MANDURAH
The City of Mandurah is located on the South West Coast of Western Australia, approximately 75 kilometres south of Perth - Perth being the capital city of Western
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The past 15 years have seen Mandurah grow from a sleepy little retirement town with a population of 12,500 to a thriving City of 43,500 – Mandurah is the largest and fastest growing regional city in Western Australia.
Mandurah, for the most part, is renown for its Tourist Attractions. The vast areas of water make the area ideal for boating, fishing, crabbing, prawning, swimming and surfing. The canal lifestyle has added a whole new dimension to Mandurah with canals close to the Central Business District and to the south and east of the City. The canal lifestyle is proving a great attraction to locals and tourists, offering permanent or holiday accommodation. Canal Cruises give tourists and locals the opportunity to see the magnificent mansions on the canals and not forgetting one of the main attractions being the ever present dolphins in and around the canals and in the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary.
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DOLPHINS AT PLAY IN THE HARVEY ESTUARY
The accessibility of Mandurah to the metropolitan area and other regions makes it an ideal spot not only for long term holidays but for weekend getaways. The freeway system is slowly creeping toward the Peel Region and within 10 years it is expected the Region will have a `State of the Art' railway system taking less than an hour to reach Perth. The enormous increase in vehicle movement, including haulage and transport vehicles, necessitated the building of the Mandurah Estuary Bridge [pictured-below] in 1986 so that through traffic could be diverted away from the Central Business District and the old two lane Mandurah Traffic Bridge [pictured-below centre] built in 1953. Mandurah is one of the main thoroughfares to the South West of the state.
Old Mandurah Bridge
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Mandurah Estuary Bridge [ built 1986]
behind the Estuary Bridge is the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary
Approximately 10 kilometres south of the town of Mandurah is the Dawesville Cut. The Dawesville Cut links the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary with the Indian Ocean and is spanned by the Bouvard Bridge. This amazing engineering feat was brought about due to a blue green algal bloom infesting the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary which threatened to cause an environmental disaster if a remedy was not found. The Dawesville Cut allows the water to flush out the Inlet and the Estuary, thus ensuring the water is clean and in a safe condition to allow the water activities, that Mandurah is noted for, to continue without fear of contamination. The Dawesville Cut has created an Island effect for the suburbs south of Mandurah.
The rapid increase in population has seen housing developments spring up like mushrooms all around the region. The Mandurah area alone, in 2002, has 6 Secondary Schools, 12 primary Schools and a TAFE [Technical and Further Education] campus with limited access to Murdoch University and still more educational facilities on the drawing board.
Mandurah is now home to a magnificent Cultural Centre including the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre [pictured below].
The following is an extract from an article in the Perth `Sunday Times' dated August 25th, 2002:
`Mandurah is becoming one of WA's real estate hot spots.
Its appeal to investors and owner-occupiers continues to grow as commuting time to and from Perth is reduced.
Mandurah is the fastest-growing regional centre in WA, with a population growth of 6 per cent. Prue Kot, principal of estate agency Portside Realty, said the improvement of the Kwinana Freeway and the pending southern rail link contributed to the suburb's increasing popularity.
"Mandurah has become a boutique suburb of Perth," she said.
"It is not considered to be just a retirement town anymore and lots of young people are moving here for the lifestyle".
"There is also a good cross-section of real estate with a house style for everyone - and that is part of the beauty of Mandurah".
Acting chief executive officer Ian Hill said it was the region's waterways - including the canals, Dawesville Channel, Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary - that appealed to many residents.
"The lifestyle in Mandurah is a lot more relaxed than in the metropolitan area while still being within a convenient commute to Perth," he said.
"With a population nearing 50,000 people, a figure that is growing regularly, the challenge will be to manage this growth while protecting the region's attractions and lifestyles".'
POSTCARD FROM MANDURAH
MANDURAH - CARING AND PLANNING FOR OUR PEOPLE, OUR PLANET AND OUR PROSPERITY
