Canning River

Passengers leaving the Silver Star river steamer ferry at Coffee Point (site of the South of Perth Yacht Club), with the old Canning Bridge in the background. ca. 1906.

The Canning River is a major tributary of the Swan River in south western Western Australia.

Source and route

With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount Pleasant, before joining the Swan at Melville Water just downstream of the Canning Bridge.

Name

The Canning River was named after George Canning, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1827 whose government facilitated the expedition by James Stirling to establish the Swan River Colony. Canning's name is honoured by a number of other features in Western Australia.

Convicts

Convicts constructed the Canning River Convict Fence for the use of barges carrying timber from Mason's Timber Mill in the Darling Ranges is a notable landmark still to this day.

The river is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species.

Algae Bloom

Algal blooms occur naturally in the Canning River system, they are caused by a buildup of nutrients in the river. Human activities including farming, residential gardens and parklands are the major causes of increases in levels, the blooms are potentially toxic to both mammal and marine life. The Swan River Trust monitors the levels of nutrients and growth of the algae issuing warnings and closing sections of the river to all activities. The Trust also operates cleanup programs to reduce the amount of nutrients reaching the river, as well phosphorus removal and oxygenation in areas were blooms have been identified.

The Trust is encourage by the appearance of Azolla carpets on sections of the Canning River as this fern is known to reduce the amount of sunlight available to the algae as well as absorbing large amounts of phosphorus and other nutrients from the water. The benefits of Azolla also raise concerns about deoxygenation of the water and omit a strong sulphur odor.

Canning River without the Azolla in February 2006.

Same location covered in a carpet of Azolla March 2007.

See also

• Head of the River (Australia)
• Mount Henry
• Canning Dam
• Canning River Regional Park

Further reading

• Brearley, Anne (2005). Ernest Hodgkin's Swanland : estuaries and coastal lagoons of South-western Australia. Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press for the Ernest Hodgkin Trust for Estuary Education and Research and National Trust of Australia (WA),. ISBN 1-920694-38-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• Burningham, Nick (2004). Messing About in Earnest. Fremantle Arts Centre Press. ISBN 1-920731-25-3.
• Richards, Oline. (199). Canning River Regional Park, Western Australia : historical survey. Perth, W.A.: Dept. of Planning and Urban Development. ISBN 0-7309-3249-4.
• Seddon, George (1970). Swan River Landscapes. Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 0-85564-043-X.
• Carden, F.G. (1st Edition 1968, 2nd edition, 1991,). Along the Canning: A History of the City of Canning Western Australia, Covering its progress from Roads Board to Shire, to Town, to City City of Canning,. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: year (link)