Subiaco history: Benedictine monks, the 1890s boom and a city of its own

Subiaco’s name, its oldest buildings and its character all trace back to a small group of Benedictine monks and to the gold boom of the 1890s.

How Subiaco got its name

Benedictine monks named their monastery New Subiaco after Subiaco in Italy, the birthplace of their order. The name was given to the railway station when the line opened in 1881 and then spread to the suburb.

Before the suburb

The City of Subiaco describes the area as the homeland of the Noongar people. Lake Jualbup, now in Shenton Park, takes its name from Jualbup, described by the City as a place where water rises in the season of spring.

How it grew

The monastery was founded in the early 1850s. The railway station was built in 1883. In the 1890s the depression in the eastern states and the Kalgoorlie gold rush brought a rush of new residents, and Subiaco was proclaimed a municipality in 1897, with 388 houses in its first ratebook. It became a City in 1952.

Much of the old railway and industrial land was redeveloped from the 1990s, after the Subiaco Redevelopment Authority was formed in 1994 and the railway was sunk underground.

Places that tell the story

The Subiaco Hotel on Hay Street dates from about 1897.

Perth Modern School, Western Australia’s first government secondary school, opened in 1911.

The Regal Theatre opened on 23 April 1938.

The Art Deco Subiaco Oval gates date from 1935 and are on the State Register.

Subiaco today

Subiaco now combines its Federation and inter-war houses with apartments on the old railway and industrial land.

More about Subiaco

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

Sources

• City of Subiaco: history of Subiaco
• City of Subiaco: history info sheet
• City of Subiaco: 127 years of the City of Subiaco
• City of Subiaco: Lake Jualbup
• inHerit: Perth Modern School
• inHerit: Regal Theatre
• inHerit: Subiaco Oval gates

Top image: The Regal Theatre, Subiaco, 2015. Photo: Samuel Wiki, CC0, 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