Mirrabooka Avenue
Mirrabooka Satellite City
Mirrabooka, which is the Aboriginal name for the Southern Cross, was originally planned as a major satellite city to the north of Perth, to accommodate the rapidly increasing post-war population. The area was envisaged to contain over 16,000 dwellings, in addition to commercial and recreational facilities. It was imagined that workers from Perth and the northern industrial areas would be attracted to the development.
The three planned residential area were Nollamara, Balga and Yirrigan. Nollamara was developed by the State Housing Commission in the 1950s, Balga followed in the 1960s, but Yirrigan remained virgin bushland for a number of decades. The suburb of Koondoola was created out of Yirrigan; more than two thirds of Yirrigan remains virgin bush. The name is retained in Yirrigan Drive. Mirrabooka High School was built to accommodate the baby boomer children who it was anticipated would move into the area with their families. The school opened in 1965. Ironically, it is not in what became the suburb of Mirrabooka, but in Dianella, on Nollamara Avenue. Mirrabooka Regional Centre was originally planned to be something along the lines of the Joodalup Centre, in the suburb of Joondalup, with a bus exhange, and a wide variety community services and businesses.
During the 1960s and 70s, the concept of a satellite city was revised several times, resulting in changes to suburb boundaries and various residential developments. By 1982 the concept has been abandoned totally and the suburb of Mirrabooka was formally created from the area previously known as Yirrigan. This led to the downgrading of the Mirrabooka Regional Centre. The bus exchange was built, as was Mirrabooka Square Shopping Centre, however the latter is much smaller and less of the regional shopping centre than originally planned. A range of services other than just shops exist, but for the local community rather than a wider area.
The first residential development in the area only occurred in the 1980s. Mirrabooka is today a culturally diverse community, with approximately half of the community were born overseas and over 55% of residents speak a language other than English at home. Mirrabooka is largely characterised by predominantly single detached dwellings of brick and tile construction on small to medium sized lots. Much of the area has been developed, however there are still a small number of vacant lots remaining in the eastern sector of the suburb.
Mirrabooka takes its name from the Aboriginal name for the constellation known as the Southern Cross, though the name was imported from New South Wales.
Nollarama Shopping Centre
Nollamara was one of the first "Mirrabooka Project" suburbs to be developed by the State Housing Commission in the early 1950's. The suburb name was approved in 1954, and is the Aboriginal word for the red and green kangaroo paw, Western Australia's floral emblem. Parts of the area now called Nollamara were originally granted separately to William Knight in 1841 and Mary Hutton in March 1844. However, development in Nollamara did not commence in earnest until the late 1940's. Prior to World War II, land in the southern sector of Nollamara was used mainly for market gardens and poultry farms.
The State Housing Commission resumed the area in 1950 as part of the Mirrabooka Satellite City project and the suburb was named in 1954. Despite the fact that the Mirrabooka project was never completed, over two and a half thousand homes had been built in Nollamara by 1969. Nollamara is generally characterised by single detached dwellings on small to medium sized lots. Construction styles vary from timber-framed character houses dating from the 1950's to modern brick and tile dwellings. Redevelopment is currently occurring in Nollamara, with many of the original State Housing Commission homes being replaced by units and duplex developments. This is resulting in the reduced dominance of State Housing Commission properties.
The largest recreational area is the Des Penman Memorial Reserve, which contains a community recreational centre and facilities for lawn bowls and tennis. A water tower is located adjacent to Mount Yokine Reservoir and is visible from both the suburb and elsewhere in the region. Parts of the area now called Nollamara were originally granted separately to William Knight in 1841 and Mary Hutton in March 1844.
Girrawheen Avenue
The development of the residential suburb of Girrawheen grew out of one of the changes made to the Mirrabooka satellite city plan. In October 1969, the State Government, in a bid to offer affordable land for housing following the McCarrey Report, rezoned a large portion of land in the area from Urban Deferred to Urban, which was then included in land set aside for the State Housing Commission under the Mirrabooka satellite city development scheme. The plan never came to fruition, although a town planning scheme was approved by the Shire of Wanneroo in September 1970. On 26 June 1970, the Shire gazetted the name "Girrawheen", meaning "place of flowers" or "the place where flowers grow" in an Eastern States Aboriginal language, possibly that of the Kambuwal people in southeastern Queensland. The name was already in use for the Girraween National Park near Stanthorpe, Queensland, and a suburb of Girraween in western Sydney was gazetted five years later.
Girrawheen is located 15 km north of Perth's central business district, and is bounded by Wanneroo Road to the west, Beach Road to the south, Marangaroo Drive to the north and Mirrabooka Avenue to the east. Girrawheen comntains predominantly State Housing Commission homes, there are some pockets of private homes to the west of Girrawheen Avenue.
The socio-economic profile of the suburb together with the high numbers of Vietnamese, Sudanese and Aboriginal students, some of whom have low literacy or English language skills, mean that all schools in the suburb have been a high priority for Commonwealth and State funding and offer specialist literacy support services not found at many other metropolitan schools.
Balga Avenue
The residential suburb of Balga was created as a State Housing Commission subdivision between Yokine and Wanneroo which also contained the suburbs of Nollamara and Yirrigan. Along with Nollamara and Westminster, Balga was part of the "Mirrabooka Project". The name Balga was adopted in 1954 and is the Noongar (Aboriginal) word for the indigenous grass tree, Xanthorrhoea preissii. These trees were prolific in the area prior to subdivision. The laying of streets and building of homes commenced in 1959.
Balga Senior High School includes an Intensive English Centre for newly arrived refugee students, a program for teenage parents, a sports-based education program for indigenous students, and an emphasis on literacy, numeracy, health and careers through all levels of the school. It is one of the few high schools in Western Australia not to offer a Tertiary Entrance Exam (TEE) program, although several students each year complete a university preparation course conducted by Edith Cowan University.
Balga is 13 km north of Perth and is bounded by Wanneroo Road to the west, Reid Highway to the south, Mirrabooka Avenue to the east and Beach Road to the north.
Marloo Road, Westminster
In 1936 an area to the east of Wanneroo Road between Tuart Hill and Wanneroo was subdivided and named Westminster Gardens by its developers. Westminster Boulevard (now Ravenswood Drive) linked the estate to the outside world. A primary school was established there and named Westminster Public School.
Development of the area remained limited up to the late 1940s because the area was perceived to be relatively isolated. Most of the surrounding land at that time was used for market gardening and poultry farms. Due to the area s extensive jarrah and Banksia woodlands, timber cutting was also popular in the earlier days of the colony.
Undeveloped land at Westminster and the surrounding area was resumed by the State Housing Commission in the early 1950s to form the basis for the Mirrabooka Regional Centre. Westminster, then part of Balga, was developed to capacity by 1970. It did not gain full suburb status until 1994 when residents lobbied the City of Stirling to name the southern part of Balga after the original estate in the area. Today Westminster has a population of over 5000 people with over 2400 dwellings being serviced by two shopping centres.
