Northbridge history: from swamps to Perth’s cultural quarter

Northbridge has been Perth’s meeting place for generations of migrants, and its name is younger than most of its buildings.

How Northbridge got its name

For much of its history the area was simply known as north of the line. The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority’s heritage inventory records that it was officially named Northbridge in 1979, Western Australia’s 150th anniversary year. Some sources give 1982 for its formal gazettal as a suburb.

Before the suburb

The heritage inventory describes the area as Noongar camping, hunting and gathering ground. Freshwater swamps covered much of it, and settlement waited until drainage began from about 1848.

How it grew

Gold-boom mansions went up beside workers’ cottages in the 1890s. The Horseshoe Bridge, built in the early 1900s, carried road traffic over the railway between the city and the north.

After the Second World War, Italian migrants created a Little Italy of cafes and boarding houses, followed by Vietnamese, Thai, Lebanese and Turkish communities.

Places that tell the story

The Brass Monkey, built in 1896 as the Great Western Hotel, still stands on the corner of James and William Streets.

The Rechabite Hall dates from 1924 and reopened as a performing arts venue in 1998.

The Perth Cultural Centre precinct includes the Old Perth Gaol from the 1850s and buildings from the early 1900s, with the cultural centre itself developed from the 1970s.

Northbridge today

Northbridge is now Perth’s entertainment and cultural quarter, with apartments close to the museum, gallery, library and the city’s busiest restaurant streets.

More about Northbridge

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

Sources

• MRA: draft Central Perth heritage inventory (2015)
• inHerit: Horseshoe Bridge
• inHerit: Brass Monkey Hotel
• inHerit: Rechabite Hall
• inHerit: Perth Cultural Centre precinct

Top image: The Great Western Hotel, now the Brass Monkey, 2006. Photo: Nachoman-au, 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