Stirling

Stirling is a suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, about 10 km north of Perth's central business district (CBD) along the Mitchell Freeway.

Stirling is a suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, about 10 km north of Perth's central business district (CBD) along the Mitchell Freeway. Its local government area is the City of Stirling, whose council offices and administration centre are located in the southwest of the mostly residential suburb.

Stirling is named after James Stirling, the first Western Australian governor (1829–1838). The name was approved in April 1976 at the request of the City of Stirling, as the area contained the Council's headquarters. The suburb was part of Balcatta until 1976.

Throughout the wetland regions, Aboriginals hunted for kangaroo, emu, snakes, tortoise, mudfish, gilgies and water birds and their eggs, to name a few food sources. Aboriginal sites are known to have existed in a few locations in the Gwelup-Balcatta region.

The area's first European settlement was as an extension of the Osborne Park market area. Its initial growth in importance as an agricultural area in the 1920s came from three major factors: retired Chinese miners from the Eastern Goldfields, the post-World War I Soldier Settlement Scheme (many of whom had no experience in intensive farming), and an influx of Italians prior to Mussolini's effective banning of emigration in 1927, who mostly started life in Western Australia as miners and woodcutters. Dino Gava noted: "The process of (Italian) chain migration was strong in Osborne Park and Wanneroo. They arrived ill-prepared with regard to language and education but their youth and willingness to work made them desirable settlers." By 1935, the area was producing all sorts of fruit and vegetables, and a 1961 newspaper reported that "hundreds of acres are under cultivation, (and) nearly all types of vegetable are produced in the area. Part of the produce is exported to other countries."

Major changes occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. The main access to the area from Perth was via Wanneroo Road and Balcatta Beach Road, a road which roughly corresponded to Karrinyup Road but included modern-day North Beach Drive and Osborne Place. Hertha Road (now Civic Place and Telford Crescent) was the main road in the area, and the site of the present-day footbridge was the municipal rubbish tip until the early 1970s. The Osborne Park hospital was opened on 4 April 1962 and the civic centre and council chambers were opened in 1966, along with houses in the George Street area near the civic centre. The postal district was approved and gazetted in April 1976, and over the next eight years, most of the suburb was subdivided and built.

The building of the Mitchell Freeway to Karrinyup Road in 1983-84 facilitated the growth of Stirling as a regional hub, and the bus/train interchange (on the Joondalup railway line) was completed in 1992. As at 2006, some subdivisions in the Stirling region are still being developed.