Reserves Act and the Reserves and Road Closure Act Amendment Act 1978

The statute operates through discrete cadastral and administrative actions: cancellation of vesting instruments, alteration of reserve purpose, excision of land from an existing reserve and immediate re-reservation for a different purpose, grant of excised land to a local authority subject to conditions, and a textual amendment to a prior Act. Core concepts that recur are these:

• Reserve classification and purpose. The Act repeatedly identifies reserves by number and Class A classification, then changes either the classification, the expressed statutory purpose or both (see ss 3-11 and the Schedule). The change of purpose is the primary legal mechanism by which the Crown exercises control over permitted future uses of the land in question. The Schedule and s 10 convert a set of reserves to the single stated purpose “National Park”.
• Vesting and cancellation of vestings. The instrument cancels an existing Order in Council and the vesting that accompanied it (s 3), and cancels another Order in Council in respect of Reserve No. 20091 (s 9(2)). Those cancellations remove prior legal arrangements under which local authorities held reserves in trust.
• Excision and re-reservation. The Act excises defined surveyed locations from reserves (s 6(1) and s 9(1)) and in one case immediately re-reserves the excised part for a different, narrower statutory purpose (s 6(2)). In another case the excised land is to be granted to the local council, subject to conditions (s 9(3)).
• Transfers conditioned on surrender and payment. Section 9(3) provides that land excised from Reserve No. 20091 is to be granted to the Wanneroo Shire Council, but only on the council surrendering and transferring other specified land to Her Majesty and on payment of consideration to be approved by the Governor. The Governor’s approval therefore acts as a statutory condition precedent to the transfer.
• Amendment of a principal Act. Section 12 operates as an amendment to the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977, replacing a numeric expression in that Act’s section 11(1) (s 12(2)). The amending Act explicitly refers to the principal Act (s 12(1)), establishing that the change is a textual correction.
• Timing and retrospective operation. Section 2 sets different commencement dates, including deeming s 12 to have come into operation before the rest of the Act (s 2(1)-(2)). This creates a short period of retrospective legal effect for the correction.

These mechanisms are legal instruments that change recorded land status, require administrative follow‑up (survey, registration, cancelling Orders in Council) and, in one instance, impose an explicit financial obligation on a local government to secure land (s 9(3)).

The Act identifies, by name or functional title, a limited set of affected parties and institutions. These are the entities that will be required by the statute to act, or whose legal holdings or duties are directly altered:

• Local government bodies named in the text. The Melville City Council is specifically affected by s 3: the reserve vested in it (Reserve No. 30338) is cancelled and the Order in Council vesting it is also cancelled. The Narrogin Town Council is affected in relation to Reserve No. 20605, which has its purpose changed (s 7). The Wanneroo Shire Council is materially affected in s 9: excised land is to be granted to that council subject to surrendering and transferring other lands and payment of consideration approved by the Governor (s 9(1)-(3)). The text therefore imposes both disposals and acquisition obligations on councils.
• State instrumentalities and statutory authorities. Reserve No. 15231 is expressly vested in the Western Australian Wildlife Authority and its declared purpose is amended (s 5). This authority will therefore confront a change in management remit or administrative record for that reserve.
• The Governor and the Executive. The Governor has a statutory role in approving consideration for the transfer contemplated by s 9(3) and is implicated by the cancellation of Orders in Council (s 3, s 9(2)). Executive instruments and approvals are the means by which the statutory changes are implemented.
• Surveyors and cadastral registries. The Act references surveyed locations (for example Mardarbilla Location 7 in s 6(1) and Swan Locations 9781-9783 in s 9(1)) and quantifies areas. Implementing these excisions and grants will require survey and registration steps.
• The Crown. The Act is an exercise of Crown authority over Crown reserves; in several provisions the land remains Crown land reserved or is re-reserved, with or without vesting to local government. The Crown receives surrendered lands in the operation contemplated by s 9(3).
• The public and potential users of the land. Changes of statutory purpose (for example from “Preservation of Flora and Fauna” to “Recreation and Parklands” in s 9(2), or to “National Park” via s 10 and the Schedule) will in practice affect permitted public uses, the nature of permitted infrastructure, and management expectations, although the Act itself specifies only the statutory purpose changes.

Absent from the Act are private landholders, except to the extent that local governments hold land in trust and interact with the Crown. The Act does not create third‑party private rights in the text; rather it alters Crown reserve forms of tenure and management responsibilities. Where monetary payment is required, the obligation is placed squarely on the specified shire (s 9(3)).

