The Little Pinnacles, Mullaloo

Statement of Significance

The Little Pinnacles have scientific significance and rarity value as a surviving example of this type of geological feature in the metropolitan area. They are representative of the limestone formations and deposits along the Western Australian coastline.

Physical Description

The ‘Little Pinnacles’ are located within a densely vegetated conservation reserve, Bush Forever Area 325, south of Mullaloo Beach North car park. One side of the reserve is bordered by a carpark, and the other by Oceanside Promenade. The conservation reserve is delineated from the coastal dunes by a gelding fence and a dual use pathway. The vegetation within the site is so dense the feature is unable to be seen and fences make the area inaccessible. Photographs supplied, taken c. 2008, show the limestone pillars protruding from the sand dunes.

History

Along the metropolitan coast north of Perth, sandy beaches broken by limestone headlands are common. There are many theories around how pinnacles are formed, but the most popular being a combination of factors: that they have formed by erosion (especially water corrosion and wind erosion) of the surrounding material to leave the more resistant parts as pinnacles, and are remnants of the Tamala Limestone, i.e. that they formed due to a period of extensive solutional weathering or karstification. The coastal dunes between Marmion and Two Rocks include a wide variety of coastal features from rocky headlands and cliff shorelines to wide sandy beaches. The Little Pinnacles, also known as The Little Desert of Mullaloo, are what scientists refer to as solution pipes, dating back 2.5 million years to the Pleistocene Age. They have become exposed over the years by the removal of the dune sands by wind erosion. Through the development of management plans and conservation reserves, public access and use is controlled to ensure the integrity of these formations are not lost. In 1976 when the coastal area of Mullaloo was subject to residential development, the Mullaloo Progress Association submitted to the Department of Environment and Conservation to make 50ha of heath-covered dunes including The Little Pinnacles into a national park. Although not comparable to The Pinnacles south of Jurien Bay, the Little Pinnacles of Mullaloo are the last remaining example in the metropolitan area of the heathland environment that once stretched along the coast. The area was gazetted as a Recreation Reserve on 9 December 1997. On 12 January 2000 the vesting was changed from the City of Wanneroo to the City of Joondalup. The Little Pinnacles are today also afforded protection by being located within Bush Forever Area 325 which extends from Burns Beach in the North to Hillarys in the South. ‘Bush Forever’ was a strategic plan released in 2000 for the conservation of bushland within the Swan Coastal Plain portion of the Perth Metropolitan Region. A key objective of Bush Forever was to retain the Swan Coastal Plain’s rich biodiversity by protecting, where possible, representative areas of each of the 26 naturally occurring unique vegetation types (called ‘vegetation complexes’) that occur within the Swan Coastal Plain portion of the Perth Metropolitan Region. In 2023, although there is a dual use pathway that runs along the beach, the area is inaccessible to the public as it is fully fenced. Dense vegetation also obscures the geological feature from the roadway and car park.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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