Safety Bay, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Safety Bay
city = Perth
state = wa


caption =
lga = City of Rockingham
postcode = 6169
est =
pop = 7305 (2006 census)Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC52236|name=Safety Bay (State Suburb)|quick=on|accessdate=2008-10-05]
area =
stategov = Rockingham
fedgov = Brand
near-nw = Shoalwater
near-n = Rockingham
near-ne = Hillman
near-w =
near-e = Cooloongup
near-sw =
near-s = Warnbro
near-se = Waikiki
dist1 =
location1= coord|-32.304|115.721|type:city(7305)_region:AU-WA_scale:30000|format=dms|display=title

Safety Bay is an outer southern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located on the coast within the City of Rockingham.

Safety Bay was originally a small cove on the north shore of Warnbro Sound, now encompassed by Safety Bay Road, Berry Street and Janet Road. It was noted by Surveyor General John Septimus Roe in 1837 as "a safe, well protected boat anchorage" and he gave it the appropriate name of Safety Bay. A headland near the present junction of Safety Bay Road and June Road was named "Point Shelter". Later the cove was renamed "Peel Harbour" and, when it ultimately became landlocked, "Peel Basin", but the name Safety Bay stuck and gradually came to be applied to all the northern portion of Warnbro Sound. "Peel Basin" was reclaimed in later years and houses now stand where Roe once recorded soundings of up to 7 fathoms.

Recreational attractions

Because of its mild child-safe, sheltered beach, Safety Bay became a fairly popular family holiday venue early in the 20th century. In addition, today, its boat-launching facilities are utilised by recreational sailors and anglers. An adjoining beach at Shoalwater is used by windsurfers and kitesurfers. The bay lies wholly within the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park, a pristine habitat for a rich variety of birds and marine life centred on Penguin Island. (Download a map from here.) [http://www.naturebase.net/component/option,com_hotproperty/task,view/id,10/Itemid,755/]

Local boat cruise operators offer opportunities to see wildlife including dolphins, whales, sea lions and penguins. The district is well served by shops, pubs and restaurants and is close to numerous technical product and service outlets in the comprehensive light-industrial estates on and around Rockingham's Dixon Road. Safety Bay's natural attractions have engendered increasing use of its seafront real estate for expensive mansion-type residential development. Ironically, a demand has simultaneously arisen from some of the newer investors for artificial control of natural seaweed whose odours are, periodically, claimed to impair traditional outdoor entertainment.

Transport

Safety Bay is served by an excellent road network including the nearby Kwinana Freeway by which Perth (50 km to the NNE) can be reached in about 45 minutes by car. The port city of Fremantle is a 30-minute drive to the north and the resort city of Mandurah is 20 minutes to the south. Those destinations are also served by bus routes which connect with the Perth-Rockingham-Mandurah rail service. The rail journey to Perth from Rockingham [ [http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/DestinationMandurah/Stationinformation/RockinghamWarnbro/tabid/306/Default.aspx Transperth information for Rockingham and Warnbro] ] takes 33 minutes, with trains at 10-minute intervals in peak time.

References

Other reading

* [http://www.naturebase.net/component/option,com_hotproperty/task,view/id,10/Itemid,755/ Shoalwater Islands Marine Park (Department of Environment and Conservation]
* [http://reiwa.com/res/res-iframe-suburbprofile-view.cfm?Stats_ID=165 REIWA house values]