public open space for dogs to roam and children to be wild.
In 1997, the Fremantle Council formed a committee to steer the development of a concept plan for a public open space on the site. A number of people from the community were selected based on their interest in the Park, their relationship with the surrounding community and a strong willingness to contribute new ideas to the community design process. The community, for which this landfill had become a precious open space, stated that they wanted the site restored. They wanted it returned to bush land, parkland and recreational open space.
This committee developed a vision for the park that was:
“To create a unique public open space that provides leisure and recreational opportunities for the whole community and is visionary in terms of innovate design, appropriate technology and sustainability.”
The Concept / Intent:
The concept was to create a contemporary cultural landscape that expressed the history of the site, and its place within the broader context of Fremantle. Three narratives were used as a lense through which to see the physical design of the park. These narratives are expressed along three axes.
Geomorphologic axis
The most ancient of the narratives is located on the imaginary old limestone ridgeline beginning at the corner of Montreal and Stevens Street and terminating at the limestone cliff exposed by the quarrying activities. This axis contains the narrative of the natural cycles of sedimentation and erosion, the process of making and remaking of this coastal landscape, and the formation of limestone. The sea, marine life, wind blown dunes and water are represented along this axis. It was the interaction between these elements that gave rise to the formation of limestone that was later quarried.
Time along this axis is measured in millions of years.
Recycling axis
This axis expresses the relationship between the City and the quarry. The narrative is about the relationship between the quarrying of limestone and the building of Fremantle. It reflects on the use of the site for a landfill into which many buildings, which were built from quarried stone, were returned to the quarry as waste upon demolition. Interestingly, this waste material was again collected from the tip for building homes or extensions during the 1980’s.
Time along this axis is measured in hundreds of years.
Community axis
The eastern edge of the park is devoted to the story of the local community and this axis connects the Community Hall to the park.
The axis begins at the community hall and extends into the park through a sequence of domestically scaled garden spaces that tell of the changes in the way the people of White Gum Valley make their private gardens that collectively make up the landscape of the local community. These spaces evolve from the traditional enclosed cottage gardens of the past through to the sustainable gardens of the future with emphasis on indigenous species and permaculture. These gardens speak of the history of families, community attitudes towards gardens and nature, and sustainability from generation to generation.
Time along this axis is measured daily and seasonally.
Role of the Landscape Architect:
The landscape architect gave physical form to the ideas generated by the design team and the steering committee in the form of a Master Plan. The landscape architect and the landscape ecologist then developed the “geomorphology axis” (Stage 1) and the bush regeneration (Stage 2) and took these stages from a master plan through to construction and maintenance.
Significance of the Project:
Booyeembara Park is a special place in Western Australia because it addresses the challenges that face contemporary Australia. In a microcosm it addresses the turning around of both environmental degradation and cultural disunity. It takes a contemporary view on how landscape can be repaired through collective community action.
Booyeembara Park represents the re-establishment of the components of the original Fremantle landscape and also initiates reconciliation with the original Fremantle people. It embodies the latest knowledge in bush regeneration techniques using principles of ecological restoration, particularly reconstruction technologies, and through the design process initiates a repair of relationships with the indigenous people of the community.
Special Factors / Interesting Facts:
In July 1999 a healing ceremony was held at the Park, involving around 300 people. A giant sand painting, designed by Aboriginal artist Toogar Morrison, was laid out at the foot of the Park’s limestone cliff. Primary school students, local Nyoongar Elders, community members, Council staff, elected members and local residents shuffled and mixed sand barefoot, driving out bad spirits, welcoming old people back to the land, making sure the ground water was good. An unbreakable bond between people and the land was being created.
In the same year, the Implementation Committee consulted with local Aboriginal groups, DOLA, and a historian through the City’s local history library to name the Park. The name Booyeembara meaning “the division along the coast consisting principally of limestone rock and generally bearing the Xanthorrhoea, and a few of that species of the Eucalyptus, called White Gum (tuart)”(Lyon 1833), was chosen. The place had returned to its roots and become representative of that which had been lost and was now being rebuilt. It was a significant milestone for all of Fremantle.
Client Statement:
Upon reflection of the Booyeembara Park project, one can suitably appreciate that the successful design and rehabilitation of the land, relies on social, political, ecological and aesthetic energy. Due to the growing sense of ownership by various sectors of the Fremantle community there have been many tangible outcomes:
“40,000 bush land plants were planted by the community in 4 hours, people weed while they walk, the community participates in educational planting and weeding days, and vandalism has diminished to the point of being non existent. The environmental outcomes have also been enormous. With the introduction of the wetland into the environment, bird life in the surrounding area has increased significantly. Species unseen for years are returning to the neighbourhood. The biodiversity of Fremantle is thriving. What was a diminishing seed bank in the limestone and coastal region of Fremantle has been significantly boosted. The restoration of edible natives and Tuart woodland is occurring. The park is a living artwork. Rather than considering that this project will one day be finished it is possible that a project such as this lives on and on, ever changing and responsive to the environment and community in which it is placed.” by Rose Pinter, Community Representative.
Montreal Street Park Steering Committee:
Ian Thompson (Chair) – Councillor
Henty Farrar – Councillor
Geoff Graham – Councillor
Aiden Davison –Community Representative
Isabella Jennings –Community Representative
Jacqualine Scott – Community Representative
Rose Pinter –Community Representative
Tony Baird – Environmental Projects Officer
Lani Robert – Horticultural Technical Officer
Jenny Marslen – Recreation Development Officer
Ros Porter – Cultural Development Co-ordinator
John Csendes – Parks Co-ordinator
David Tinsley – Manager – Commercial Enterprises
Colin Ainsworth – Manager Secretary, Royal Fremantle Golf Club
Design Consultants:
ECOSCAPE/ MARY WARINNER Landscape Architecture
David Kaesehagen, Director of Ecoscape
Mary Warinner, AILA
SPACE Consultants
Ross Donaldson
URBAN THRESHOLDS
Andra Kins
NATURAL POWER SYSTEMS (WA)
Steve Deare
Landscape Contractor: EARTHCARE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
Project Construction Budget: $1.4 million + GST (Stage 1 works only).
Project Maintenance Budget: $100,000.00 +GST (Stage 1 works only).
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