Connolly history: a soldier settler’s name, lime quarries and a golf course

Connolly carries the name of a soldier who held land in the area in 1838. Its streets are laid out around a golf course built on old limestone quarries.

How Connolly got its name

Landgate records that the name Connolly was adopted in 1980. It honours John Connolly, a private in the 63rd Regiment who came to the colony in 1829 and held land in this area in 1838. After leaving the army in 1834 he farmed at Upper Swan and at Bindoon. The City of Joondalup’s Local Heritage Survey gives the same account.

Before the suburb

The heritage survey describes the City as Mooro Country, part of Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar, where the Mooro people lived north of the Swan River and used the lakes, coast and bush for food.

After settlement the district’s limestone became a resource. The survey records lime kilns operating in the area from around 1910, and by the 1920s the district was well regarded for its lime. The quarries left behind would later shape the suburbs: the survey notes that suburbs were designed around them.

How it grew

The 1970 Corridor Plan picked Joondalup as a new sub-regional centre to support the planned expansion of the north-west corridor, and Connolly later took shape beside it. The survey lists a golf course at Connolly among the major capital works of the 1980s, and says the Connolly and Joondalup golf courses were developed from old quarry sites.

Connolly Primary School opened on Fairway Circle in 1991.

Places that tell the story

The golf course, now part of Joondalup Resort, is the clearest link to the quarrying past, and one of its three courses is called the Quarry Course. The resort, at 45 Joondalup Resort Country Club Boulevard, also has 70 rooms, a function centre and a day spa. No place in Connolly is on the City’s Local Heritage Survey.

Connolly today

The 2021 Census counted 3,675 people in Connolly, with a median age of 47. Most of its dwellings are separate houses.

More about Connolly

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

Sources

• Landgate: Perth and surrounds suburb names (archived 2022)
• City of Joondalup Local Heritage Survey (endorsed 28 May 2024)
• Joondalup Resort
• Connolly Primary School
• ABS 2021 Census QuickStats: Connolly

Top image: The Joondalup Resort golf course in Connolly, from Moore Drive, 2011. Photo: Outrune, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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