- NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The western edge of the Shire of Carnamah reaches the Indian Ocean around the Coolimba Coast, west of Eneabba. The coastline includes sandy beaches, dunes, limestone outcrops and nearshore marine habitats that support important ecological, recreational and landscape values. The sheltered waters around Coolimba include seagrass meadows, while coastal vegetation provides habitat for a diverse range of native fauna. Offshore, the Beagle Islands form part of the Turquoise Coast island nature reserves, a chain of islands, islets and rocks extending along the coast between Lancelin and the Beagle Islands group. Much of the adjoining coastal landscape remains relatively undeveloped and is associated with extensive conservation reserves, including Beekeepers Nature Reserve. Protecting coastal vegetation, dunes, offshore islands and marine habitats is important for maintaining biodiversity and the natural character of this part of the Northern Agricultural Region.
The western edge of the Shire of Carnamah reaches the Indian Ocean around the Coolimba Coast, west of Eneabba. The coastline includes sandy beaches, dunes, limestone outcrops and nearshore marine habitats that support important ecological, recreational and landscape values. The sheltered waters around Coolimba include seagrass meadows, while coastal vegetation provides habitat for a diverse range of native fauna. Offshore, the Beagle Islands form part of the Turquoise Coast island nature reserves, a chain of islands, islets and rocks extending along the coast between Lancelin and the Beagle Islands group. Much of the adjoining coastal landscape remains relatively undeveloped and is associated with extensive conservation reserves, including Beekeepers Nature Reserve. Protecting coastal vegetation, dunes, offshore islands and marine habitats is important for maintaining biodiversity and the natural character of this part of the Northern Agricultural Region.
The Shire of Carnamah has an economy based principally on agriculture, mining and resources, renewable energy, transport and local services. Economic activity varies across the Shire, reflecting the agricultural landscape around Carnamah and the resources and industrial history of Eneabba.
Agriculture remains a major land use and economic activity, with broadacre cropping and livestock production supporting agricultural services, transport, grain handling and other local businesses. Carnamah functions as an important service centre for the surrounding farming district.
Mining and resource industries have played an important role in the development of Eneabba and continue to contribute to the local economy. The Shire is also attracting investment in renewable-energy and associated infrastructure, adding to the range of industries operating across the district.
Tourism makes a smaller but important contribution, particularly through the Shire’s wildflowers, conservation reserves, heritage attractions and the Coolimba Coast. Carnamah and Eneabba provide accommodation, retail, hospitality and other services for residents, workers and visitors.
The Shire of Carnamah spans two major geological regions. The western part of the Shire lies within the sedimentary Perth Basin, while the eastern part extends onto the much older Yilgarn Craton. The Yarra Yarra Lakes form a prominent feature through the central part of the Shire.
West of the Yarra Yarra Lakes, landscapes of the Perth Basin include the Dandaragan Plateau, Arrowsmith Region and Coastal Plain. These comprise gently undulating sandplains and lateritic surfaces, dissected areas with hills and breakaways, and coastal dunes, sand sheets, alluvial plains and limestone hills. East of the lakes, landscapes of the Yilgarn Craton are associated with ancient granitic rocks and are generally characterised by sandy or loamy surface soils over clay subsoils.
Soils vary across these landscapes but extensive areas of pale and yellow deep sands occur throughout the Shire, together with shallow sands, gravelly soils and heavier soils associated with drainage lines and low-lying areas.
The Shire includes parts of the Lesueur Sandplain (GES02) subregion of the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion and the Merredin (AVW01) subregion of the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion. Native vegetation varies considerably across this transition, from species-rich heathlands and shrublands on sandy soils in the west to eucalypt woodlands, Acacia shrublands and other vegetation associated with the inland agricultural landscape.
The nationally listed Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh ecological community occurs in coastal parts of the Shire. This community is listed as Vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It includes salt-tolerant vegetation occurring in intertidal and supratidal coastal environments that are regularly or intermittently influenced by tidal inundation.
The Shire also contains extensive areas of remnant native vegetation, particularly in its western and coastal areas. These landscapes form part of the highly diverse northern Geraldton Sandplains and provide habitat for a wide range of native flora and fauna. Inland remnants are particularly important in an agricultural landscape where native vegetation has been extensively cleared and fragmented.
Agriculture is the dominant productive land use across much of the Shire of Carnamah, particularly in the inland areas surrounding Carnamah. Broadacre cropping and livestock grazing occupy extensive areas and are supported by grain-handling facilities, transport infrastructure and agricultural services.
Around Eneabba and in the western part of the Shire, land uses also include mining and resource development, renewable-energy infrastructure and other rural industries. Urban, commercial and community land uses are concentrated primarily within the Carnamah and Eneabba townsites.
The Shire also contains substantial areas of native vegetation and conservation land. Tathra National Park protects diverse sandplain and breakaway environments east of Eneabba, while Beekeepers Reserve protects native vegetation closer to the coast. Other reserves, wetlands, waterways and roadside vegetation contribute to habitat and ecological connectivity.
Balancing agriculture, resource and energy development with the protection of native vegetation, wetlands and other significant environmental values is an important land-management consideration across the Shire.
The Shire of Carnamah is a small rural community with two principal townsites, Carnamah and Eneabba, as well as residents living on farms and rural properties throughout the district. Carnamah is closely associated with the surrounding agricultural industry, while Eneabba has longstanding connections with the resources sector.
At the 2021 Census, the Shire of Carnamah had 552 residents. The median age was 46 years, and 22 people — 4.0% of the population — identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
The Shire’s dispersed population and relatively small communities make local services, community organisations, volunteering and sporting and recreational facilities important contributors to community life.
Water resources within the Shire of Carnamah vary considerably between the western sandplain around Eneabba and the inland agricultural areas. Seasonal wetlands, lakes and drainage systems occur across the Shire, while groundwater is particularly important in the western part of the district. Lake Indoon, west of Eneabba, is one of the Shire’s best-known wetland environments. The seasonal lake is fed by Erindoon and Bindoon creeks and its water levels vary substantially in response to rainfall. Wetlands and other seasonally inundated areas around Eneabba provide important habitat within the surrounding sandplain landscape. Groundwater resources around Eneabba form part of the Arrowsmith Groundwater Area within the Northern Perth Basin. A number of shallow and deeper aquifers occur beneath the area and groundwater supports town water supplies, agriculture, industry and groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Sustainable groundwater management and protection of water-dependent ecosystems are important as demand for groundwater increases and the regional climate becomes drier. In inland agricultural areas, salinity, altered drainage and changes to surface-water movement associated with land clearing are also important water-management considerations.
