Bayswater is a riverside suburb north-east of the central business district (CBD) of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is just north of the Swan River, within the City of Bayswater local government area. It is predominantly a low-density residential suburb consisting of single-family detached homes. However, there are several clusters of commercial buildings, most notably in the suburb's town centre, around the intersection of Whatley Crescent and King William Street and a light industrial area in the suburb's east.
Prior to European settlement, the Mooro group of the Whadjuk Noongar people inhabited the area. In 1830, the year after the European settlement of the Swan River Colony, land along the river was divided between the colonists, who moved in soon after. Most either died or left in the months following, leaving the area undeveloped for most of the 19th century. In 1881, the Fremantle–Guildford railway line was built, triggering the founding of the Bayswater Estate, the first development in the area, and in 1897, the Bayswater Road Board was founded, giving Bayswater its own local government. At first, development consisted of nurseries, market gardens and dairies, but as time went on, Bayswater became more and more suburban. Today, Bayswater is fully suburbanised, with the subdividing of older lots being commonplace. Plans for apartments around Bayswater and Meltham railway stations are a contentious issue.
Parks and wetlands in Bayswater include the Baigup Wetlands, the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary and Riverside Gardens. There are other parks throughout the suburb, including Bert Wright Park, Halliday Park (which includes a war memorial), Hillcrest Reserve and Houghton Park line Bayswater's Swan River foreshore. Major roads through the suburb include Guildford Road, which connects to the Perth CBD and Tonkin Highway.
History
Before European colonisation Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Mooro group of the Whadjuk Noongar people. They were led by Yellagonga and inhabited the area north of the Swan River, as far east as Ellen Brook and north to Moore River. The Swan River provided fresh water and food, as well as being a place for trade. A camping ground, at least 4,500 years old, existed just north of the present-day junction of Tonkin Highway and Guildford Road. Another camping ground likely existed in the area now known as the Baigup Wetlands.
European colonisation
When Europeans founded the Swan River Colony in 1829, they did not recognise the indigenous ownership of the land. John Septimus Roe, the colony's Surveyor General, surveyed the land along the Swan River. His survey resulted in the land being divided into long, narrow rectangular strips extending from the river. As the river was the only method of transportation in the colony's early years, each piece of land had to have river frontage. The long, narrow strips were called "ribbon grants". In 1830, the colonists travelled up the river to the land allotted to them. That year, the Swan River flooded several times, washing away crops and inundating shelters. The colonists were unlucky, as floods were not an annual occurrence. Most of these colonists either died or left the area soon after.
After it was abandoned, several other people bought the land, including Peter Broun (Location S) and William Henry Drake (Location U). With numerous other land holdings around the colony, however, they never lived on or improved the land. The last colonists, the Drummond family, left the area in 1836. By 1833, a track was cleared connecting Perth to Guildford. The track was useable by carriages, but the sandy soil made it difficult. When The Causeway opened in 1836, a route south of the river became the main route from Perth to Guildford, making the track north of the river a minor route. Because of this, the track deteriorated to the point that some people "refused to allow their horses to go for hire on this track". That track is a precursor to what is now Guildford Road.
Between 1830 and 1880, only two houses are known to have been built in the area: one owned by Frederick Sherwood, the other by John Scrivener. Neither house is still standing. The oldest remaining piece of physical evidence of European settlement in the area is an olive tree on Slade Street, supposedly planted in the 1840s and used as a place for religious services. That olive tree is now represented on the City of Bayswater's logo. A mulberry tree cut down in the 1970s had 130 growth rings.
Initial development in the 1880s In 1881, the Fremantle–Guildford railway line was built. There were many arguments over whether it should be laid north or south of the river. The northern option was the one eventually chosen. What was previously a several hours-long trip to get from what is now Bayswater to Perth or Guildford took twenty minutes by train. There was now opportunity to develop the isolated and underused land grants. Patronage on the line exceeded everyone's expectations. Many racegoers got off the line at the part closest to the Perth Race Course, hiked through the bush to the river, where men with boats were waiting to ferry people across the river to the race course. Around 1885 a footbridge was built across the river, near what is now the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary, to serve racegoers.
