Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association

04/06/2026

Big Tech corporations are forcing massive data centres onto communities across the country.

Data centres use huge amounts of energy and water, drive up energy prices, and cause noise and air pollution for local communities.

Big corporations are using AI to sack workers and degrade their work.

Join us for a conversation with union and climate leaders plus local communities who’ve fought data centres in their neighbourhoods and won.

Register here tinyurl.com/350datacentres

25/05/2026

🐟LOCALLY EXTINCT FISH FOUND IN PERTH HILLS🐟

We have some incredible news to share 💙

We have discovered a locally extinct fish - the rare and threatened Balston’s pygmy perch - in the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River).

It was first detected through eDNA sampling as part of our BoorYul-Bah-Bilya (BBB) Program, which is building a biodiversity baseline across the entire Mandoon catchment.

We then collaborated with DWER’s River Science team to undertake targeted fish surveys to confirm its presence. Some of our new BBB Rangers supported these surveys - an incredible experience that we will never forget.

Balston’s pygmy perch is one of the rarest freshwater fishes in the southwest and was long thought to be extinct north of Margaret River, making this discovery particularly significant.

The species faces a high risk of extinction due to habitat clearing and the impacts of a drying climate. This new northern population may be more resilient to climate change, making its protection and recovery especially critical.

These findings will be used to inform future conservation, land-use planning, and land management decisions. BNAA will continue to work with key stakeholders to support conservation actions and improve habitat for this and other threatened species in the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) catchment.

This is now the second rare and threatened species previously thought to be locally extinct that has been rediscovered through our BBB Program so far, alongside the Perth Hills quokkas.

These discoveries highlight the power of community working in partnership with government to generate science that informs land use and management decisions, and helps to support threatened species recovery, protect climate refuges, build resilience to climate change, and enable Aboriginal Rangers to care for Country.

BNAA acknowledges the collaborative effort behind this discovery, including:
- DWER for field surveys
- DBCA for technical advice
- eDNA Frontiers and Wilderlab for lab analysis
- Lotterywest and Edith Cowan University for eDNA support
- National Indigenous Australians Agency for Rangers support



Lotterywest
National Indigenous Australians Agency
Edith Cowan University (ECU)
Parks and Wildlife Service, Western Australia
Curtin University
Wilderlab
ABC Perth
Guardian Australia
Echo Newspaper
WAtoday.com.au

19/05/2026

🥳 IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY*! 🥳

BNAA is 4 and our BBB Program is 2🎉
*Last week but we were busy with a giant data centre!
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For those who don't know us, BNAA is a Noongar-led environmental charity in the Perth Hills (Whadjuk Noongar Boodja). We combine traditional Noongar knowledge and modern science to create a shared journey of healing Country.
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What do we do?
- Restore ecosystems
- Reinvigorate culture
- Strengthen communities through reconnection to Country
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BoorYul-Bah-Bilya is our community-led program for healing Country. BBB is using the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) to develop a new model of river catchment management to mark the 2029 Perth Bicentenary.
We aim to not only restore one river, but to create a transferable model to inspire the revival of all rivers.
Our BBB Rangers play a key role: caring for Country and working with community across Mundaring, Kalamunda and Swan.
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Our highlights:
- Spending time together on Country
- The BBB Rangers
- Cultural mapping
- Mandoon Bilya BioBlitz
- Perth Hills quokkas
- Restoration of Mandoon Bilya and Nyaania Creek
- Extensive baseline sampling (water, sediment, eDNA)
- Kwejuk Nyitting (Long Ago Dreaming) animation
- Successful advocacy for Country
- Our first Business Plan (2025–2029)
- Our first 4WD ute
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We have big plans for 2029, including:
- Mandoon Bilya Riverpark
- Integrated catchment plan
- Community knowledge platform
- BBB model process
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You can help our vision become reality.
To support us:
- Donate via PayID: [email protected]
(tax deductible over $2)
- Containers for Change: C11616605
Thank you to everyone who is part of our story❤️
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Message from BNAA Chairperson and Noongar Elder, Walter McGuire OAM:

If you got story, heart, spirit, soul…then speak yourself for the old, the now and the future. Stand for it.
BNAA has story, song, heart, spirit, soul…we speak, we stand for this Environment.
BoorYul-Bah-Bilya is reconnecting the magical essence that this Land has for All Peoples.
This Environment is Our Family, we are part of it and it is part of Us…the land, rivers, springs, hills, night sky, daytime sky, sun, moon, stars, rain, lightning, thunder, freshwater, oxygen, clouds, wind, all flora and fauna, everything…Is Our Sisters and Brothers…Our Moort-Family.

14/05/2026

BREAKING NEWS!!! 🚨🚨

WE DID IT!!!! The Hazelmere Data Centre planning application will be withdrawn 🥳🥳🥳

HUGE THANK YOU to everyone in our community who stood strong to protect the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) and our community 💙💙💙

Thank you so much Tania Lawrence MP 🩷 for your announcement!

