Midland history: the railway town and its Workshops

Midland is a railway town at heart. Its name, its civic buildings and its biggest redevelopment all come from the railways.

How Midland got its name

The area was first proclaimed in 1895 as the Municipality of Helena Vale. The private Midland Railway Company gave the area its name in the 1890s, ratepayers voted in 1900 to become Midland Junction, and Junction was dropped from the name in 1961.

Before the suburb

The City of Swan records that the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation have been the Traditional Custodians for more than 40,000 years, and that the Helena River was a main route for Noongar people travelling to and from corroborees at Guildford. Weeip led the local clan in the 1830s, and Weeip Park in the New Junction precinct was named in his honour in 2019.

How it grew

The Eastern Railway reached Guildford in 1881. In 1886 the Midland Railway Company began work and a tent village grew where the town now stands. The townsite was laid out around 1890 and 1891.

Between 1902 and 1904 the Government Railway Workshops moved to Midland, and the State Abattoirs opened in 1914. The Town of Midland merged into the Shire of Swan in 1970, Centrepoint opened in 1972, and the Workshops closed on 4 March 1994 after about 90 years. The Midland Redevelopment Authority was set up in 2000.

Places that tell the story

Midland Town Hall was built between 1906 and 1907 and extended in 1924. Its clock turret was unveiled in 1923 as a war memorial paid for by local residents. It is on the State Register.

Midland Post Office, designed by Hillson Beasley, was built in 1913 and is on the State Register.

The Midland Railway Workshops, more than 70 buildings on about 68 hectares, were built between 1902 and 1904 and are on the State Register.

The Court House (1910) and the Carnegie Library (1912) date from the same period of civic building.

Midland today

Midland is now the commercial centre of Perth’s east, with redevelopment on the old Workshops and sale yard land alongside its heritage town centre.

More about Midland

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

Sources

• City of Swan: post-settlement history of Midland
• City of Swan: Aboriginal history
• ABC News: Midland's rich history (2021)
• New Junction: Indigenous significance
• inHerit: Midland Town Hall
• inHerit: Midland Post Office
• inHerit: Midland Railway Workshops

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