BIG SWAMP WILDLIFE PARK
By Akita Olsen
The Big Swamp Wildlife Park came to life in 1985
when the Aviculture Society started it as a display,
hobby, and general novel idea. Bunbury City Council
has been involved with the wildlife park since its
inception and continues to manage it.
The wildlife park is now run by
coordinator Sheri Metternick-Jones, who has been
in the position since 1998. Sheri enjoys her role,
as sees the park as a high value asset to the
community. There are also a couple of part time
staff and many volunteers (around 20 people) that
assist with the running and up-keep of the park.
It is a lovely place for picnics, children’s
parties, tours, educational school excursions,
an afternoon out, or a place to take overseas
visitors. If you have not been, get on your bike
and check it out and take your children or friends
with you.
The park has landscaped aviaries and gardens,
picnic areas, a café, souvenir shop, and interactive
display - as well as all the animals. There are over 60 varieties of Australian
native birds and marsupials. A popular activity
in the park is hand feeding the free range kangaroos
that are roaming and entering into the large
free flight aviary (for the brave) to hand feed
the parrots.
The park is an asset to Bunbury and the south west as
it is a great tourist attraction as well as benefiting
the community, as it provides avenues for:
- work for the dole program;
- work experience options for local high school
students;
- educational options for environmental excursions
by schools; and
- community members needing to do volunteer work
There is a group of people who created the Friends
of Community Big Swamp Wildlife Park, which assists
in promoting the park and providing awareness of its
facilities and needs. One of it's chief aims is to
increase the number of visitors to the park.
You may have heard or read stories about the struggles
of the wildlife park in the past year or so as the
future of this great park has seemed quite uncertain
for a while. To address this issue and concerns the
Bunbury City Council will be forming a new committee
called the Big Swamp Steering Committee to assist
in overseeing future directions for Big Swamp Wildlife
Park and nearby parklands.
It would be fantastic to see this facility upgraded
and running for many years to come. There are not
many tourist activity sites in the Bunbury area so
it would be a shame to see the closure of such a facility.
Currently the council is seeking nominations from
people in the community to form the Big Swamp Steering
Committee. If you are interested, and feel you have
a background which will help you assist the long term
development and management of the facility, please
contact the council for an information pack or nomination
form – Lesley Adamson on (08) 9780 8237 or email
ladamson@bunbury.wa.gov.au.
The nomination forms can be downloaded from www.bunbury.wa.gov.au
The wildlife park is always in need of more volunteers
– so if you feel you would enjoy helping in this
way please contact the park on (08) 9721 8380.
Big Swamp Wildlife Park is open daily from 10am to
5pm. You can locate the park on Prince Philip Drive
in Bunbury. (08) 9721 8380.
June 2004
