Thornlie, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Thornlie is a large outer suburb
of Perth
, Western Australia
, located 18 kilometres south-east of Perth's central business district. It is part of the City of Gosnells local government area
. The Canning River
runs through the northern side of the suburb. The suburb contains the two smaller sub-developments of Crestwood and Forest Lakes, the latter being approximately 20 years younger than the main Thornlie development.
Prior to this
the area would have been used by the indigenous Noongar
population. In 1834 his premises and belongings were burned in a fire that was to prove the end of his settlement.
The name Thornlie came about when Walter Padbury
financed a farm known as "Thornlie Park". This farm was established in 1884 by Frank and Amy James, Amy being a niece of Walter Padbury.History of Suburb Names > Thornlie www.gosnells.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
The James family subsequently sold the estate which had been a productive dairy farm, in 1937 to the mine-manager and investor, Nat Harper
. When Harper died in 1954, the 1715 acres (6.9 km²) Thornlie estate was put up for auction in two lots. 228 acre (0.92268408 km²) of Lot 1 were purchased by D. and M. O'Sullivan and by June 1956 the Gosnells Roads Board had provided approval for the development of the area. By March 1957 40 houses had been completed and by May 1958 there were 100 occupied homes. Thornlie thus as a residential suburb was established in the late 1950s as a housing estate aimed mainly at middle-income earners and inner city dwellers.
The first homes in the area included a section of residences constructed in the 1950s and early 1960s which lie to the north of the intersection of Thornlie Avenue and Spencer Road, and residences lying to the south of Thornlie Avenue between Spencer Road and the Canning River
which were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time Thornlie development focus was on a getting out of town. It was aimed at inner city dwellers who might want to live in the more spacious surround that a semi-urban rural setting could offer. It is one reason why Thornlie has typically large quarter-acre blocks and is often described as one of Perth's ‘Leafy Suburbs’.
The more up-market Crestwood estate, which was an experiment in providing fully integrated facilities and services to home-owners, was established from the early 1970s in the southern part of Thornlie; the experiment did not lead to these provisions becoming common on the part of land developers in Perth. From the 1980s the newer Castle Glen and Forest Lakes housing estates, which were at that time to some extent in competition with one another for land purchasers, were established in the remaining land in the western and south-western portions of Thornlie.. The focus of these developments was on providing affordable housing for new home buyers, often couples with families.
Some semi-rural land in the western portion, mainly utilised for horse agistment and chicken-farming, was developed in the early 2000s. At one time there were several industrial activities taking place in the north-western portion. The last of these to close, about 2004, was the Ingham chicken-processing factory, the site of which is currently being redeveloped as the Yale residential estate which will begin land sales in early 2006.
Thornlie can be described as a well serviced residential area. It is bisected by a main transport artery, Spencer Road, and is served by Roe Highway
, via Nicholson Road
. It has also been serviced as of August 2005, by a passenger railway service terminating at the Thornlie railway station. Commuting services run every 15 minutes between the city and Thornlie. Speaking at the time about the newly completed rail development, the Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan
stated:
Telephone services are provided by the Cannington & Maddington telephone exchange.
The kind of community activities promoted include:
Another community program are the annual Safe City awards including the Community Initiative Award, the Constable Peter Ball Memorial Youth Award and the Community Kids Award.
was the designer of Crestwood, and his concepts of shared public space and neighbourhood aesthetics continue to be models for today’s privately built estates.
Where the planning approach at the time was for large blocks and linear roads, Crestwood had small blocks and curved roads. Every road that enters into the area flows out again at some point, with no cul-de-sacs being constructed. It is also possible to walk the entire way through the estate without needing to cross a road due to a system of paths and underpasses. Every house is connected to a public area of parkland, and a shared pool facility sits in the middle of the estate.
Originally, Crestwood was intended to be built to about five times the size that exists today. The entire estate would then feature around a large pool complex with main administration buildings and recreational area. However, the larger development did not go ahead and the land was used in the 1980s and 1990s for two more conventional subdivisions, Forest Lakes and Castle Glen Estates.
While a lot of the concepts used in Crestwood did not end up being used widely in later residential developments in Perth, many of the ideas behind them did influence developers. After Crestwood, developments tended to be built with non-linear road systems, smaller blocks and often focused around a central park or lake.
