- NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
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Agriculture is the main land use and an important foundation of the Shire of Three Springs economy. Broadacre farming includes grain and oilseed cropping, particularly wheat, canola, lupins and oats, together with livestock production including sheep and cattle.
Mining also contributes to the local economy. The Three Springs Talc Mine, located approximately 10 km east of the Three Springs townsite, is a long-established open-cut mining operation and continues to provide local employment.
The Three Springs townsite provides agricultural supplies, retail, trades and other services to the surrounding farming district. Health, education, local government and other public services also provide important local employment.
The Shire of Three Springs spans the transition between the Perth Basin in the west and the ancient Yilgarn Craton in the east. This geological transition is reflected in the Shire’s varied landforms and soils.
Western parts of the Shire include the Dandaragan Plateau and Arrowsmith landscapes of the Perth Basin, characterised by gently undulating sandplains, lateritic surfaces, hills and breakaways. Soils include deep sands, sandy and gravelly soils and loamy earths.
Further east, the landscape is associated with ancient granites, gneisses, metasedimentary and other rocks of the Yilgarn Craton. The south-eastern part of the Shire includes ancient drainage landscapes associated with the Yarra Yarra lake system, where broad plains, lateritic uplands and salt lakes are prominent features. Soils include yellow sandplain soils, loamy and sandy earths, duplex soils and heavier soils associated with drainage systems and low-lying areas.
The Shire includes parts of the Lesueur Sandplains (GES02) subregion of the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion and the Merredin (AVW01) subregion of the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion. Native vegetation varies from species-rich proteaceous heath and shrublands on western sandplains to Acacia shrublands, mallee and eucalypt woodlands further inland.
The Assemblages of the organic mound springs of the Three Springs area are a threatened ecological community associated with groundwater-fed peat mound springs between the Three Springs, Arrino and Eneabba areas. The springs are characterised by the continuous discharge of groundwater, creating permanently moist microhabitats that support distinctive assemblages of plants and invertebrates.
Vegetation associated with the mound springs includes moonah (Melaleuca preissiana), river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), flooded gum (Eucalyptus rudis), white myrtle (Hypocalymma angustifolium), orange wattle (Acacia saligna), sheath twigrush (Machaerina vaginalis) and other moisture-dependent species.
The Shire also contains occurrences of the Plant assemblages of the Inering System, a threatened ecological community associated with chert, granite and lateritic hills and their lower slopes and footslopes. Its vegetation includes Allocasuarina campestris scrub and thickets, Acacia shrublands, Melaleuca cardiophylla thickets and York gum (Eucalyptus loxophleba) woodland.
Other ecological communities of conservation significance occurring within or extending into the Shire include the Ferricrete floristic community (Rocky Springs type), which is associated with ferricrete substrates in the northern Geraldton Sandplains.
Agriculture is the dominant land use in the Shire of Three Springs, with broadacre cropping and livestock production occupying much of the cleared landscape. Wheat, canola, lupins and oats are among the crops grown in the district, alongside sheep and cattle production.
Mining and associated infrastructure are also locally important, particularly around the talc deposits east of Three Springs. The townsite, transport corridors and other infrastructure occupy a relatively small proportion of the Shire.
Areas of remnant native vegetation occur throughout the agricultural landscape and are particularly important for biodiversity conservation in this extensively cleared region. A network of conservation reserves protects native vegetation, salt-lake environments and other significant habitats. Major protected areas include Dookanooka, Kadathinni, Sweetman, Wilson and Wotto nature reserves and the Yarra Yarra Lakes conservation reserve system.
The Shire of Three Springs is a small rural community centred on the Three Springs townsite, with residents also living in smaller localities and on farming properties throughout the Shire.
At the 2021 Census, the Shire of Three Springs had 575 residents. The median age was 42 years, and 50 people — 8.7% of the population — identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
The local community supports agriculture, mining and a range of local businesses and services. Three Springs provides services and facilities for the surrounding farming district, including local government, education, health, recreation and community services.
The Shire of Three Springs contains a mixture of seasonal waterways, salt-lake systems and groundwater resources. The Arrowsmith River is the principal watercourse associated with the Shire. Its headwaters occur near Three Springs and the river flows westwards before terminating inland at Lake Arrowsmith. Parts of the Yarra Yarra Lakes system extend across the eastern part of the Shire. This extensive chain of naturally saline lakes and associated drainage systems is an important feature of the inland landscape. Groundwater resources vary considerably across the Shire. Western parts of the Shire are associated with the Arrowsmith Groundwater Area of the Northern Perth Basin, while groundwater further inland is generally more closely associated with older geological formations and may be saline. Groundwater is important for agriculture, industry, domestic use and groundwater-dependent ecosystems, including the organic mound springs for which the Three Springs area is environmentally significant. Water resources are affected by the region’s variable climate and by land-use pressures including salinity and changes to surface-water and groundwater regimes. Sustainable management of both surface water and groundwater is therefore important for agricultural production and the conservation of aquatic and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
