Quinns Rocks is an outer coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 38 kilometres north of the Perth CBD. Select MORE for information on the suburb, its neighbourhood and history.
Welcome to Quinns Rocks
Quinns Rocks is bounded by Mindarie to the south (Quinns Road), Merriwa and Butler to the east (Marmion Avenue) and Jindalee to the north (Hampshire Drive). To the west is the Indian Ocean and the coastline of Quinns Beach, which straddles the whole length of the suburb. Quinns Becah is the major attraction, which spans the entire western boundary of the suburb along Ocean Drive.
The suburb was formerly established in 1962 as a rural townsite, focused around Quinns Beach, the area's main amenity. From the 1930s, the area was used by holiday makers and shacks were constructed with the first permanent residents arriving in the early 1940s.
Inside my neighbourhood
Quinns Rocks is part of the City of Wanneroo local government area and sits within the City’s Established Coastal Place Management Area.
More than 9,500 people currently live in Quinns Rocks, with the population estimated to remain the same over the next 20 years. The popular Quinns Beach is home to the clubrooms of the Quinns Mindarie Surf Lifesaving Club, who have patrolled the beach since the club's foundation in 1982. A beachside café and community is also situated on Ocean Drive.
Origin of name and history
The suburb takes its name from the offshore reef first noted by Assistant Surveyor James Cowle in 1867.
Quinns Rocks was first settled by the Clarkson’s in the 1890’s who had two pastoral leases totalling 13,000 acres in the area. These coastal leases were known as the Mindarie Pastoral Company.
Quinns Rocks was named after one of Clarkson’s shepherds, Mick Quinn. During the 1930s and 1940s fisherman began using the area and constructed numerous shacks along the beach front. The area became a popular holiday location for fisherman and their families.
The general area on the coast opposite the rocks was referred to as Quinns Rocks by the Wanneroo Road Board when they requested the survey of a road that led there in November 1925. Later, the place also came to be called "Wanneroo Beach".
A caravan park opened in 1946 and ran until 2014. The shacks were phased out in the late 1950s and beach front blocks were surveyed and put up for sale.
The townsite was declared in 1962 and the named changed to Quinns in 1974 but went back to being Quinns Rocks in 1977.The beachfront area comprising the original townsite of Quinns, up until the 1990s, is colloquially known as "Old Quinns".
(Historic information courtesy of Wanneroo Community History Centre)
Details
Area: 3.84 km2 (1.5 sq mi)
Population: 9,544 (2021 estimate from 2016 Census)
Local Government Area: City of Wanneroo
Phone: 08 9405 5000
Email: enquiries@wanneroo.wa.gov.au