Subiaco's History...A Progressive Suburb (1932).
Nearly ninety years ago in 1932, an article titled 'A Progressive Suburb. Subiaco's History' was published in the West Australian newspaper.
The article describes the settlement of Subiaco by the the Benedictine community in 1851. Before that the area was known to the local Aboriginal population as Wandaraguttagurrup.
In 1896 Subiaco had a population of 1300 with 260 houses and 59 tents. As a result of a public meeting, Subiaco was declared a municipality on 26 March 1897. On 29 May, 1897 a council was elected and the first Mayor was Mr. Henry Doyle.
In the following years a post office was built on the corner of Rokeby Road and Bagot Road. By 1898 the foundation stones for the municipal council chambers and library institution were laid. By 1900 the municipal gardens were laid out and later in the year officially opened by Sir John Forrest. A volunteer fire brigade formed.
By 1903 the council established an electricity supply plant because up until then candles and kerosene lamps were used by residents as the mains of the Perth Gas Company had not been extended. By 1932 the population had grown to over 18, 000 with a capital value of 2.7 million pounds.
The photograph is from the Royal Historical Society of Western Australia. The photograph is a postcard of Rokeby Rd Subiaco circa early 1900s, showing tram, horse and cart, Bennett & Burnside Cash Grocers building and pedestrians. No copyright infringement intended.
The article is from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended.
West Australian, 23 September 1932.
A PROGRESSIVE SUBURB.
Subiaco's History.
On January 5, 1851, the Benedictine community, according to an early diarist, moved from Guildford to a spot on the dreary sand plain three miles west of Perth. The members of the community called the place New Subiaco, after the beautiful and historic Italian town of Subiaco, which was the cradle of their order. Later the word "New" was dropped and the settlement became known as Subiaco. Although the Benedictine community and its monastery represented the first settlement in the neighbourhood; the first house was not erected in Subiaco proper until about 1886. The district now has a population of over 18,000, and despite the fact that values were reduced by about 20 per cent, this year, the capital value of the district is about £2,700,000.
An old plan records the native name of the district as Wandaraguttagurrup.
At first the name "Subiaco" was applied to the land which is now on the north side of the railway line. The existing Subiaco municipality is really an extension of the City of Perth, as most of the land in Subiaco was sold by the Government as Perth suburban lots. When the Perth to Fremantle railway was opened, a platform erected for the convenience of the monastery was called Subiaco. The land on both sides of the line took the name which ultimately was appropriated for the southern portion.
In 1894 the council of the City of Perth decided to allot about 180 acres of the Perth commonage, situated at the western end of Broome road (now Hay street), as a new cemetery for the metropolitan area. The Government agreed to make a road to the cemetery and it was really for this purpose that the macadamising of the roadway in Broome road was started. The Railway Department removed the Subiaco railway station about 20 chains westward to its present site near the end of Rokeby road, which brought the station adjacent to the roadway in Broome road or Hay street. Great progress attended the building of Broome road.
In 1895 Subiaco had a population of about 100 persons. In August, 1896. there were 260 houses and 59 tents in the district and a total population of 1,300. During a smallpox epidemic in 1894, about 63 bodies were buried in the cemetery area to the north-west of the railway line at Subiaco. It was decided, however, to create a cemetery at Karrakatta, and the reservation of the area, on the Perth commonage as a cemetery was revoked. The graves which had been made there were fenced in, but in 1906 the bodies were exhumed and transferred to the Karrakatta Cemetery.
Beginning of Local Government.
At an open air meeting held in 1895 to discuss methods of local control, the first progress association for the district was formed. Later, as a result of representations made to the Government, a local board of health and road board were established. The first meeting of the board of health was held on May 27, 1896, and the first road board election took place on May 23, 1896, but this election was upset on the petition of one of the unsuccessful candidates. The members of the first board subsequently elected were Messrs. Charles Hart (chairman). W. J. Kensitt, Baird, J. Murdoch, F. Edgecombe, R. Bate and J. Wallace. Remarkable progress was made by the district and as the outcome of a public meeting a municipality was proclaimed on March 26, 1897.
The first election for the council took place on May 29, 1897, and Mr. Henry Doyle was elected the first Mayor. An advance of £2.000 was made from the Treasury by the Acting-Premier, Sir Edward (then Mr.) Wittenoom.
About this time the first official post office was opened, and a start was made with the erection of the building at the corner of Rokeby and Bagot roads, which served as a post office until 1926. In April, 1899, the foundation stone of the existing municipal chambers and library institute in Rokeby road was laid.
During 1899 negotiations were conducted with the Perth Tramways Syndicate for the extension of the tramway system to Subiaco, and in 1900 the line was extended along Hay street and Rokeby road to the King's Park gates.
Early in the same year the laying out of the Subiaco municipal gardens was commenced and on November 3 the gardens were officially opened by Sir John (afterwards Lord) Forrest.
The Subiaco Volunteer Five Brigade was established in 1900, and until the West Australian Fire Brigades Board was established the brigade was one of the leading brigades in the State.
The council established an electricity supply plant in 1903. Up till this time candles and kerosene lamps had to be used by residents, as the mains of the Perth Gas Company had not then been extended to the district. It was decided in 1921 to obtain supplies of electricity in bulk from the Government Electricity Department. "There has been no period of boom in Subiaco," said the Town Clerk of Subiaco (Mr. C. Luth) yesterday. "The record of the district has been one of continuous and steady progress." Mr. Luth, who succeeded the late Mr. A. Rankin as Town Clerk in 1911, has been on the staff of the council since 1903.
