Huntingdale history: a 1970s suburb on an 1829 land grant

Huntingdale is one of Perth’s younger suburbs, but the land it sits on has a long history.

How Huntingdale got its name

The City of Gosnells says the name Huntingdale was chosen by the developers, and that the suburb was established in a few short years during the building boom of the early 1970s.

Before the suburb

The City of Gosnells records that the Canning River, Djarlgarra Beeliar, supplied food for the Beeliar and Beloo people.

How it grew

In November 1829 John Okey Davis was granted 7,026 acres, covering nearly all of present-day Gosnells, Huntingdale and Southern River. The first Southern River Road bridge was built in 1917 and replaced by a timber bridge in 1928.

The City of Gosnells records that the area’s population almost doubled between 1966 and 1970, from 11,000 to 21,000, and that suburbs such as Huntingdale followed in the 1970s.

Places that tell the story

A marri tree at the rear of Balfour Street Reserve is believed to be more than 150 years old, about 30 metres tall with a canopy about as wide. It is on the municipal inventory.

The City’s heritage record dates the replacement Southern River Road bridge to the 1980s, following earlier crossings built in 1917 and 1928 (inHerit, Place 23928).

Huntingdale today

Huntingdale is a family suburb of 1970s and later houses.

More about Huntingdale

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

Sources

• City of Gosnells: the history of suburb names (PDF, archived copy of May 2022; no longer on the City’s website)
• Landgate: Perth and surrounds suburb names (archived 2022)
• City of Gosnells: history of the City
• City of Gosnells: condensed history of the Gosnells area (archived copy)
• inHerit: marri tree, Philp Close
• inHerit: Southern River Road bridge

Top image: The Southern River near where it flows into the Canning River. Photo: Gnangarra, CC BY 2.5 au, 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