Improving river health
The Helena River (Mandoon) is the current focus of the BoorYul-Bah-Bilya program developed by the Aboriginal-led charity Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association (BNAA) to create a new type of community plan for improving river health.
“Mandoon” comes from the Noongar language, meaning “place of many trees.”
BNAA hopes the plan will provide a framework applicable to all rivers once complete.
Common threats to rivers include urban expansion, climate change, pollution, salinisation, acidification, vegetation decline, altered flow, erosion and sedimentation,” the Association says.
In December 2024, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions awarded two community Rivercare program grants to BNAA for restoration projects. The funds were for habitat improvement for birds and other species dependent on waterways.
The Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association (BNAA) has been restoring and protecting two important sites in the catchment – near Caignish Gauging Station and Nyaania Creek, a seasonal tributary that flows into the Helena River with a catchment that moves through a number of hills suburbs just east of the Darling Scarp.
BNAA has teamed up with local business, Aboriginal Land Care, to plant over 800 plants at the two sites. Weed control activities will continue throughout the cooler months until September.
The BNAA is also working with local artist Daniel Iley to design and install wooden signage and benches to encourage people to reconnect with these important places.
Originating in the Darling Scarp, the Helena River traverses the coastal plain and discharges into the Upper Swan Estuary at Guildford. This ephemeral river system has a largely natural catchment comprising bushland, State forest and national parks. Its flow has been altered and reduced by dams.
