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Rockingham Crown Land Bush
For a period of less than 10 years, a small area of this Crown Land bush appears to have been used for some kind of sand or stone mining but was soon filled up. Aside from that, there appears to never have been any use for this dormant 14.21 hectare block of land.
Rockingham is the worst area I’ve seen for dumping, based on my personal experience, with Kwinana following in second. This block of land is certainly an excellent example of what I see in many of Rockingham’s bush areas and that will doubtfully ever change.
This block of land is classified as V Crown Land, also known as Unallocated Crown Land and is owned by the State or Commonwealth Government. When land isn’t managed by the local council, it’s treated as private property.
Homelessness
In February 2021, it was estimated that an approximate 37 people in Rockingham were identified as homeless.
Advance to Zero compiled a list which estimated Rockingham’s homelessness increased from 101 people in February 2023 to 188 in February this year (2024).
Under the City of Rockingham’s Public Places and Local Government Property Local Law 2018, the council can move a person on if they’re found to be camping on local government property without a permit.
Evidence of one camp on the Crown Land block lasted no more than three months towards the end of 2019. Another camp reappeared in mid-2021 and remains to this day. A third camp appeared in close proximity to the second one in early 2023 and also remains today.
Particularly with the skyrocketing costs of living and increasing rate of homelessness in the Rockingham area, cleaners have been praised for leaving public toilets open overnight, as well as rangers for not issuing fines or move-on notices.
Dumping
The City of Rockingham created a service called LitterBusters to clean up litter, “monitor illegal dumping and litter hot spots”, sometimes in response to calls made from the public. They are responsible for removing rubbish, including illegal dumping, from council property.
First signs of large-scale dumping on the Crown Land block appear to have started in around February 2020 until the end of the year. Before this time, it’s possible that rubbish was removed a lot quicker and after 2020, perhaps fences were reinforced to keep vehicles out.
In regards to the rubbish that has remained over the years here, it doesn’t appear to be a pressing concern for the council.
