Mindarie
Mindarie, an outer suburb of Perth located 36 km north of Perth's central business district, has over a relatively short period of time, developed into a very popular beachside resort. The suburb was formally established in 1988 with the construction of the Mindarie Marina and hotel, one of the largest man-made marina resorts in the state.
These facilities have made Mindarie Keys a popular destination for both visitors to and residents of Perth seeking a holiday, weekend getaway, function venue or a relaxing afternoon by the ocean. The Marina offers affordable and comfortable accommodation suites, all with large private balconies overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Mindarie's coastline is mostly taken up by the Mindarie Marina and its large harbour and breakwater. The marina itself has been a popular destination for tourism since its inception in the late 1980s. Along the boardwalk, the marina contains a three-storey hotel overlooking the harbour, two restaurants, a microbrewery and The Boat, a pub and restaurant. The Boat is the focal point of Mindarie's entertainment and nightlife.
Activities include snorkelling, surfing, fishing and the occassional whale or dolphin appearance. If diving is more your thing, the famous and historic Alkimos ship wreck lies approx 9km north of the Marina, just off the Eglington rocks. For more information on local dive operators please contact Marina Reception on 9305 9305.
Immediately south of the marina's breakwater is Claytons Beach, an unpatrolled beach that is a popular spot for surfers. The beach has excellent waves for surfers, but rips are not uncommon, so it is not an ideal place to go swimming. Quinns beach, just 3 km north, is a great family beach with life guards and has much safer conditions for swimming.
Marmion Avenue is the only north-south arterial road that directly links Mindarie to the Perth metropolitan area in the south, as well as the outer northern suburb of Yanchep. Connolly Drive and Wanneroo Road can also be accessed via Hester Avenue, north-east of the suburb. Neerabup Road in the south-east of Mindarie is expected to become an entrance to the Mitchell Freeway, once the freeway is extended to Clarkson from its current terminus at Currambine.
Mindarie is served by the 481 and 482 bus routes to Clarkson railway station. A deviation of the 481 also directly serves the marina on weekends.
An 800 metre, paved walking trail along the top of the coastal cliffs offers views out to the ocean, colourful vegetation in season and informative signage on the way. The walk starts from the north side of Mindarie Marina, at the carpark on Rossclare Promenade and ends at the carpark outside Quinns Rocks Caravan Park. The walk passes above the many rock pools along this coast. Abalone graze on the local seaweed and you can spot the occasional crab before it darts under the rocks.
After anexpedition to Wanneroo by John Butler in 1835, the first permanent European settler was sheep-farmer Bernard Clarkson, who first acquired a pastoral lease in 1888 of 13,000 acres in the areas comprising modern-day Mindarie, Clarkson, Quinns Rocks and Merriwa. The leases were known as the Mindarie Pastoral Company, and the lands were primarily used for sheep-herding by subsequent generations of the Clarkson family.
Another early settler, Henry Cooper and his brothers, built two lime kilns at Mindarie in 1932 after the closure of their quarries in Wembley. The Cooper family produced and sold treated limestone in Perth and Fremantle as the Quinns Rocks Lime Stone Company, and were some of the first permanent residents of the nearby Quinns Rocks townsite. The kilns provided work for up to thirty-two labourers, who lived in makeshift jarrah shacks.
Limeburning kiln ruins
The Coopers ceased lime-burning operations in 1948 after exhausting good quality limestone supplies in the area. The kilns underwent restoration in 2001 and are preserved today in the Coopers Park bushland reserve in Mindarie.
After the closure of the lime kilns, John Clarkson sold the Mindarie Pastoral Company leases in 1952, and the area remained unpopulated and unused until 1981, when Smith Corporation purchased 316 hectares of land there for $5.5 million. In July 1984, the company announced plans to develop the land into "Mindarie Keys", a $28 million marina and resort complex to be ready in time for the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle. Due to the environmental and planning concerns surrounding the marina project, it did not receive final approval from the State Government until 1986, which was too late for construction to finish before the America's Cup defence began.
Origin of the name: Mindarie was named after Lake Mindarie in nearby Carabooda. The name is a Noongar word meaning either "the place near which is held a ceremony" or "green water", first recorded by Alexander Forrest in 1874. A town also named Mindarie, in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, claims origin from a Dieri word meaning "festival to invoke peace".