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, located 18 kilometres south-east of Perth's central business district. It is part of the City of Gosnells local government area
Local Government Areas of Western Australia
The Australian state of Western Australia is divided into 141 local government areas...
. The Canning River
Canning River (Western Australia)
The Canning River is a major tributary of the Swan River in south western Western Australia.-Source and route:With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount...
runs through the northern side of the suburb. The suburb contains the two smaller sub-developments of Crestwood and Forest Lakes, the latter being approximately 20 years younger than the main Thornlie development.
History
Captain Peter Pegus was the original settler of the area which is now known as Thornlie, however back in 1829 when Pegus was granted the land, he called it 'Coleraine'.Prior to this
Aboriginal history of Western Australia
The history of the indigenous inhabitants of Western Australia has been dated for tens of thousands of years before European contact.-Western Australian Aboriginal history:...
the area would have been used by the indigenous Noongar
Noongar
The Noongar are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast...
population. In 1834 his premises and belongings were burned in a fire that was to prove the end of his settlement.
The name Thornlie came about when Walter Padbury
Walter Padbury
Walter Padbury was an Australian pioneer and philanthropist.Padbury was born at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, in the English county of Oxfordshire. He arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia in the Protector with his father on 25 February 1830, but in the following July his father died...
financed a farm known as "Thornlie Park". This farm was established in 1884 by Frank and Amy James, Amy being a niece of Walter Padbury.History of Suburb Names > Thornlie www.gosnells.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
The James family subsequently sold the estate which had been a productive dairy farm, in 1937 to the mine-manager and investor, Nat Harper
Nat Harper
Nathaniel White Harper was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1910 until 1914, representing the seats of Beverley and Pingelly...
. When Harper died in 1954, the 1715 acres (6.9 km²) Thornlie estate was put up for auction in two lots. 228 acre (0.92268408 km²) of Lot 1 were purchased by D. and M. O'Sullivan and by June 1956 the Gosnells Roads Board had provided approval for the development of the area. By March 1957 40 houses had been completed and by May 1958 there were 100 occupied homes. Thornlie thus as a residential suburb was established in the late 1950s as a housing estate aimed mainly at middle-income earners and inner city dwellers.
The first homes in the area included a section of residences constructed in the 1950s and early 1960s which lie to the north of the intersection of Thornlie Avenue and Spencer Road, and residences lying to the south of Thornlie Avenue between Spencer Road and the Canning River
Canning River (Western Australia)
The Canning River is a major tributary of the Swan River in south western Western Australia.-Source and route:With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount...
which were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time Thornlie development focus was on a getting out of town. It was aimed at inner city dwellers who might want to live in the more spacious surround that a semi-urban rural setting could offer. It is one reason why Thornlie has typically large quarter-acre blocks and is often described as one of Perth's ‘Leafy Suburbs’.
The more up-market Crestwood estate, which was an experiment in providing fully integrated facilities and services to home-owners, was established from the early 1970s in the southern part of Thornlie; the experiment did not lead to these provisions becoming common on the part of land developers in Perth. From the 1980s the newer Castle Glen and Forest Lakes housing estates, which were at that time to some extent in competition with one another for land purchasers, were established in the remaining land in the western and south-western portions of Thornlie.. The focus of these developments was on providing affordable housing for new home buyers, often couples with families.
Some semi-rural land in the western portion, mainly utilised for horse agistment and chicken-farming, was developed in the early 2000s. At one time there were several industrial activities taking place in the north-western portion. The last of these to close, about 2004, was the Ingham chicken-processing factory, the site of which is currently being redeveloped as the Yale residential estate which will begin land sales in early 2006.
Facilities
Roe Highway
Roe Highway is a limited access dual carriageway in Western Australia. It links Great Northern Highway and Middle Swan Road with Kwinana Freeway. It is one of the key heavy vehicle routes in the Perth metropolitan area. Aside from intersections, the speed limit is 100 km/h for most of its length...
, via Nicholson Road
Nicholson Road, Perth
Nicholson Road is a major north-south road in the southeastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting Albany Highway in Cannington with the large residential areas of Thornlie and Canning Vale, before leaving the Perth urban area and terminating in Oakford...