The Act imposes duties and alters rights primarily through statutory reclassification, cancellation, excision and conditional grant. The text creates duties for particular public authorities and confers, or removes, statutory entitlements as follows:

• Cancellation of vesting and Order in Council (s 3). The Act cancels the Order in Council that vested Reserve No. 30338 in the Melville City Council and cancels the reserve itself. This removes the council’s existing statutory entitlement or trust holding over that parcel. The duty on the executive is to administratively cancel the Order in Council and update records; the duty on the council is to no longer hold the reserve interest.
• Changes of permitted purpose (ss 4-5, 7-11 and s 10 with Schedule). Sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 alter the statutory purpose attached to specified Class A reserves. These statutory-purpose changes are the legal mechanism that modifies the statutory rights to use or manage the land. For example, s 5 changes Reserve No. 15231’s purpose from “Conservation of Flora and Fauna” to “Recreation and Conservation of Flora and Fauna”, which modifies the stated statutory remit of the body vested (the Western Australian Wildlife Authority). Duties that follow from these changes are not spelt out in the Act; they will arise under the Reserves legislation, statutory instruments and management plans that implement the new purpose.
• Excision and re-reservation (s 6(1)-(2)). The Act excises a defined surveyed area from Reserve No. 27632 and immediately reserves that excised land for a specified purpose (“Preservation of Historical Buildings and Graves”). The duty on the executive is to effect the excision and the immediate re-reservation; rights to the excised area are established in favour of the new purpose and any future vesting or management instruments consistent with that purpose.
• Conditional grant and quid pro quo obligations (s 9(1)-(3)). Section 9 creates a conditional grant process. The Act excises three Swan Locations from Reserve No. 20091 and changes the reserve’s purpose to “Recreation and Parklands” (s 9(1)-(2)). It also provides that the excised land shall be granted to the Wanneroo Shire Council subject to the council surrendering and transferring to Her Majesty certain lands of an aggregate area and upon payment by the council of such consideration as the Governor may approve (s 9(3)). That imposes a concrete duty on the Wanneroo Shire Council to effect a surrender and transfer of identified lands and to pay a monetary sum pending approval by the Governor. The Governor has the correlative discretion to approve the consideration.
• Administrative corrections to principal Act (s 12). The Act amends s 11(1) of the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977 by substituting “5211” for “521” (s 12(2)). This creates an administrative duty to update the principal Act’s text and ensures continuity of statutory references.
• Commencement and retrospective operation (s 2). The Act specifies commencement dates with immediate effect for sections 1-11 on 30 November 1978 and deems s 12 to have come into operation on 23 November 1977 (s 2). That creates a duty on registers and agencies to treat the textual correction as having had effect from the earlier date, which may matter for legal continuity or administrative record-keeping.

The Act does not itself create detailed management duties such as operational obligations, enforcement regimes, or schedule of permitted activities. Instead it establishes or changes the statutory descriptor that will determine subsequent rights and duties under the broader reserves regime and relevant administrative instruments.

The text contains no explicit penalty provisions, offence provisions, enforcement mechanisms or administrative sanction provisions. It operates as a land‑status statute, altering reserve purposes, vestings and land parcels without setting out criminal or civil penalties in the enactment itself.

Consequently:

• There are no new penalties in this Act for non-compliance listed in the text. The Act does not specify fines, imprisonment or other sanctions for breach of the new purposes or failures to comply with its procedural requirements.
• Implementation and enforcement of the new reserve purposes and vestings must be carried out under the general enforcement and regulatory provisions of the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977 and any other relevant statutes or by-laws that govern land use, reserves management, and conservation matters. The amending Act does not provide those mechanisms; it simply alters reserve status and corrects a textual error in the principal Act (s 12).
• Administrative enforcement tasks,cancelling Orders in Council, effecting transfers, registering excisions, and updating vestings,fall to the executive agencies and local governments named in the text. The Act directs that these changes are to happen; it does not provide a separate enforcement schedule or designate a compliance officer.
• Where the Act requires action conditioned on Governor approval and payment (s 9(3)), the Governor’s approval functions as a prerequisite to completing the transactional transfer; refusal to approve or failure to pay would prevent the transfer from occurring. The Act does not itself state remedies for a failure to pay or otherwise comply with the conditional terms; those matters would be handled under administrative law and the relevant titles and vesting processes.

Readers seeking enforcement avenues for third parties or penalties for breaches will not find them in the Act itself; they will need to consult the principal Reserves legislation and related statutory frameworks for sanctions, offences and remedies applicable to reserve use and vesting.

