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The city of Perth in Western Australia was
named by Captain James Stirling in 1829
after Perth, Scotland, in honour of the
birthplace and parliamentary seat in the
British House of Commons of Sir George
Murray, Secretary of State for War and the
Colonies.
In 1896, residents of
Rockingham petitioned to establish a road
board, which they proposed be called
"Clarence" which was the name of the failed
settlement of Thomas Peel at Woodman Point.
The area at the time fell within the
responsibility of the Fremantle District
Road Board. The name "Clarence" was declined
by the Department of Lands and Surveys, and
the Rockingham Roads District was gazetted
on 4 February 1897.
The agricultural hall
on the corner of Flinders Lane and Kent
Street in Rockingham was used for the Roads
Board's administration until an office was
constructed for the Roads Board on the
corner of Office Road and Mandurah Road in
East Rockingham in 1905. In 1929 the Board
resolved to relocate the administration to
Rockingham Beach and the various buildings,
including the Agricultural Hall and the
vacated Rockingham Beach Primary School
building on Kent Street, were used as the
Board's offices. A new office was
constructed for the Roads Board in 1946 on
the corner of Flinders Lane and Kent Street.
In February 1954 the Kwinana Road District
was formed from the northern portion of the
Rockingham Road District.
On 1 July 1961, the
Road District became the Shire of Rockingham
following enactment of the Local
Government Act 1960. In 1971, the Shire
relocated to new offices on Council Avenue
on land donated by developers Rockingham
Park Pty Ltd 2 km southeast of the
traditional centre of Rockingham Beach,
which was to become the new major centre of
Rockingham and Kwinana. The Rockingham City
Shopping Centre opened in the new centre in
1971. Despite the move to the new "city
centre," the community apparently considered
Rockingham Beach to be the rightful civic
heart of Rockingham, as evidenced by the
Shire's decision to construct Flinders Hall
on Flinders Lane, despite the new Council
offices being constructed in the same year.
On 12 November 1988
the Council attained City status. In 1994,
the City relocated to new Council chambers
and civic centre on Civic Boulevard.
In 2008, the Council adopted a plan for the
Rockingham Strategic Regional (or Primary)
Centre which incorporated both the
traditional centre at Rockingham Beach and
the "City Centre" of the 1970s into a
larger, encompassing centre. The plan seeks
to increase the residential population
within this new city centre envelope from
12,000 to 36,000 through the provision of
transit-oriented development, which would in
turn support the operation of light rail
between the Rockingham Train Station and
Rockingham Beach.
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Perth
is the capital and largest city of Western
Australia. It is the fourth-most populous
city in Australia, with an estimated
population of 2.02 million (as of 30 June
2014) living in Greater Perth. Perth is part
of the South West Land Division of Western
Australia, with the majority of the
metropolitan area of Perth located on the
Swan Coastal Plain, a narrow strip between
the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp, a
low coastal escarpment. The first areas
settled were on the Swan River, with the
city's central business district and port
(Fremantle) both located on its shores.
Perth is formally divided into a number of
local government areas, which themselves
consist of a large number of suburbs,
extending from Two Rocks in the north to
Rockingham in the south, and east inland to
The Lakes.
