Point Roe Foreshore

Point Roe is named after John Septimus Roe, Western Australia’s first Surveyor-General, who had owned a five hectare grant of land here in 1831.

The northern end of the foreshore in this area formed part of the land used by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR), where their waste water outlet pipe ran into the Swan River and 100m further north was the pump house, which sent cool water up through pipes to the industrial buildings above.

Construction of the CSR buildings took two years from October 1928, as a result of circumstances brought about by the Great Depression. Adjoining the land was the Billy Goat Farm, one of Western Australia’s oldest farms. The CSR site closed in September 1997 and was demolished a short time later.

In the water of Point Roe are the wrecks of the Point Roe Box Barges 1 and 2, some 1.5m deep and 40 metres apart from each other.

The Tamala limestone shows strong signs of erosion with many past and near future-collapses evident along the foreshore, particularly where the instability of tree roots exacerbates it.