The Act is explicitly an amending and land‑status instrument and therefore operates in a networked statutory environment. The text identifies the following direct interactions with other legal instruments and administrative mechanisms:

• Amendment to the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977. Section 12 expressly amends section 11(1) of the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977 by substituting the expression “5211” for “521” (s 12(2)). The amending provision also identifies the principal Act by name (s 12(1)). This is a textual correction to an earlier statute and will require updating of legislative records and consolidation tables to reflect the substituted numeric expression.
• Orders in Council and prior vestings. The Act cancels an Order in Council dated 29 April 1970 that had vested Reserve No. 30338 in the Melville City Council (s 3). It also cancels the Order in Council dated 23 March 1955 that vested Reserve No. 20091 in the Wanneroo Shire Council (s 9(2)). These cancellations operate against the executive instruments that previously governed vesting. The practical effect is that earlier executive decisions are annulled by statute and must be acted on by the agencies responsible for record-keeping and title administration.
• Vesting and statutory management regimes. Several reserves are described as being “vested” in local authorities or the Western Australian Wildlife Authority (for example s 5 and the references in ss 3, 7 and 9). The Act changes purposes and, in some cases, cancels vestings. Those changes will interact with any statutory duties, trust obligations, management plans or by-laws that existed under the prior vestings; however, the Act does not itself restate or alter such subsidiary legal instruments. Implementing agencies will need to reconcile the Act’s purpose changes with management regimes that flow from the principal Reserves legislation and associated subordinate instruments.
• Survey and land title instruments. The Act refers to surveyed locations (Mardarbilla Location 7, Swan Locations 9781-9783) and precise area measurements for each reserve. The excision, re-reservation and grant processes described will require survey, transfer and registration in the appropriate land registries and cadastral systems. That administrative interaction is necessary to implement the statutory land-status changes.
• Governor’s approval and executive discretion. Section 9(3) conditions the Wanneroo Shire Council’s grant on payment of such consideration as the Governor may approve. That places a statutory gatekeeping role on the Governor and intersects with executive discretion under the Crown’s land administration powers.
• Relationship to conservation and park frameworks. The Act changes the statutory purposes of many reserves to “National Park” or similar conservation-related designations (s 10 and Schedule). Although the Act does not quote or amend the particular statutory regime that governs national parks, these purpose changes will interact operationally with the laws, regulations and policies that apply to lands designated as national parks, including management, protection and permitted uses enacted under those regimes.

The Act is narrow and parcel-specific. It does not itself set out how other laws should be modified, beyond the single textual correction to the principal Act. Operational harmonisation between the Act and existing subordinate instruments, local government trust arrangements and management plans is therefore a task for the administering agencies.

The Act’s own internal commencement and compilation details are explicit in the text and the compilation table. The key historical facts contained in the source are:

• Enactment and assent. The Act is listed as No. 103 of 1978 and received Royal Assent on 30 November 1978 (compilation table).
• Commencement. Section 2 provides staggered commencement dates: subsections 1-11 of the Act are to come into operation on the day the Act receives Royal Assent, which is 30 November 1978 (s 2(2); compilation table). Section 12 is treated as having come into operation earlier, on 23 November 1977 (s 2(1); compilation table). The Schedule and the body of the Act therefore operate from the 1978 date, while the textual correction to the principal Act is deemed to have retrospective effect from the earlier date.
• Nature of amendments. The operative amendments effected by this Act are parcel-level or text corrections rather than broad structural reform. They include: cancellation of vestings (s 3 and s 9(2)); changes of statutory purpose for existing Class A reserves (ss 4-5, 7-8, 10-11 and Schedule); excision and re-reservation (s 6); conditional grants and transfer conditions (s 9(3)); and a textual correction to the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977 (s 12).
• Schedule listing. The Schedule lists 13 reserves (by Reserve No. and area) with specific original purposes in column 2. Section 10 changes the purpose set out in column 2 for each Schedule entry to “National Park”. The Schedule therefore functions as a consolidated list of parcels whose purpose is to be changed to “National Park”.
• No subsequent amendments recorded in the source. The compilation table provided within the Act materials lists the Act’s number, year, assent and commencement dates, but the text supplied does not include any further amendment entries, re-enactments, or later amending instruments. The compilation table in the source therefore reflects the original 1978 Act and its commencement detail only.

For practitioners or registrars, the key amendment-history tasks are to record the commencement dates correctly, to reflect the backdating of s 12, and to ensure that land registers and executive instruments note the cancellations and reclassifications effected on the 1978 commencement date.

