The Lake Coogee 2 site (ID 15839) was first recorded in 1997 during an archaeological survey by G. Clune and P. Raaff (on behalf of McDonald, Hales &
Associates, commissioned by Halpern Glick Maunsell) of the areas of land and sea within the Jervoise Bay Infrastructure Planning Study Precinct which were being proposed for development. The 1997 survey located two new Aboriginal archaeological sites ‘situated on the southwest and northwest side, respectively, of Lake Coogee’: Lake Coogee 1 (ID 15838) and Lake Coogee 2 (ID 15839).

Lake Coogee 1 was found on the western side of the Cockburn Road realignment, which was, then under proposal. The site was located on a firebreak, and the material was noted eroding out of windrows formed to the side during construction of the track. The material of Lake Coogee 1 scatter consists of four quartz artefacts, 3 within 1-2m of each other, and the fourth some 20m to the north. The site was reported to be highly disturbed, ‘but the large size of the artefacts suggests that smaller material may be located nearby beneath the surface’ (1997: i).

Lake Coogee 2 was found in the centre of the then-proposed Cockburn Road realignment, the coordinates originally reported as 384561E, 6442510N (Clune & Raaff 1997: i). Their report states:

The lighthouse adjacent to Cockburn Road lies on a bearing of 282.5° north-west of the site. The site consists of approximately 103 quartz artefacts, and lies just beyond an existing gravel road and adjacent to a derelict fence line. The scatter has suffered disturbance from rabbit and human activity. (Clune & Raaff 1997: i-ii)
The Lake Coogee 2 site was ascribed by Clune and Raaff a higher degree of significance than that for Lake Coogee 1, …as the former site is one of a small handful of moderate-sized sites…located in the Karrakatta Sands of the Spearwood dune system. The site is therefore rarer than LC-1 and appears to have undergone less disturbance. (Clune & Raaff 1997: ii)

Aboriginal community representatives, who were consulted in relation to this survey in 1997, regarding the significance of the archaeological material, expressed the desire to have it preserved if at all possible, and further requested that the area be monitored during construction due to what the report confirms to be the potential for there to be sub-surface material (especially burials).

The Lake Coogee 2 site lies outside the present Cockburn coast PDA, approximately 3km to the south. However, the close proximity of this site to the Cockburn Lighthouse site (ID 121) (albeit also outside the PDA boundaries) ‘could indicate that the sandy stretch situated in the lee of the large limestone ridge to the east was a favoured camping area at least in the recent past’ (Clune & Raaff 1997:13), giving further weight to reports of the significance of the surrounding area, including the Cockburn.