Hamersley, Western Australia

Hamersley
PerthWestern Australia
View east from Benjafield Way towards ABC tower
Map
Coordinates31°51′07″S 115°48′22″E / 31.852°S 115.806°E / -31.852; 115.806
Population5,209 (SAL 2021)[1]
Established1968
Postcode(s)6022
Area3.347 km2 (1.3 sq mi)
Location14 km (9 mi) NNW of Perth CBD
LGA(s)City of Stirling
State electorate(s)Kingsley
Federal division(s)Cowan
Suburbs around Hamersley:
Duncraig Warwick Girrawheen
Carine Hamersley Balga
Gwelup Balcatta Westminster

Hamersley is a residential suburb 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) north-northwest of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and six kilometres (4 mi) from the Indian Ocean. The suburb adjoins two major arterial roads—Mitchell Freeway to the west and Reid Highway to the south—and is within the City of Stirling local government area. It was built during the late 1960s and 1970s as part of the Government of Western Australia's response to rapidly increasing land prices across the metropolitan area.[2][3]

Before development, Hamersley was a remote district covered in jarrah, marri, banksia and other vegetation typical of the Swan Coastal Plain, with small areas cleared for small-scale agriculture such as market gardening and poultry farming. By 1974, six years after the first subdivision, Hamersley was home to the district's first community hall, an annual parade and fair which were broadcast on Perth TV and radio, an active progress association, and its own newspaper, the Hamersley Gazette, a forerunner to today's Stirling Times. Rapid growth further north removed the focus from Hamersley, which was completed in 1981 and has remained relatively stable since then.

Significant reserves of remnant bushland remain in parts of the suburb. The largest of these is an exclusion zone around the 180-metre-high (590-foot) ABC radio tower in the suburb's southeast, which broadcasts AM stations to the Perth metropolitan area. The guyed tower was built in 1939 and is a landmark in the region, although it has been a local political issue since the 1980s.[4]

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Hamersley (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ Legislative Council of Western Australia (13 August 1968). "Land in Hamersley Area – Release", Hansard, p. 288.
    * Carr, Dr. David. "Hamersley – Rezoning from Urban Deferred to Urban (Report No. Hous/55)", Minutes of the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority (July–December 1967), 14 November 1967.
    * "Government To Free 1,000 Acres for Houses near City", The West Australian, 14 December 1967, p. 2.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference mccarrey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference right was invoked but never defined (see the help page).