. It has also been serviced as of August 2005, by a passenger railway service terminating at the Thornlie railway station. Commuting services run every 15 minutes between the city and Thornlie. Speaking at the time about the newly completed rail development, the Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan
Alannah MacTiernan
Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan is an Australian politician. She was an ALP member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since 1996, representing the electorate of Armadale until her resignation from the Western Australian Parliament on 19 July 2010...
stated:
"As well as the station building, car park and railway line, the project included construction of an electrical sub-station at Beckenham, the Kenwick Tunnel, the rail bridge over the Canning River, and the traffic bridge at Spencer Road."
Telephone services are provided by the Cannington & Maddington telephone exchange.
Commercial and Retail
Thornlie contains two local shopping centres - Thornlie Square Shopping Centre which contains two supermarkets and a Post Office, and Forest Lakes Forum which also has two supermarkets and numerous small retailers. Thornlie Square was the larger of the two until a recent expansion of Forest Lakes Forum prompted by the growth of the Forest Lakes residential estate. Thornlie also contains Spencer Village, a smaller retail strip located next to Thornlie train station, and there is a small commercial centre in Spencer Road adjacent to Thornlie Square.Sporting
Lawn Bowls, tennis courts, a skate park, swimming pool, gym, a library and an oval for cricket and football are all available for community usage.Schools
- Australian Islamic College
- Coolabaroo Neighbourhood Centre ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS BY EDUCATION DISTRICT 18 November 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2007.
- Forest Crescent Primary School
- Sacred Heart Primary School
- South Thornlie Primary School
- Thornlie Primary School
- Thornlie Senior High School
- Thornlie TAFE Campus
- Yale Primary School
Community
Thornlie has two local papers distributed fortnightly, The Comment News and the Gosnells Examiner. 107.3 Heritage FM is a volunteer run Radio station for Thornlie and the Shire of Gosnells as a whole.“[107.3 FM] first went to air on 26th January 1998 and broadcasts a number of specialist programs profiling the community, local sports, youth issues and crime prevention as well as promoting local bands and Australian music in general. Heritage FM also provides a wide range of music programs produced and presented by local residents, ranging from rock, folk, classical and blues through to jazz, choral, gospel, punk and heavy metal.”
The kind of community activities promoted include:
- Quiz nights
- Heritage bush walking
- Sport events
- Competitions and activities at the skate park
- Acoustic music in the park
- Ladies golf and
- Christian outreach
Another community program are the annual Safe City awards including the Community Initiative Award, the Constable Peter Ball Memorial Youth Award and the Community Kids Award.
Demographics
The 2006 Census reported- Thornlie had 8,017 occupied dwellings. 31.1% of these were fully owned.
- 60.6% of Thornlie residents were born in Australia; 11.3% in England; 3% in New Zealand, and significant smaller percentages from Malaysia, India and Scotland.
- 18.8% of Thornlie residents spoke another language at home.
- 1,447 children were aged 0-4 years. This was second only to Canning Vale with 1,836 for all Perth suburbs.
- The median weekly family income was $1,193, which compared with $1,171 in Australia as a whole.
Residential subdivisions
Thornlie contains three distinct residential subdivisions in addition to older portions which were not separately named.Crestwood Estate
Crestwood is a small private estate within Thornlie. It was built very much as an experimental concept and was in stark contrast to the usual patterns of suburban development in Perth in the early 1970s. Paul RitterPaul Ritter
Paul Ritter was a Western Australian architect, town planner, sociologist, artist and author. He was born in Prague in 1925, the son of Carl Ritter and Elsa née Schnabel. He died on 14 June 2010, aged 85....
was the designer of Crestwood, and his concepts of shared public space and neighbourhood aesthetics continue to be models for today’s privately built estates.
Where the planning approach at the time was for large blocks and linear roads, Crestwood had small blocks and curved roads. Every road that enters into the area flows out again at some point, with no cul-de-sacs being constructed. It is also possible to walk the entire way through the estate without needing to cross a road due to a system of paths and underpasses. Every house is connected to a public area of parkland, and a shared pool facility sits in the middle of the estate.
Originally, Crestwood was intended to be built to about five times the size that exists today. The entire estate would then feature around a large pool complex with main administration buildings and recreational area. However, the larger development did not go ahead and the land was used in the 1980s and 1990s for two more conventional subdivisions, Forest Lakes and Castle Glen Estates.
While a lot of the concepts used in Crestwood did not end up being used widely in later residential developments in Perth, many of the ideas behind them did influence developers. After Crestwood, developments tended to be built with non-linear road systems, smaller blocks and often focused around a central park or lake.