PUBLISHED ON ABC NEWS
The viral popularity of a picturesque swimming hole on social media has led to a tourism boom at a West Australian lake that is inside an abandoned mine.
You might have seen images of swimmers floating peacefully on an aqua lake so bright in colour, it looks digitally enhanced.
Black Diamond Lake is an abandoned mine site near the struggling town of Collie south of Perth.
The lake filled with water after it was decommissioned in the 1950s and has been a popular swimming hole for locals ever since.
But recently there has been an influx of visitors to the unmanaged site since photographs were widely shared on social media.
On busy days, there are hundreds of cars haphazardly parked on bush tracks around the lake with people swimming, using paddleboards and relaxing on the banks.
Now Collie, 5 kilometres south-east of the lake, hopes to capitalise on having one of WA’s most Insta-friendly locations on its doorstep, in a bid to boost the local economy.
The town hopes to fix safety issues and cash-in on the attraction.
Social media boom prompts safety warning
Collie River Valley Marketing committee member Rosanne Pimms said social media had put Black Diamond on the map.
“Certainly, with the advent of Black Diamond on Facebook, it’s just gone crazy, and that has been the catalyst to make people … think, ‘Okay, something has got to be done out there’,” she said.
The WA Government’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety did rehabilitation work at Black Diamond over 2016-18 as a pilot project through the Abandoned Mines Project.
Engineering works were carried out on slopes to reduce public safety risks and deal with erosion. Revegetation was also done, but the local community says more work is needed.
“[The Government] did some quite good work there but the revegetation failed and they didn’t address a lot of the issues that we wanted them to in far as levelling out the area where people mainly park,” Ms Pimms said.
During last year’s peak season, the shire installed temporary toilets to cater for visitors, and an existing bin filled quickly during those peak times.
“People just park anywhere and there are cars going everywhere and it is quite dangerous, so that’s my big worry at the moment: that someone’s going to get injured through the lack of a managed road network out there,” Ms Pimms said.
There have also been water quality issues and signage has been erected to warn swimmers when dangerous levels of bacteria are present in the water.
Resurgence for coal-backed town
Collie relies heavily on the now-declining coal mining industry, with two coal mines and two power stations offering much of the town’s employment.
The State Government created a $20-million Collie Futures Fund to invest in job-creating projects to future-proof the town for when the coal runs out.
Collie River Valley Marketing has just been awarded $70,000 from that fund’s Collie Futures Small Grants Program for a tourism feasibility study to be carried out on Black Diamond Lake.
Local Member Mick Murray said the unregulated area was appealing to visitors and needed to managed.
“They like a bit of wild camping where they can take their dog along, but we have to be careful about how far we go before it does destroy exactly what you come for,” Mr Murray said.
But Mr Murray said there was an opportunity to provide basic facilities and encourage tourists to spend their dollars in Collie.
“We’re encouraging people to come into town, spend their money there, keep the small businesses going that are in town.”
Ms Pimms said it would be a big boost for the region if the lake’s visitors were encouraged to discover the nearby town.
“Even if we only captured a tenth of the people that go out there, to come into Collie and spend some money with our businesses, it’d be a great help,” Ms Pimms said.
“And we don’t see it as a great lavish development but something that’s very in tune with the environment and with the local residents that are out there as well.
“I’m sure we’ll come up with something that will suit the community and after a fair bit of consultation with the local people and a working group that will get together to guide the feasibility study.”
