Swan Valley
The upper reaches of the river pass through what is known as the Swan Valley, a richly fertile area that has earned its reputation as Perth s Valley of Taste. The Swan Valley is Western Australia s oldest wine region, offering a fusion of wine, food, art, scenery and nature.
It is a short 30 minute drive from the city centre via Gt Eastern Highway, though many visitors take the more leisurely way to get there, opting for a winery cruise up the Swan River past the historic town of Guildford.
Home town of entertainer Rolf Harris, Bassendean is delightfully located on a curve of the Swan River, opposite the junction of the Helena River, and has a combination of housing, parks and recreational areas, rural areas, as well as light industry and commercial areas. It also has riverside public open space which are ideal for walks and bike rides and for picnics and BBQs among the seven kilometres of river frontage.
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Guildford is one of three towns established in 1829, when Western Australia was settled, and its plan was based on the model of an English country town. It is a place where history lives on in quaint colonial buildings, where the influence of the English gentry is still played out on the polo field and where Devonshire tea is served with a shameless disregard for cholesterol levels. Much of Guildford s original town plan, including the central church square, subdivisions and general land use, remains as it was, leaving a largely intact early 19th century English market town (apart from the railway line which disects it).
A regional centre 16 km from the city centre, Midland has extensive shopping facilities serving the many relatively new suburbs that surround it. It is a major road junction with Gt Northern Highway heading south to the north of the state, and gt Eastern Highway heading east to Kalgoorlie and the eastern states. The Transperth suburban railway system currently has a terminus at Midland station. Midland was the site of the Midland Railway Workshops - the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) for over 80 years. It was also a terminus for the Midland Railway Company. At the end of the Second World War it was the junction of the Midland Railway, the Upper Darling Range Railway, and the main Eastern Railway.
Now a popular suburb on the Darling Scarp, Swan View was the site of the first railway siding after Midland on the Eastern Railway. Subdivision began in the 1890s soon after the railway arrived. Once a spur line, the railway through Swan View became the main line to the Eastern Wheatbelt and Kalgoorlie. The line, now removed, once passed through WA's only railway tunnel. Now in John Forest National Park, it can be reached from the remains of the Swan View railway station via a walking trail which follows path of the railway.
Viveash is a suburb immediately north of Midland, where the Toodyay Road branches off Gt Northern Highway. The names of many of Western Australia's most influential pioneer families are recalled in the names of the localities to the north of Midland, which is where many of them first settled. Dr Viveash was a pioneer settler in the Upper Swan Valley. He named his property Wexcombe, which is still the name of the locality today. Herne Hill takes its name from the family home of William Locke (Drake) Brockman, who accompanied Ensign Robert Dale across the Darling Range in 1829, opening up the Avon Valley for farming. Herne Hill was named after the family home in Britain of Brockman's wife, Ann Francis Isabella Hamersley. Her brother, Edward Hamersley, was a successful and wealthy pastoralist, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. The Hamersley family became one of the most prominent families in the colony. Lady Ellen Margaret Elvire Forest, wife of the state's first Premier, Sir John Forrest, was Edward's daughter.
Named after the property of Peter Shadwell, who took up a grant there in 1830, Caversham was one of the first areas in the Upper Swan Valley where grape vines were planted. Caversham Airfield was constructed during World War II as a parent aerodrome for the United States Fleet Air Arm of the 7th Fleet. The airfield was used as a motor racing circuit, hosting its first event in 1946. It became Western Australia's premier motor racing venue, hosting the Australian Grand Prix in 1957 and 1962 and the Six Hour Le Mans endurance race from 1955 to 1968. Australian Formula I racing champion Jack Brabham cut his teeth in motor racing here. Racing activities ceased when the airfield was re-activated as a military facility and Western Australian racing shifted to Wanneroo Raceway in 1969.
