Bayswater history: the 1885 estate, the olive tree and the town centre

Bayswater grew up around the railway and has always been defined by it. Its town centre, its subway and its early town planning all tell that story.

How Bayswater got its name

The suburb is named after the Bayswater Estate of 1885, part of Henry Drake’s land, subdivided by Feinberg and Rogers. Drake died in Bayswater, London in 1884, though whether the name had any connection to him is unknown.

Before the suburb

The City of Bayswater acknowledges the Whadjuk Noongar people as the Traditional Custodians of the land.

How it grew

The railway between Perth and Guildford passed through from the early 1880s. The track that became Walter Road was laid in 1887, a school opened in 1894, Bayswater station opened in 1896, the Road Board was gazetted in 1897 and a post office followed in 1898. The King William Street subway was built in about 1910.

The City records that in 1933 Bayswater adopted one of the first town planning schemes in the state, about 30 years ahead of its time. After the Second World War the population more than doubled between 1947 and 1954, and many migrant families built their own houses, living in temporary structures on the block while they built.

Places that tell the story

Halliday House on King William Street, built in 1892 and 1893, is now the Bayswater Historical Society museum and is on the State Register.

The Bayswater Town Centre was heritage listed in 2020. McLeish’s store of 1906 is described as the last building of substance to be built from corrugated iron.

Ellis House on Milne Street began in 1912 as a dairy farm house.

The Garratt Road Bridge opened in 1935, built with Depression-era sustenance labour.

The olive tree at the bottom of Slade Street, planted by early settlers in the 1800s, appears on the City’s logo.

Bayswater today

Since 2000, new housing has concentrated around the stations, adding apartments and townhouses to Bayswater’s older streets.

More about Bayswater

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

Sources

• City of Bayswater: local history
• City of Bayswater: thematic framework (2020)
• inHerit: Bayswater Town Centre
• inHerit: Halliday House
• City of Bayswater: our logo

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