Seppings

Lake Seppings (Noongar: Tjuirtgellong) is a freshwater lake located within the city of Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.

Lake Seppings (Noongar: Tjuirtgellong) is a freshwater lake located within the city of Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.

Around 20,000 years ago the sea level was about 130 metres (430 ft) lower than present and the coastline was about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the lake's current shoreline. The sea level then rose and the lake was a shallow basin in the sea floor. This explains why cockle shells can be found preserved in the soil. Sea levels then fell to current levels about 8000 years ago leaving Lake Seppings 500 metres (1,640 ft) from the coast line.

Lands along the eastern shore of the lake once were part of an estate belonging to Joseph Spencer of Balgarrup near Kojonup in 1884.In 1887 it was proposed to the Albany Municipal Council by Councillor Robert Andrew Muir that the Council apply to the Government to grant the land surrounding Lake Seppings as a

Commonage for the Municipality. The council later voted on the application in 1888 with the intention of establishing a botanical park along the shoreline for a portion of the lake and a timber reserve around the lake.In 1888 Lake Seppings was declared a Botanic garden. The lake was renamed "Albany Park" in 1900 and protected as a natural wetland. Between 1900 and 1970 the west side of the lake became a rubbish dump until 1972 when the department of fisheries and fauna suggested the lake become a water-fowl reserve.

The Apex club of Albany began work on the bird-walk during the 1980s. The Albany community demanded that the lake be protected and restored in 2000 and in 2004 the walking trail around the lake was completed.

In 2018, a community planting to establish an biodiversity urban corridor planted 22,000 trees and understorey plants in a 1.7 hectares (4 acres) area around the lake to revegetate the fringes and provide habitat for species such as the endangered western ringtail possum.