As one of the few wetlands that has a mostly intact native bushland, Lake Gwelup is home to a wide variety of local and visitor birds (waders, raptors, ducks etc.)

Native flora in the bushland include Marri (Corymbia calophylla), Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), Flooded Gum (E. rudis), Tuart (E. gomphocephela) as well as at least four species of Banksia, many annual wildflowers (incl.

Throughout the wetland regions, Aboriginal people hunted for kangaroo, emu, snakes, tortoise, mudfish, gilgies and water birds and their eggs, to name a few food sources.

In the 1960s, the area which presently accommodates The Willows Estate also offered a 6 hectare peat deposit which was mined for local agriculture.

The triangle bounded by Lake Gwelup, Porter Street and North Beach Road is the oldest residential section, having been opened up by the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority in 1967 for urban development[6] - other parts were built and settled in the late 1990s when the swamps were drained.

Peaty soils around the lake region that have been reclaimed, now feature the highest concentrations of dissolved arsenic in the world - some 25000 ug/L (some 400 times higher than that identified as safe levels for drinking water).

[9] The type and style of residential dwellings contained within Gwelup varies considerably, ranging from early market garden cottages to recently designed two-storey developments.

New subdivisions, including Karrinyup Waters, Settlers Green and The Willows, contain modern architecturally designed homes.

Gwelup's northern and southern sections respectively are served by Transperth 424 and 427 bus routes from Stirling railway station, which is a nine-minute commute to Perth's central business district.

It was taken over by the James family in 1928, in an era when REO buses drove over plank roads through the wetlands between modern-day Tuart Hill and North Beach.

[13] As part of the planning process for the Northern Suburbs Transit System, planners left themselves with a number of options for future stations along the line.