In June 1885, increased interest in Perth's real estate market began, labelled a "land boom". William Henry Drake, the owner of Location U, died in Bayswater, London, in 1884. Stephen Henry Parker, using his power of attorney for Drake, placed Location U on the property market. The advertisement for the land did little to recommend it, making no mention of the railway line or the possibilities for subdivision. Joseph Rogers, a property developer from New South Wales who saw the land's potential, unlike the locals who saw it as a backwater, bought the land. In July 1885, Rogers, along with his associate Feinberg, placed the land, now named the Bayswater Estate, on the property market again, this time subdivided into lots. Whether the name had any connection to Drake is unknown. It was common practice for property developers to pick a pompous name for an estate at random, but it is possible that Rogers and Feinberg named it after Drake's place of death. Either way, the suburb of Bayswater is named after the Bayswater Estate. A road was surveyed running down the middle of the estate, named Coode Street north of the railway line and King William Street south of the railway line. In the 9 July 1885 edition of The Daily News, an advertisement appeared for the Bayswater Estate that was probably the largest ever real estate advertisement to run in any Western Australian newspaper at the time. The advertisement spanned the entire height of the page and covered over a quarter of its width.
People began buying the land. One person who purchased a lot was Thomas Molloy, a City of Perth councillor and land investor. He had been led to believe his land was close to the railway, but it was actually on the northern end of the Bayswater Estate, far from the present City of Bayswater and closer to Wanneroo than the railway. When he discovered this, he made his annoyance clear to Winthrop Hackett, the editor of The West Australian. On the day of the second auction, Hackett printed an attack on the auctioneers and the Bayswater Estate land in the newspaper. The second and third auctions were poorly attended. As a result, Rogers and Feinberg sued The West Australian for defamation, alleging it had caused them a financial loss because of the poorly attended auctions. They won the case, being awarded damages of one farthing, however they were never paid.
The decision to subdivide the land into lots rather than smaller lots typical in a town meant the estate remained rural. Landowners made use of the land for nurseries, dairies and other agricultural activities. As there was no supervision of building standards, houses were constructed out of corrugated iron and weatherboard, built by the landowners themselves. By January 1886, a branch line was built through Location T over to the river near the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary's current location. The intention was for it to be part of a railway to Busselton, however this never happened. A footbridge was built later that year, so people no longer had to be ferried across the river.
During the late 1880s, Locations V, W and X changed hands several times. Locations X and W were eventually subdivided. Many of the lots were sold to speculators from Victoria and New South Wales, but a few buyers actually lived on their lots. Unlike the other locations, Location V was not subdivided. The only other ribbon grant in the district was Location T, which remained with the original owner's family. However, part of Location T was leased to Henry Walkenden, who established a brickworks there in 1887. This was the first industrial site in Bayswater. It employed up to 18 men, some of whom camped on the surrounding land. The railway was likely used to transport the bricks. Remnants of the site, like Gobba Lake, which was a clay pit, still exist to this day.
New services in the 1890s The first attempt to get a school for Bayswater occurred in 1889, however, the campaign for that was quickly knocked back by the state Board of Education. A second, more thought-out campaign occurred in 1892. Residents managed to convince the Board of Education to take a tour of the area. Afterwards, the Board decided Bayswater deserved a school. A site was purchased, and a one room weatherboard building was constructed. Named Bayswater State School, with 29 pupils when it opened in 1894, its size was insufficient. In the years that followed, the head teacher wrote several letters to the Education Department about overcrowding. By 1896, there were about 12 pupils who had to stand in the aisles, with the head teacher forecasting overcrowding would only worsen. The first upgrade occurred in 1900.
Another matter of importance for residents in the 1890s was for Bayswater to get its own road board. Bayswater was a small settlement, awkwardly straddling the boundaries of the Perth and Swan Road Districts. In December 1894, residents held a meeting to petition for a road board. The government rejected the petition. A second attempt to get Bayswater's own road board in 1896 was successful. Both the Perth and Swan Road Boards were happy to relinquish responsibility for building roads there. The Bayswater Road Board was gazetted on 5 March 1897, becoming one of several new local government areas established in the 1890s along the railway. A wooden ratepayers' hall was constructed on Guildford Road.
Bayswater gained many other services in the 1890s. A post office was established on King William Street in 1895. The railway was duplicated. Shortly thereafter, in 1896, the Bayswater railway station was constructed. The railway became a major employer in Bayswater, with the station needing many staff for passenger services and the goods yard. Some made the commute to Perth by train daily. After lobbying by the Western Australian Turf Club, the branch line was extended across the river to the Perth Race Course in 1897. Baptist, Anglican, Methodist and Catholic churches were established, Bayswater's Baptist church being the first one in Western Australia.