Parkerville, Western Australia
| Parkerville Perth, Western Australia | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Parkerville | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 31°52′26″S 116°08′42″E / 31.874°S 116.145°E | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 2,070 (2006 census)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 6081 | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Shire of Mundaring | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Swan Hills | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Hasluck | ||||||||||||||
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Parkerville is a suburb in the Shire of Mundaring in Western Australia.
Jane Brook flows through Parkerville on its way down to the Swan River through John Forrest National Park.
History
The Nyoongar people were the original custodians of the land. The arrival of British settlers in 1829 on the Swan Coastal Plain eventually led to Nyoongar dispossession in the Hills behind Perth. The Parkerville Suburban Area was made open for selection in June 1895.
Parkerville was one of the first stations to be constructed on the railway line that once ran between Bellevue and Mount Helena, opening for traffic in 1896. The Railway Hotel, now the Parkerville Tavern, opened in 1902.
The town was named in honour of Stephen Henry Parker whose country home, now the Old Mahogany Inn, was situated nearby. Parker was a prominent member of Perth's legal fraternity.
In 1903 Sister Kate of the Community of the Sisters of the Church, purchased 20 acres (81,000 m2) of land at Parkerville for the "League of Charity Home" for children, which became the Parkerville Children's Home.[2]
The historic Parkerville Children's Home bush cemetery is located approximately three kilometres east of the Home. Clutterbuck Creek is named after Sister Kate's parents. In 1909 the construction of the chapel was completed. Sally Morgan, in her landmark novel My Place, writes how three-year-old Gladys is taken to this orphanage.
In 1966 the railway line was closed as part of a change of route to the Avon Valley. The railway route has become the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail as a bridle and walking path.
The Parkerville Amphitheatre owned and operated by John Joseph Jones[3][4] became the site for a number of 1970s concerts, including John Farnham, Cold Chisel, and Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons.[5] This and other nearby locations have been used for filming children's television series, Parallax.
A documentary on the Parkerville Amphitheatre, "Sets, Bugs & Rock n Roll", by Tempest Productions, was shown at the Revelation Film Festival in Perth in July 2015.[6]
By the early 2000s, Perth's suburban growth was placing development pressures on Parkerville.
In January 2014 houses in Parkerville and neighbouring suburbs were destroyed in a bushfire.[7]
Education
There are three schools in Parkerville today[when?]: Parkerville Primary School, the Silver Tree Steiner School and Mundaring Christian College.
References
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Parkerville (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ McCracken, Jenni (1990), A penny for the ponies : the work of the Community of the Sisters of the Church at Parkerville Children's Home (1903-1933), 1990, retrieved 29 June 2017
- ^ [Biographical cuttings on John Joseph Jones, playwright and founder of the Parkerville Amphitheatre, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals], 1900, retrieved 29 June 2017
- ^ [Parkerville Amphitheatre : collection of ephemera material], 1900, retrieved 29 June 2017
- ^ "A little theatre struggles to survive". The Canberra Times. Vol. 47, no. 13, 379. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 10 March 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 2 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National (29 June 2015), Bush theatre gets new life on screen, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, retrieved 2 April 2017
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-13/firefighters-control-blaze-as-27-homes-lost/5196464