When Wesley Lamont set up his camera to capture the spectacular aurora australis, he had no idea he was trampling on a fragile ecosystem containing some of the world’s earliest living fossils.
But, after the “embarrassing” mistake, he has joined the fight to protect the ancient West Australian thrombolites.
Mr Lamont headed to Lake Clifton, 110km south of Perth, to catch a glimpse of the display after pictures of bright red skies and colourful lights started circulating on social media last month.
He followed the advice of an online aurora viewing map.
“There were hundreds of people,” he said
“I looked at all the people and I thought ‘nah, I’ll go elsewhere’, and so I walked quite a long way down the path where I could go and set up.
“I walked out near the edge of Lake Clifton to look for the aurora that night, and I shouldn’t have walked on that. That was before I knew about the thrombolites.”
He has since learned the area is home to the largest reef of living thrombolites in the Southern Hemisphere.
The thrombolites live on a fragile microbial mat, now marked with footprints that can take decades or longer to fade.
Mr Lamont has reached out to map creators to have the site removed.
“It’s a bit embarrassing,” he said.
“We don’t really want to be recommending people go there … she’s removed Lake Clifton.
“I’d like to apologise for getting where I did. It’s something we need to have more knowledge about so we don’t have this problem in the future.”
‘It makes me really sad’
The incident has prompted calls for more to be done to protect the area.
Experts say the site, which is culturally significant to Indigenous people, may never recover.
In Dreamtime stories it is known as the place where the Woogaal Maadjit spirit left her eggs.
Local Noongar man George Walley agreed more was needed to protect the site.
“It’s not fair that all of these yarning, these stories, the science value is damaged in a moment of people not thinking,” he said.
“It’s a bit silly. It makes me really sad.”
Mr Walley said he had seen a photo shoot on the flattened thrombolites.
“You had this lady in a bikini and this other lot filming her. I said to them: ‘Can you please remove yourself?’
“We don’t police it; it’s up to people to have respect.”
Should the area be closed?
Mr Walley said education was the first step before more drastic measures, such as closing the site.
“I’ve thought about — in an emotional response — to put a gate and a cyclone fence along to a point … but I think more education firstly, and secondly, we leave the fencing off … as a last response to ongoing further damage.
“A footprint going into the top of the thrombolite can be about 500 years of damage.”
A $2m upgrade
The WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, which manages the site, said it was “disappointed” by the behaviour of some aurora chasers.
However, Swan region manager Benson Todd said work was already underway on a $2-million site redevelopment, including redesigning the boardwalk, car park and toilets to accommodate more visitors.
“That work had already commenced well and truly before this event,” he said.
“In the interim, our staff are down there undertaking some rehabilitation and some brushing of areas of vegetation of where visitors trampled on that night just to make sure those pathways don’t become permanent.”
Mr Todd said staff were also looking at options for temporary fencing and increasing patrols, including liaising with the City of Mandurah.
The site upgrade is expected to be completed within two years.
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