The Vasse and Wonnerup Floodgates is a heritage listed site in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 that comprises two locations. The two locations are the site of the Vasse floodgates on the Vasse River

Vasse River

The Vasse River is a river in the South West of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river rise in the Whicher Range below Chapman Hill and flows in the northerly direction until discharging into the Vasse Estuary near Busselton and then the Indian Ocean via Wonnerup Inlet and Geographe Bay.The...

 and the Wonnerup floodgates on the Wonnerup Estuary. In addition the 2004 site of the Vasse floodgate was the site of the Ballarat Bridge which was built in 1871 as part of a logging rail line where the Ballaarat

W.A. Timber Company

W.A. Timber Company was a syndicate of Victorian investors granted a timber concession of 181,500 acres on Geographe Bay in the south west of Western Australia in 1870....

 Steam engine was the first steam engine to operate in Western Australia.

The installation of the floodgates caused the formation of the fresh water Vasse-Wonnerup Wetlands

Vasse-Wonnerup Estuary

The Vasse-Wonnerup Estuary is an estuary in the South West region of Western Australia close to the town of Busselton. The estuary is listed with DIWA. It was also recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on 7 June 1990 when an area of 1115 ha was...

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Vasse Floodgates

The original Vasse floodgates were built in 1907 by the Public Works Department

Public Works Department (Western Australia)

-History:The Public Works Department is a now defunct government of Western Australia which was charged with providing and maintaining public infrastructure such as dams, water supplies, schools, hospitals, harbours and other public buildings....

  and made from local timber, the site chosen for the floodgates was near the existing Ballarat bridge. These gates were later refurbished in 1927, 1942, and 1991 the final refurbishment in 1991 was in response to the 1990 listing of the wetlands under the RAMSAR convention. Though the floodgate continued to operate as designed by 2003 the gates were leaking salt water into the wetlands and had to be replaced. Investigation of the area revealed that the Ballarat bridge was in a state of disrepair and should be removed for safety reason, once this occurred a new set of automated floodgates were built on the site. In 2004 with the new gates operating the old floodgate were removed and section was given to the Busselton Historical Society which currently on display inside the Old Butter Factory Museum.

Wonnerup Floodgates

Like the Vasse floodgates the Wonnerup floodgates were built by the Public Works Department in 1907 the site chosen was near the forest beach road bridge and like the Vasse floodgates they were refurbished in 1927, 1942, 1991 and replaced in 2004. The new site was 20m upstream form the original gates once operational the old gates were removed and destroyed, though the abutments were left in place with the south abutment has a high degree of authenticity from the original structure.