Caversham Wildlife Park is located inside Whiteman Park. As well as displaying Australian wildlife, the park offers shows, talks and photo opportunities. Loocation: Whiteman Park, Lord Street entrance or Beechboro Road entrance. Whiteman Park, built around a swimming hole named Mussel Pool, is also home to the collections of a prominent and popular local identity, Lewis Whiteman (1903-1994). Whiteman built up a wide collection of objects, antique and curious, local and exotic, during his lifetime. A portion of Whiteman's collection, relevant to transport heritage, is now on display at the park. It includes agricultural machinery, tractors, bicycles, a narrow gauge railway, over 120 motor vehicles, Perth electric trams and a fleet of 26 Perth diesel and trolley buses.
The Swan Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine growing regions. It has a strong tradition of fortified winemaking, with the star attractions being its liqueur style wines using Muscat, Verdelho, and Pedro Ximenes. These wines bear a lot of resemblance to the wonderful Muscat s and Tokays of Rutherglen. There are still have quite a few very old vineyards in the Swan - many with these traditional varieties plus Shiraz and Grenache as well.
If you have your own transport, you would be short-changing yourself if you failed to partake in the many experiences on offer along the award-winning Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail - a 32 kilometre loop taking in more than 150 attractions including wineries, lively breweries, fine restaurants, bustling cafes, distilleries, shops, accommodation and roadside stalls selling fresh local produce.
An attractive bushland reserve renowned for its vistas over the Swan River coastal plain. A 1,790 hectare tract of bushland in the Darling Scarp on Perth's north-eastern perimeter, the park is particularly popular among bushwalkers; the River, Kangaroo, Echidna, Kingfisher and Aboriginal Heritage Trails are of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty. Swimming is permitted at Walyunga pool though the water quality is questionable. White water canoeing on the Avon River is popular after rain, when the Park's string of placid pools turn into a raging torrent. It then becomes one of Australia's best white water canoeing courses and is part of the annual Avon Descent race each August. Wildlife seen in the park can include Kangaroos, Emus, Echidna, Black Duck and Teal.
Location: 37 kilometres north east of Perth.
How to get there: by car, via Great Northern Hwy; follow signs to park. Transperth buses run to the highway turn off only some 2 km from the park entrance.
Noble Falls is a popular picnic spot directly opposite the Noble Falls Tavern on Toodyay Road. A walking trail along the Wooroloo Brook is attractive at all times of the year. The wildflowers are in bloom in the spring and the waterfall is stunning in winter. The walk adjoins a reserve, which is home to many birds and other wildlife.
An outer suburb of Perth 25 km north of Midland, Bullsbrook is a semi rural community near the confluence of Monger, Bulls and Ellen Brooks, three tributaries of the Swan River. The original Bullsbrook townsite is located slightly west of the current town, on the 17 km mark of the Midland Railway. The name originates from the railway station, established during the construction of the Midland Railway in the 1890s and named after an adjacent watercourse, Bull's Brook. The watercourse may have been named after Lt Henry Bull who was granted land here in May 1831.
Bullsbrook is home to the RAAF Pearce airbase, a major training facility for the Royal Australian Air Force. It is primarily home to No 2 Flying Training School and No 79 Squadron. The Republic of Singapore's No 130 Squadron is also based at Pearce. Pearce is the busiest RAAF base in the country in terms of total aircraft movements, including civil movements at the Joint User bases. Although its primary role is pilot training, it remains the only permanent Air Force base on the west coast, and thus has a significant logistics role.
The Defence Force Air Show is held annually over two days at RAAF Pearce airbase. Featuring a variety of aircraft - both civilian and military - the event attracts over 50,000 visitors.
Located just an hours drive east of Perth is the picturesque Avon Valley. A colourful patchwork of gently rolling hills and winding streams set the backdrop for peaceful drives and countryside getaways. The Avon Valley is a perfect destination for a day trip from Perth or for a weekend getaway. Stretching from Brookton in the south to New Norcia in the north, the Avon Valley region boasts eight intriguing towns for you to explore; Beverley, Bindoon (Chittering), Brookton, Goomalling, Northam, Toodyay, York and New Norica (Victoria Plains).
One of the smaller National Parks in the hills beyond Perth, Avon Valley Naqtional Park is one of the lesser known Parks, because of its isolation, limited accessability and lack of facilities. Anyone who has travelled on the Indian Pacific train from Perth to the Eastern States will be familar it, as that train passes up the valley and through the park on its way to Northam.
