City of Wanneroo

Wanneroo covers a land area totalling 685.8 square kilometres (264.8 sq mi). The city is bounded by Beach Road and the City of Stirling to the south, Alexander Drive and the City of Swan to the east, Wanneroo Road and Lake Joondalup to the south-west, the Indian Ocean to the west and the Shire of Gingin to the north.

Wanneroo's population is concentrated in three locations: at the southern end centred on Girrawheen; in the region surrounding Wanneroo near the city's geographical centre; and along the northern Perth coastline centred on Clarkson, separated from Joondalup by the rural localities of Neerabup and Tamala Park. Land in the city's north and east is predominantly rural in character.

The City of Wanneroo is encompasses one of Perth's busiest industrial areas, Wangara. It is situated roughly 20 km north of the central business district, and is the industrial hub of the north side of Perth. The suburb of Wangara is a hub for commercial manufacturing, vehicle dealerships, industrial glaziers[5] and commercial distribution warehousing. It is also roughly 10 km from Joondalup, Perth's largest satellite city north of the Swan River.

The city's 36 suburbs and localities are grouped into the following four electoral wards:[6]

* Part of Woodvale is located within the City of Joondalup.

Prior to 1902, Wanneroo was part of the Perth Road District, which eventually went on to become the City of Stirling. The Wanneroo Road District was established on 31 October 1902 under the Roads Act 1888. The board was named after the Wanneroo wetlands in the area, first explored and recorded by John Butler in 1834.[7]

With the passage of the Local Government Act 1960, all road boards became shires effective from 1 July 1961,[8] and the Shire of Wanneroo came into being, encompassing everything north of Beach Road and west of Alexander Drive. With the development of and subsequent population growth surrounding Joondalup, the Shire of Wanneroo attained City status on 31 October 1985.[9]

On 1 July 1998, on the recommendation of a report by the Local Government Advisory Committee, the City of Wanneroo was bifurcated. The southwestern section, encompassing the urban centre of Joondalup, was separately incorporated as the new City of Joondalup. The remainder, including the inland suburbs east of Lake Joondalup and the coastal suburbs north of Burns Beach, formed a reduced Shire of Wanneroo, which quickly regained City status on 1 July 1999.[10] As this was before the local government elections to elect a mayor and councillors, the second incarnation of the Shire did not have a Shire President.[11]

The City of Wanneroo has experienced significant population growth of almost 110,000 persons in the 15 years between the 2001 Census and 2016 Census. The city also has the second largest population of any other local government area in greater Perth.

Selected historical census data for Wanneroo local government area
Census year			2001[12]	2006[13]	2011[14]	2016[1]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	80,008	110,940	152,077	188,212
		LGA rank in terms of size within Western Australia		3rd	3rd	2nd
		% of Western Australia population	4.37%	5.66%	6.79%	7.60%
		% of Australian population	0.43%	0.56%	0.71%	0.80%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			31.0%	29.5%
		Australian			21.5%	19.9%
		Scottish			6.2%	6.2%
		Irish			5.7%	6.2%
		Italian			3.6%	3.3%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Vietnamese	3.8%	3.1%	2.7%	2.7%
		Italian	1.8%	1.4%	1.1%
		Macedonian	1.4%	1.2%	1.0%
		Arabic	0.6%	0.8%	1.0%	1.0%
		Polish	0.5%
		Spanish		0.5%
		Afrikaans			1.3%	1.6%
Gujarati				0.9%
Mandarin				0.9%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Catholic	25.3%	23.4%	23.3%	20.9%
		Anglican	21.3%	20.6%	19.6%	14.3%
		No religion	19.3%	21.7%	23.8%	31.8%
		Buddhism	3.5%	3.0%	3.0%
		Uniting	2.6%	2.6%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$491	A$662	A$724
		% of Australian median income		105.4%	114.7%	109.4%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1184	A$1722	A$1910
		% of Australian median income		101.1%	116.2%	110.2%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1094	A$1415	A$1595
		% of Australian median income		106.5%	114.7%	110.9%

With less than 53% of the population having been born in Australia at the 2016 Census, Wanneroo has a large immigrant populace. Over 13% of Wanneroo's residents were born in the United Kingdom, compared to less than 4.0% nationwide. New Zealanders, Vietnamese and South Africans compose the city's most significant minority populations.[15]

The City of Wanneroo is served by two major north–south arterial roads, Wanneroo Road and Marmion Avenue. The two roads run parallel to each other through Wanneroo's eastern and western suburbs respectively. A third north–south arterial route, the Mitchell Freeway, is proposed to be extended from Burns Beach Road through to Toreopango Avenue and beyond.

The City of Wanneroo currently has two railway stations in Clarkson and Butler. As a result of the Public Transport Plan for Perth 2031, the Clarkson rail line is proposed to be extended north to Yanchep with stations at Alkimos, Eglinton, and Yanchep.

The Wanneroo City Council operates out of the Council Chambers on Dundebar Road, Wanneroo.

Elections are held every four years, for a mayor and 14 councillors across the city's four electoral wards. In 2011, five councillors were elected for the densely populated and urbanised South Ward, compared to four for the North Coast Ward, and four for the Central Ward.[16]

Wanneroo has three sister cities. It was also formerly twinned with Sorrento in Italy, but this association was broken with the bifurcation of Wanneroo in 1998, when the Wanneroo suburb of Sorrento was incorporated into the City of Joondalup.[17]

• Sinagra, Sicily, Italy
• Kastoria, Greece (1992)
• Guigang, Guangxi, China (2005)

As of 2020, 148 places are heritage-listed in the City of Wanneroo,[18] of which 23 are on the State Register of Heritage Places, more than half of those located in Yanchep National Park .[19]

• Official website