The Act text contains no references to cases, judicial decisions, or litigation. The source does not list any judicial interpretation of its provisions, nor does it include any transitional disputes, court challenges, or decisions arising from the individual reserve alterations within the document itself.

Observations grounded in the Act’s content:

• Silence on litigation. Because the statute is a parcel-specific amendment, it records regulatory acts (cancellations, purpose changes, excisions and conditional grants) but does not include any extant or historical litigation material. There are no named cases in the text and the compilation table contains only dates and commencement details.
• Potential for dispute not specified. The Act sets out administrative steps that could, in principle, generate dispute,boundary or survey questions, disagreements over the Governor’s approval or valuation required by s 9(3), or challenges to the cancellation of prior Orders in Council. The Act itself does not specify dispute-resolution procedures or judicial pathways beyond normal administrative and property law processes. Any actual litigation history would therefore sit outside the text of the Act and would need to be sought in court records or case law databases.
• No statutory declaratory or remedial processes spelled out. The instrument does not create special statutory causes of action, declaratory procedures, or tribunals to determine contested issues arising from its implementation. Any recourse for an affected party must therefore be pursued under the ordinary law (for example judicial review of executive acts or actions necessary to implement the Act), which the Act neither prescribes nor restricts.

Given the absence of litigation material in the text, researchers looking for judicial treatment of these specific amendments will need to consult external legal databases and court records. The Act itself is silent on such matters.

This Act contains several drafting and operational features that can catch administrators, councils and land managers unprepared if not noted carefully. The following are concrete, source‑grounded pitfalls:

• Staggered commencement and retrospective operation (s 2). Section 12 is deemed to have come into effect on 23 November 1977 whereas the rest of the Act commenced on 30 November 1978. Practitioners updating statutory compilations, consolidations or historical records must mirror this staggered timing precisely, or risk inconsistent legislative texts. The retrospective deeming may create the appearance of a textual correction having been in force for a year before the remainder of the Act took effect.
• Cancellation of Orders in Council requires administrative follow-through (s 3 and s 9(2)). The Act cancels specific Orders in Council, but the operative effect requires executive agencies to amend registers and remove the vestings in question. Failure to update the registers could leave a mismatch between statutory reality and administrative records.
• Conditional transfer with Governor-approved consideration (s 9(3)). The Wanneroo Shire Council’s acquisition of excised land is made subject to surrender of other lands and payment of “such consideration as the Governor may approve.” That places the value, timing and acceptability of the transaction within the Governor’s discretion. Councils should not assume an automatic grant until the Governor’s approval is obtained and payment made. Budgeting and title transfer are therefore contingent.
• Mixed-purpose changes that alter management remit (s 5 and s 10). Where a reserve’s purpose is changed from “Conservation of Flora and Fauna” to “Recreation and Conservation of Flora and Fauna” (s 5), or where multiple Schedule entries have their purposes changed to “National Park” (s 10), managers must identify how the new stated purpose integrates with existing statutory duties under the principal Act and any subordinate instruments. The Act itself does not spell out operational changes or transition requirements.
• Survey dependencies (ss 6(1), 9(1)). The Act references surveyed locations (Mardarbilla Location 7; Swan Locations 9781-9783). If those surveys are out of date, disputed, or incorrectly recorded, the excisions and subsequent grants or re-reservations may be delayed. Implementation is dependent on accurate cadastral work and registry entries.
• Change from recreation to prison site (s 11). Reserve No. 8320 has its Class A classification cancelled and its purpose changed from “Recreation” to “Prison Site” (s 11). This re-purposing may entail infrastructure, planning and zoning implications not addressed in the Act and will likely require further administrative and planning steps to be effected lawfully.
• Absence of enforcement or transitional rules. The Act makes substantive status changes but provides no transitional rules, enforcement mechanisms or penalties for non-implementation. Parties expecting a detailed implementation timetable must look to administrative instructions elsewhere.
• Numerical amendment to principal Act (s 12). The single-word substitution of “5211” for “521” in the principal Act’s s 11(1) could cause confusion if legislative databases or consolidated texts are not synchronised. Care must be taken when referencing the principal Act to ensure the corrected number is used.

These are practical issues tied directly to the Act’s drafting and operational requirements. Administrative agencies, councils and registrars should plan to address survey, approval, payment and register-update tasks to avoid practical failures of implementation.

