A major trade route connecting the Swan and Murray River passed through the wetlands of what is now Beeliar Regional Park.

[1] European records of The Spectacles Wetlands date back to 1841, when the area was first surveyed by Thomas Watson.

[4][5] Public access to the wetlands is through the carpark on McLaughlain Road, on the western side of The Spectacles.

[6] A large part of the wetlands is under private ownership by Alcoa but open to the public.

Sedges in the form of Isolepis are also present at the southern wetland of The Spectacles; those are rare.