FACILITY
Shenton Park Field Station
Dedicated facility supporting plant and animal research
The Shenton Park Field Station has been servicing the science and agriculture industry of Western Australia for more than 60 years. With a number of notable doctorates being gained using this facility and varieties of cereals, clovers and pastures being bred and released from the facility.
It is a centrally located large scale agricultural research facility that caters to the broader scale experiments with less reliance on artificial conditions. Being 7 kilometres from the Crawley Campus and the ability to grow out large scale crop, pasture, horticultural or native plants gives a real world perspective.
With 5 hectares of irrigated plot land available for all year round use to conduct trials of various types, varieties, strains and species of plants. Bird protection netting covers 3 hectares of the plot land. Due to the size of the Field Station, multiple trials can be conducted at any one time.
The Field Station is accessible to all staff and students and works cooperatively with other institutions within the state and nationally.
Facility details
- 13 anti-virus mesh covered tunnel houses - The tunnel houses provide the option of growing plants under cover and minimises the potential for cross pollination from outside the tunnel mesh. These are irrigated and offer many options to the student or researcher.
- Biosecurity plant house and processing laboratory - Approved by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, this facility enables the ability to import and screen plants from other countries, to be grown out in the future.
- Temperature controlled glasshouses / seed threshing and processing areas - There is space to carry out work in laboratories for seed preparation and processing which ensures most of the growing out process can be carried out on site. As well as a small vineyard and olive grove which can be used by any interested student or staff member.
- Recirculating aquaculture facility - A collaboration between Department of Primary Industries and UWA has developed Australia's largest recirculating aquaculture facility, with a total volume of three million litres. This facility is capable of running multiple freshwater fish experiments at any one time with both outdoor and indoor aquaculture tanks and ponds in place.
Site features
- Plant biologists
- Animal biologists
- Access
- Animal enclosures
- Centre for Engineering Innovation - Agriculture and Ecological Restoration
