Landgate

Logon to > MyLandgate

History of metropolitan suburb names


The following information is a summary of origins for suburb names within the Perth metropolitan area. Please select the first letter of the suburb you wish to see:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ALEXANDER HEIGHTS

Originally named "Alinjarra", an Aboriginal word for 'north' in 1977, this suburb was renamed Alexander Heights in 1987. The name is derived from Alexander Drive, the main arterial road into the area. The road honours S B Alexander, a Road Board Member who was very active in civic affairs.


ALFRED COVE

This small suburb takes its name from the sheltered cove that forms its northern boundary. The cove was named after Alfred Waylen, the original grantee of Swan Location 74 which took in most of the present day localities of Myaree and Alfred Cove.


ALKIMOS

This suburb within the Shire of Wanneroo is named after the Greek freighter "Alkimos" which ran aground on the coast adjacent to the suburb. The 7033 ton freighter originally came aground south of Geraldton on the 19th March 1963. It was refloated and made its own way to Fremantle and the tug 'Pacific Star" was engaged to tow the vessel to Hong Kong for scrap. Just after the tow was started on the 31st May 1963, bad weather was encountered and the tow cable snapped and the vessel ran aground again. Several attempts were made to refloat her, but all were unsuccessful.


ANKETELL

This suburb was originally a portion of Cockburn Sound Location 16, Thomas Peel's huge land grant of nearly 250 000 acres. Some of the grant was used for the "Peel Estate" Group Settlement Scheme in the 1920's. The suburb was named after Richard John Anketell, a Surveyor who was the Engineer in Chief of the drainage scheme for the Peel Estate. Group Settlement Scheme in the 1920's.


APPLECROSS

The area now comprising the suburb of Applecross was originally part of Swan Location 61 assigned to Lionel Lukin on the 28th May 1830. The land was finally acquired by Sir Alexander Percival Matheson in February 1896. Matheson, a Scot, formed the Western Australian Investment Company Limited and instigated the subdivision of the area, giving it the name of Applecross after a small fishing village on the North west coast of Scotland.


ARDROSS

This suburb is another area of land acquired by the Scotsman, Sir Alexander Percival Matheson in 1896. In Matheson's subdivision of the adjoining suburb of Applecross, he created "Ardross Street" naming it after either the town of Ardrossan on the Scottish west coast or Ardross Castle, located about 40km North of Inverness. The suburb derives its name from this street.


ARMADALE

The suburb of Armadale derives its name from the railway station of Armadale which was established there in 1893. It is named after either of two Scottish towns of this name, one west of Edinburgh and the other on the North coast of Scotland.


ASCOT

Named after Ascot Racecourse, the dominant feature of the area which has been used for horseracing since 1848. The racecourse was named after Lord Ascot (1831).


ASHBY

This suburb is named after a local landowner, Mr E E Ashby, who owned land in the area in 1913. The name was approved in 1997.


ASHFIELD

The name of the suburb was derived from Ashfield Parade, the name given to a road constructed along side the Swan River when the area was first subdivided in 1913. In the 1950's a public housing development in the area was name "Ashfield Estate".


ATTADALE

The land comprising the suburb was granted to Archibald Butler in 1830 and was acquired by the Scotsman, Sir Alexander Percival Matheson in 1896. Matheson is believed to have named Attadale after a small town in Scotland situated in to eastern shores of Lock Carron, not far from Applecross.


ATWELL

Atwell is a suburb in the south east section of the Town of Cockburn. This name was taken from a pioneer family of the area who had owned land there for many years. The Atwell brothers owned several livery stables in Fremantle around the turn of the century and it was Ernest Atwell who took over the Conditional Purchase Lease of Jandakot Agricultural Area Lot 209, located in the area.


AUBIN GROVE

Aubin Grove is a new suburb in the City of Cockburn which was formerly part of the rural locality of Banjup. It is named after Henry John Aubin who leased agricultural land in the area in 1897, and was approved in 2003.


AVELEY

The area now comprising the suburb of Aveley was previously part of Ellenbrook. Aveley was the name of the district in county Essex, England where “Belhus Estate” was situated.  Edward Pomeroy Barrett Lennard was born in 1799 and his grandfather Lord Dacre was of Belhus, Aveley in the county of Essex, England. He arrived in the Swan River colony on 23 August 1829 and was assigned a total of 13,220 acres on Swan Location H, 8 kilometres north of Guildford. In 1897 Edward’s eldest son George Hardey Barrett Lennard of “St Leonard’s” purchased a large tract of land from a syndicate and named the property “Belhus” after the family estate in Aveley, Essex.  This was the current location of the Vale development that became Aveley.

Return to Top


Western Australian Land Information Authority