The Act imposes specific administrative steps and conditional obligations; compliance therefore requires coordinated action by executive agencies, local governments and surveying/title authorities. The following tasks, grounded in the Act’s provisions, are the practical steps necessary to implement and comply with the statute.

1. Verify commencement and record the retrospective operation.

   • Confirm the operative commencement dates: sections 1-11 on 30 November 1978 and s 12 deemed to have commenced on 23 November 1977 (s 2). Update legislative records and consolidated texts to reflect the staggered commencement.

2. Update Orders in Council and register entries.

   • For Reserve No. 30338 (s 3), cancel the Order in Council dated 29 April 1970 and remove the vesting entry that recorded the Melville City Council’s holding. Ensure land records reflect the cancellation and that any trust obligations are discharged.
   • For Reserve No. 20091 (s 9(2)), cancel the Order in Council dated 23 March 1955 as stated and update all administrative and cadastral records to reflect the altered purpose and excisions.

3. Undertake required surveys and cadastral work.

   • Implement the excisions specified: survey and register Mardarbilla Location 7 excised from Reserve No. 27632 (s 6(1)); survey and register Swan Locations 9781, 9782 and 9783 excised from Reserve No. 20091 (s 9(1)). Ensure precise boundaries and area calculations are recorded in the state cadastral system.

4. Re-reserve excised lands and record the purposes.

   • For Reserve No. 27632, immediately re-reserve the excised Mardarbilla Location 7 area for the purpose “Preservation of Historical Buildings and Graves” (s 6(2)). Create or update the reserve instrument so the new purpose is recorded against the new reservation.
   • Where the Schedule entries have been converted to “National Park” (s 10), update reserve records to show the new single-purpose designation for each listed Reserve No.

5. Manage vesting changes and ensure statutory conditions are met.

   • For Reserve No. 15231 (s 5), the reserve remains vested in the Western Australian Wildlife Authority but its declared purpose changes to “Recreation and Conservation of Flora and Fauna”. The Authority should evaluate administrative and management plans to ensure the new purpose is reflected in operational documents.
   • For Reserve No. 20605 and Reserve No. 23152 (ss 7-8), local government or other vested managers must adjust responsibilities to reflect the change to “Recreation and Parkland”.

6. Implement conditional grant mechanics for Wanneroo Shire Council.

   • For the grant contemplated by s 9(3), the Wanneroo Shire Council must effect surrender and transfer of specified lands to Her Majesty (lands containing in the aggregate 10.8240 hectares) and make payment of consideration approved by the Governor. The steps are: a. Identify and legally prepare the surrender and transfer documentation for the lands to be transferred to Her Majesty. b. Apply to the Governor (or the responsible Minister as appropriate) for approval of the consideration and await formal approval before completing any transfer. c. Ensure payment is made only after Governor’s approval and in accordance with any conditions attached to that approval. d. Only upon completion of the surrender and payment should the excised land be registered in the name of the Wanneroo Shire Council.

7. Arrange planning and operational steps where purpose shifts are substantial.

   • For Reserve No. 8320 changing from “Recreation” to “Prison Site” (s 11), local authorities and planning bodies should coordinate transition tasks (zoning, environmental assessment, community consultation and infrastructure planning) as required under other planning statutes and administrative processes. The Act establishes the statutory purpose but does not itself discharge planning or construction requirements.

8. Correct legislative texts and citations.

   • Implement the textual amendment to the Reserves and Road Closure Act 1977 by substituting “5211” for “521” in section 11(1) as stated in s 12(2). Ensure consolidated legislation, indexes and references are corrected so later users and drafters do not rely on the superseded numeric reference.

9. Document and archive execution.

   • Keep administrative records of all deeds, cancellations, Orders in Council, Governor’s approvals, payments and survey certificates. The Act’s changes are parcel-specific and precise; documentary proof of execution will be required for land title continuity.

10. Coordinate inter-agency roles.

• The Act’s implementation will require coordination among the Department or agency that administers reserves, local councils named in the Act, the Western Australian Wildlife Authority, the Crown Law or Attorney-General’s department for Orders in Council and Governor-related approvals, and the land titles office for registration. Establish a project plan allocating responsibilities for each reserve change listed in the Act.

These steps follow directly from the text of the Act and are the operational requirements implied by its provisions. The Act itself imposes no procedural timetable, enforcement regime or transitional statutory obligations beyond the stated purpose changes, excisions, cancellations and the Governor’s approval condition. Agencies and councils must therefore use ordinary administrative and property-law processes to complete transfers, updates and registrations consistent with the statute.