City of Busselton, WA
As Dunsborough’s sports clubs continue to thrive and achieve new heights, the demand for space has intensified due to the existing infrastructure being stretched to its maximum capacity. The growth in population has also contributed to the expansion of the Dunsborough Junior Soccer Club, which has experienced a significant increase in participation since its last season.
Efforts are currently underway to create a new Sports Precinct that caters to the needs of the growing Dunsborough community.
The site for the new Sporting Precinct is Lot 40 Dunsborough Lakes Drive, Dunsborough Lakes, which was previously owned by the Water Corporation. The design of the facility has been planned with potential future expansion in mind, and it will be conveniently accessible from the future school situated at the corner of Dunsborough Lakes Drive and Diamante Boulevard.
The exciting Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct was driven by the increase in population, change in demographics, and strong growth in sports such as AFL, soccer, cricket, netball, and basketball, which has put immense strain on the existing seven hectare Dunsborough Oval Precinct.
The council set out on an ambitious plan to deliver the project, which would include:
- Four hectares of playing fields (designed for soccer and cricket)
- Four multi-purpose hard courts
- Cricket facilities (turf wicket table, synthetic wicket, and three-bay cricket nets)
- Carpark and associated landscaping
- Lighting (oval, court, and carpark)
- Site fencing
- Pavilion
The City of Busselton secured funding from multiple sources, including the state and federal government, and from its reserve funding. Like all projects during COVID, there has been an increase in costs, especially in the building industry, which has stalled the pavilion until the project can be delivered to its original design and specification.
The oval component included:
- Clearing of necessary native vegetation only
- Removal of 4000m3 of undesirable site soil
- Sub-surface drainage system
- Screening and import of a local sand source, which met USGA specifications (24000m3)
- Irrigation system
- Incorporation of a quality compost material
- Stolonising with TifTuf at 16:1
- Turf wicket construction
- Synthetic cricket wicket and three bay cricket nets
- Fully enclosed roo proof fencing
Dunsborough has a real problem with the lack of an adequate supply of groundwater in the Leederville Aquifer. At the same time, a federally funded project to deliver Stage 1 of the Dunsborough Non-Potable Network was underway. This project included the drilling of a 400m bore into the Sue Coal Aquifer, monitoring bores, a pump station, and a 3.5km pipeline to the new oval site. This project was critical to the delivery of the oval project, especially with the chosen method of establishment.
Grass selection was critical to the successful delivery of the project and the long-term water challenges currently faced and what is expected in the years to come, especially in Dunsborough.
The City had been in discussions with John Clayton from Down South Turf, who has been growing TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda (Couch) on his farm locally. John had provided the grass to trial in several city locations, including the new un-irrigated Busselton entry statement, in which it performed extremely well.
“I had seen TifTuf in action at Campbelltown Stadium in NSW and had no concerns with how it would perform in the Southwest of WA. To be honest, it doesn’t get that cold here!” Parks and Environment Coordinator Brad Reynolds said.
The project was not without its challenges, which had seen delays in a few components of the project, resulting in the grass being installed in late April and early May 2022 (originally planned for early January 2022). Although there weren’t any concerns with the survival of the stolons, it did delay the grass establishment with the cooler weather setting in.
Strong winds played havoc with the surface levels, with alkaline sands blowing from the adjacent housing development, which was hard to contain.
September 2022 provided a chance to get the project back on track. Nutrition and weed control were key. Regular analytical testing guided the program, which included:
- Carbon-based microbial amendments to increase the CEC
- Lime
- Kieserite Magnesium
- Oxamax 18-10-9
- Regular applications of Black Urea
- Liquid fertilizer applications
- Hand weeding!
Due to the relative virgin sands, minimal weed content was seen because of imported soil. Wind-blown weeds such as Fleabane and Stinkwart were a problem due to un-maintained surrounding properties and a small amount of Arum Lilly contamination. Manual removal and some spot spraying was seen as the best course of action.
Once a coverage of around 50% was achieved, City Staff worked hard on regular mowing and removal of sand build-up in the canopy. In December, stolons had run in some areas 30-40cm into bare areas. Deep aeration, rolling, then topdressing with 400m3 of a C-wise Sportsblend70, which made a huge impact on coverage and had seen them reach 90% coverage by December 2022.
December had also seen the construction of a three-wicket table, synthetic wicket, cricket nets and permanent oval fencing to meet funding deadlines.
The turf wicket table construction included a sub-base, formwork, 60m3 of imported and laser levelled Culburra clay and washed couch. It is anticipated after extensive renovations and maintenance wicket production will start in early January 2024.
With temporary toilets and change rooms to be available soon, it is likely locals will get their first taste of the facility with Winter Sports training and general public use to take place in May 2023.
“I am looking forward to the next spring and summer when we will be able to put TifTuf to the test, especially with its drought tolerance. We can then start to maximise the benefits of water savings and reliance on the scarce groundwater source.” City of Busselton Parks & Environment Coordinator Bradley Reynolds said.