This has been confirmed by the City of Swan and the DAP, so it is finally official 🎉🎉🎉

Read all about it:

🖤 https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/significant-win-swan-valley-residents-cheer-power-down-of-600m-data-centre-plans-20260514-p5zx52.html

🖤 https://nit.com.au/15-05-2026/24288/locals-save-mandoon-bilya-from-massive-ai-data-centre

Trillion Trees Australia
Helena River Community for Responsible Development
Lower Helena Association
Guildford Association Inc
Conservation Council of WA
Kanyana Wildlife
Urban Bushland Council WA Inc
Nannas for Native Forests
Save the Black Cockatoos
Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation
Sarah Howlett - Midland Guildford Ward Councillor
Cr Ian Johnson Midland Guildford Ward

12/05/2026

🙏 PLEASE SHARE 🙏

We are so happy about the $96,940 Community Rivercare grant awarded to us by DBCA to restore a section of the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) in Hazelmere! 🥳🥳🥳

This stretch of river is under serious pressure from w**ds, erosion and fly tipping. Yet it remains a significant freshwater ecosystem with big potential for restoration and community connection.

Our recent surveys have recorded turtles, gilgies, and threatened Carter’s freshwater mussels here, highlighting its high conservation value, despite some claims that it’s not a “real river”. 😉

Our new BBB Rangers team will "match" the grant by working with community volunteers to restore the river, with support from NIAA.

This grant is a significant investment – it will enable w**d removal, foreshore revegetation, bank stabilisation, and water quality improvements.... all contributing to our broader vision of a Mandoon Bilya Riverpark for the 2029 Perth Bicentenary. 😍
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THE CHALLENGE? 😟😟😟

Our restoration is directly next to where GreenSquare want to build a giant hyperscale data centre – 40 m from the river, a conservation wetland and on two Aboriginal heritage sites.

It poses a direct risk to our work and the long-term restoration of this important urban landscape.

Next week (19 May), the Development Assessment Panel (DAP) will decide whether to approve it.

The City of Swan recommends refusal due to noise, but also outlines how noise could be mitigated, opening the door to approval despite many environmental, cultural and social concerns.

We are not opposed to data centres. But they need to be located in serviced industrial areas, NOT on river floodplains, wetlands or Aboriginal heritage sites.
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⛔ Why this data centre should be refused ⛔

1. Planning incompatibility
It is incompatible with the “Special Use” zoning that is intended to buffer the Hazelmere industrial estate and the river. It contradicts City planning policies, including environmental planning and floodplain management.

2. Inappropriate classification
It is being assessed as a “warehouse”, despite being completely different, because the WA Planning Framework doesn’t recognise data centres yet. The City is asking the DAP to approve this classification as part of this proposal, which would set a concerning precedent across the entire State.

3. Infrastructure burden
It would require significant public investment in sewerage by Water Corporation and a new substation and 132kV transmission lines, with grid connection still unresolved with Western Power.

4. Sensitive location
It is a highly sensitive site next to a river and conservation wetland, on two Aboriginal heritage sites, adjacent a primary school, and near residential properties. The heritage assessment fails to properly consider the broader cultural landscape of the Mandoon Bilya, as consistently emphasised by Noongar people.

5. Strong community opposition
A massive 1,829 objections have been lodged with City of Swan. The community is not opposed to data centres, but to this specific location.
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We are deeply concerned that our restoration work, and the massive community effort behind it, could be seriously undermined by this inappropriate development.

If you feel the same way, you could:

1. Contact the DAP Presiding Member on [email protected] quoting DAP/26/03059.

2. Email your City of Swan submission directly to the DAP on the email above (they weren’t included in the City’s report).

3. Contact City of Swan Councillors, including the Mayor (Tanya Richardson Mayor City of Swan), local ward councillors (Sarah Howlett - Midland Guildford Ward Councillor, Cr Ian Johnson Midland Guildford Ward, Cr Rashelle Predovnik - City of Swan), and those who will make the decision (Rod Henderson, Mel Congerton and/or Charlie Zannino).

4. Share this post.

5. Sign this petition: https://www.change.org/p/reject-the-hazelmere-data-centre-development

6. Attend the DAP hearing on 19 May 2026 at the City of Swan Council Chambers in Midland.

📸 Emily Wilson Photography

Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation
City of Swan
Trillion Trees Australia
Conservation Council of WA
Urban Bushland Council WA Inc
NatureLink Perth
Save the Black Cockatoos
Nannas for Native Forests
Walliabup Wildlife Warriors
Ian Barlow - The Crazy Bushman

23/04/2026

❤️🖤 KARAK MONITORING 🖤❤️

It’s amazing to be working with Simon Cherriman of The Re-Cyc-Ology Project / iNSiGHT Ornithology to monitor karaks (Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos) in the Perth Hills as part of our BoorYul-Bah-Bilya program.

We are working with Simon to help understand and map karak habitat and nesting trees, and fit karak chicks with leg-bands to gather information on their movements and survival.

Later this year, our new BBB Rangers will be doing lots of work to locate and monitor significant nest trees used by these birds.

This supports our broader work to document the biodiversity value of the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) catchment and create a plan to restore ecosystem health, including protection of key species.

