We are delighted to share our congratulations with the Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association, who were recently awarded a Lotterywest grant for their new Booryul-Bah-Bilya initiative. Our team recently met with Project Director Francesca Flynn to learn more about their plans. We are excited to be able to contribute to the development of this new type of community catchment plan, which considers the environmental, social, cultural and economic significance of the river, enabling a better balance between its many values.
Booryul-Bah-Bilya is an innovative project that will help to protect and restore the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River). The funding will help the team to undertake cultural mapping of significant places, people and events in the river’s catchment, as well as undertake environmental sampling as part of a conservation audit to determine the health of the river and support ecosystem protection.
Mandoon Bilya flows from the wandoo woodlands and swamps of Ballardong and Gnaala Karla Booja, through jarrah forests of the Perth Hills into Whadjuk country, and joins the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) in Guildford.
On its journey, it flows through our Hazelmere base, as well as taking in Mundaring, Kalamunda, Swan, York, Beverley and Northam. Mandoon Bilya includes 900+ seasonal waterways like Pickering Brook, Piesse Brook, Nyaania Creek, Quenda Creek, Elder Creek, Kadina Brook, Darkin River and Beraking Brook.
Many people know it as the river that was dammed to create Mundaring Weir and the Golden Pipeline in 1898, but many are unaware of its strong ecological, cultural and social values.
This is a community-led project, which begins with a public survey. Please share your valuable input with the Booryul-Bah-Bilya team by completing the survey here.
Photo Gallery: 2023 Bilya Restoration Project Community Planting Day (Helena River)
