Shenton Park history: Lake Jualbup, West Subiaco and the hospital

Shenton Park was called West Subiaco until the 1930s. Its lake, its railway station and its hospitals tell the story of how it grew.

How Shenton Park got its name

The suburb is named after George Shenton, who bought the swampland here in 1877. The lake became known as Shenton’s Lake, and in 1934 this part of Subiaco was renamed Shenton Park.

Before the suburb

Lake Jualbup was a source of water and food for the Noongar people. inHerit gives the meaning of Jualbup as waterhole for spring, and the City of Subiaco as a place where water rises seasonally. The lake is a registered Aboriginal site, and its Aboriginal name was restored at a ceremony beside the lake in 1996.

In colonial times the lake was known as Dyson’s Swamp, and settlers watered livestock there.

How it grew

George Rotton’s subdivision plan of 1881 created large allotments, and the area became known as West Subiaco or the Rosalea Estate. Further estates followed, including the City of Perth Estate in 1896, and building picked up after 1910.

West Subiaco Station opened in September 1908 after years of local campaigning. Football and cricket were played around the lake until flooding stopped them, and the Subiaco Football Club played there until 1908. From the 1910s to the 1950s the lake was used as a rubbish tip to control flooding, before becoming a landscaped park.

Places that tell the story

Rosalie Primary School opened on 15 October 1906 as West Subiaco or Rosalea School, with 67 pupils.

The Shenton Park Hotel on the corner of Nicholson and Derby Roads was built from 1907 in the Federation Filigree style, to a design by Harry Jefferis.

The hospital site on Selby Street began in 1893 as an infectious diseases hospital, with smallpox patients treated in tents. A new hospital opened in 1938, and in 1954 Dr George Bedbrook set up Australia’s first paraplegic unit there. The hospital closed in 2014.

Lemnos Hospital on Stubbs Terrace opened in 1926 to care for returned servicemen.

Shenton Park today

Shenton Park is shared between the City of Subiaco and the City of Nedlands. The former hospital site is now Montario Quarter, a new neighbourhood that keeps parts of the old hospital buildings, and Shenton Park Bushland is protected as a reserve.

More about Shenton Park

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

Sources

• City of Subiaco: Walking Subiaco, Shenton Park
• inHerit: Lake Jualbup
• inHerit: Station Master’s House
• inHerit: Shenton Park Conservation Area
• inHerit: Shenton Park Hotel
• inHerit: Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital
• inHerit: Lemnos Hospital
• Rosalie Primary School: our history
• DevelopmentWA: Shenton Park case study

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