Kuljak Island, also known as Black Swan Island, is an artificial island in the Swan River.[1][2][3] Situated between Ron Courtney Island upstream and Heirisson Island downstream, Kuljak Island is east of Maylands Peninsula and south of Garratt Road Bridge.[1] Kuljak Island is surrounded by a number of smaller, also artificial, islets, and is entirely within the boundaries of the suburb of Ascot.[4]
History
The island was created in 1997 by dredging two channels as a part of the Ascot Waters development.[1] These channels connect an artificial wetland with the Swan River, isolating the site of a former sanitary landfill, thus forming Kuljak Island.[1][4][5] This sanitary landfill was a council rubbish tip for 25 years before being closed in the early 1980s.[1]
Kuljak Island presents “an important backdrop to Tranby House” on the western shore of the Swan River facing Kuljak Island, by offering a view of an “apparently undeveloped” river “against the well maintained house and gardens” of Tranby House.[4] It captures how “the river would have been at the time” Tranby House was built.[4]
Activities
Kuljak Island may be accessed by car via Tidewater Way, and by a pedestrian bridge via Samphire Street. A walking trail mapped by the City of Belmont comprises paved footpaths on, and leading to, Kuljak Island.[6]
^ abcdLisa Chalmers, Water and Rivers Commission (September 1997). "Swan River System Landscape Description". Perth, Western Australia, Australia: Swan River Trust. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
