North Perth history: the Woodville Estate, trams and Beatty Park

North Perth is known for its Federation and inter-war houses, its local shopping strips and its sense of being close to everything. Most of that character was set in the first decades of the 20th century.

Before the suburb

The City of Vincent records North Perth as part of the Whadjuk Noongar seasonal wetland chain, with registered sites at Goonderup, near the Redemptorist Monastery, and Danjanberup, Smith’s Lake.

How it grew

John Smith farmed near today’s Charles Veryard Reserve in the 1840s and 1850s. In the early 1890s the Woodville Estate was opened and marketed as high and healthy villa sites. The local school opened in 1899 as Woodville School and was renamed North Perth State School in 1903.

North Perth became a municipality in 1901 and merged with the City of Perth in 1914. The Fitzgerald Street tram extension opened in 1906, and trams ran until 1958.

Federation houses came first, then inter-war Californian bungalows. After the Second World War, Italian and Greek families settled in the suburb.

Places that tell the story

The Redemptorist Monastery and Church were built in stages from 1903.

The Rosemount Hotel is a Federation Filigree building from about 1902, renovated in the Art Deco style in the late 1930s.

North Perth Town Hall’s lesser hall dates from 1902 and its main hall from 1910.

Beatty Park, named after Admiral Sir David Beatty, hosted the swimming events of the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

North Perth today

North Perth is now part of the City of Vincent, with its period houses and the Beatty Park Leisure Centre still at the heart of the suburb.

More about North Perth

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

Sources

• City of Vincent: North Perth history
• City of Vincent: history
• City of Vincent: Thematic History (2025)
• inHerit: Redemptorist Monastery
• inHerit: Rosemount Hotel
• inHerit: Beatty Park

Top image: The Redemptorist Monastery, North Perth. Photo: Moondyne, 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