These beautiful birds, long held sacred as important totems for Noongar people, are so precious but they face many threats, including land clearing, competition for nests with feral bees and super-abundant parrots like galahs and corellas, and road strike.

One of the biggest threats to their future is strip mining for bauxite which is devastating the northern jarrah forest. Last year, BirdLife Western Australia warned us that karaks and other black cockatoos are likely to become extinct if Alcoa’s proposed expansion is to go ahead.

If you’d like to help us protect karaks, you can:

1. Sign the petition to stop strip mining in the northern jarrah forest: https://tinyurl.com/Stop-Alcoa

2. Donate your containers for change to us! Member number: C11616605

3. Donate to our tax deductible fund: https://bibbul.org/donate/

Note, this work was carried out as part of a licensed, ongoing research project led by Ron Johnstone of the WA Museum / Boola Bardip.



Save the Black Cockatoos

17/04/2026

😍 PERTH HILLS QUOKKAS 😍

Did you know that quokkas live in the forests of the Perth Hills?

We are monitoring the quokkas as part of our BoorYul-Bah-Bilya program and love learning all about them, including their population dynamics, behaviour and response to bushfires.

Quokkas were once abundant all across Noongar Boodja, but their numbers have reduced dramatically since the 1930s due to widespread land clearing, foxes and fires. One of the biggest threats is strip mining for bauxite by the likes of Alcoa, South32 and Newmont.

In the 1920s, quokkas were considered a pest by some, and were actively hunted and poisoned. Sadly, they are now a threatened species under both State and Commonwealth legislation.

Quokkas have been studied extensively on Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) but research on mainland quokkas is very limited.

As part of our BoorYul-Bah-Bilya program, we are doing a lot of work to understand the Perth Hills quokkas, and design a plan to increase their habitat and support their recovery.

Thanks to a grant from Bendigo Community Bank Mundaring, we now have 10 quokka monitoring cameras installed across the Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) catchment, allowing us to expand our monitoring program into new areas.

This work is critical to the long-term protection of this iconic Western Australian species, and we are really grateful to our friends at Bendigo Community Bank Mundaring for supporting us. Thank you so much! 🩷

Do you want to help us protect mainland quokkas?

1. Sign the petition to stop strip mining in the northern jarrah forest: https://tinyurl.com/Stop-Alcoa

2. Donate your containers for change to us! Member number: C11616605

3. Donate to our tax deductible fund:
https://bibbul.org/donate/

Shire of Mundaring
City of Kalamunda
Shire of York
Shire of Beverley
Conservation Council of WA
Australian Wildlife Conservancy
Threatened Species Commissioner
Nannas for Native Forests
Save the Black Cockatoos

01/04/2026

☁️🌊THE CLOUD AND THE RIVER 🌊☁️

Why a Mining Watchdog Just Objected to the proposed Data Centre in Hazelmere, Perth

📣 “Data centres are a new form of resource extraction, and they deserve the same rigorous, independent, community-centred scrutiny that the mining reform movement has spent decades fighting to establish.”

“We are grateful for the work the BNAA is doing on Mandoon Bilya – work that embodies the kind of community-led, values-based stewardship that should be shaping land-use decisions in Hazelmere, not being displaced by them.”📣

Huge thanks to the Mineral Policy Institute at Murdoch University for sharing their expertise and raising awareness of this important issue! 👏👏👏 We look forward to working with you on the next steps.

City of Swan
Trillion Trees Australia
Save the Black Cockatoos
Lower Helena Association
Guildford Association Inc
Helena River Waldorf School
Helena River Community for Responsible Development

Gwenaël Velge

30/03/2026

UPDATE: The chance to make an objection to the council has now closed, but you can still sign the petition, which is currently at 2,877. bit.ly/Save-Mandoon-Bilya
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LAST DAY to submit an objection to the proposal to build a giant data centre alongside a waterway & conservation category wetland. Anyone can make a submission and it takes just a couple of minutes using the resources on Trillion Trees Australia website: bit.ly/Save-Mandoon-Bilya Closes 5pm today!

The website details the many issues with this proposal, from its close proximity and towering presence over a primary school, it's generation of excessive heat in an already hot and dry climate, massive use of precious water resources, noise pollution, and impact on endangered wildlife through destruction of habitat and contamination of the wetland.

Graphic courtesy of Red Cloud Design - earth healing



Urban Bushland Council WA Inc BirdLife Western Australia Helena River Catchment Group Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association Save the Helena River Wetlands - Rethink the LLoyd Street Bridge Helena River Community for Responsible Development Black Cockatoo Forest Black Cockatoo Movement Cans for Carnaby’s - Black-Cockatoo Fundraising Black Cockatoo Crisis Browned Off

29/03/2026

⏰ LAST DAY TODAY - submissions due by 5 pm ⏰

Please stand with our community to help us protect the Mandoon Bilya (Helena RIver) 💙🩵

Trillion Trees Australia
Lower Helena Association
Save the Black Cockatoos
Helena River Waldorf School
Urban Bushland Council WA Inc
Kanyana Wildlife
ABC Science
Guardian Australia
9 News Perth
Echo Newspaper
Baldivis Times
Nannas for Native Forests