Cloverdale history: the 1910 small farms estate and post-war growth

Cloverdale started as small farms and became one of the City of Belmont’s main post-war suburbs.

How Cloverdale got its name

The suburb is named after the Cloverdale Estate, a subdivision advertised for sale in 1910. The name was officially recognised as a suburb in 1954.

Before the suburb

The City of Belmont records that the Whadjuk Noongar people lived here for tens of thousands of years and know the Swan River as Derbal Yerrigan.

How it grew

The 1910 estate was sold as small farms of five to nine and a half acres, advertised with the promise: Grow your own fruit and vegetables, have your own pigs, poultry, cows, and bees. Around 1927 the area was still known as South Belmont.

After the Second World War the State Housing Commission chose Cloverdale for suburban expansion. The Ruth Faulkner Library opened in 1971, Belmont Forum in 1974, and in 1979 Belmont became a City with its council based in Cloverdale.

Places that tell the story

Perth Alliance Church on Belmont Avenue was built in 1950 entirely by members of its congregation and is heritage listed.

Stella Hay’s house on Kew Street was built between 1951 and 1956 from home-made cement bricks while the family lived in a shed on the block. It is now heritage listed, an unusual recognition for a post-war family house.

The Belmont Museum building on Elizabeth Street was a Bicentennial project of 1987 and 1988.

Cloverdale today

Cloverdale is now an established suburb of post-war and newer houses around Belmont Forum and the City of Belmont’s civic centre.

More about Cloverdale

For what Cloverdale is like to live in now, read our Cloverdale suburb profile. If you own a property in Cloverdale and are thinking about selling, start with buyers for your property.

Sources

• City of Belmont: Cloverdale suburb booklet (archived copy)
• inHerit: Perth Alliance Church
• inHerit: Stella Hay's House
• inHerit: Belmont Museum

Top image: Shops on Belgravia Street, Cloverdale. Photo: Orderinchaos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Dates and names are drawn from the sources above. Where sources differ, we have said so or given an approximate date.

By Key Performance Real Estate, 338 Beaufort Street, Perth