Western suburbs (Perth)

The western suburbs (also known as the golden triangle)[1] are an informally defined group of suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, located west of the city's central business district and north of the Swan River. The western suburbs are known for their high house prices, high income of residents, riverfront views and beaches.

Cottesloe Beach

Governance

Local

Local governments/councils in the western suburbs:

Local governments/councils partially in the western suburbs:

The western suburbs contains some unusually small local governments. The Shire of Peppermint Grove is the smallest one in Australia, at 1.1 square kilometres (0.42 sq mi).[2] The Towns of Cottesloe, Claremont and Mosman Park are also quite small, at 3.9 km2 (1.5 sq mi), 4.9 km2 (1.9 sq mi) and 4.3 km2 (1.7 sq mi) respectively.

The Grove Library, jointly managed by Cottesloe, Mosman Park and Peppermint Grove councils

Due to the small size of some local councils, some provide shared services such as libraries and rubbish collection as it's impractical to do so individually. The councils of Cottesloe, Mosman Park and Peppermint Grove jointly fund and manage The Grove Library. In addition, the councils of Claremont, Nedlands and Subiaco, as well as the aforementioned councils form the Western Suburbs Library Group, which have a shared catalogue and membership database.[3] The councils of Cambridge, Claremont, Cottesloe, Mosman Park, Peppermint Grove and Subiaco provide a shared rubbish collection service, under the Western Metropolitan Regional Council.[4]

Proposals to merge local governments in the western suburbs are generally met with opposition from residents.[2] Most recently in 2014, when the Barnett Government released the Local Government Advisory Board report on metropolitan local government reform recommending the amalgamation of Claremont, Cottesloe, Mosman Park, Nedlands and Peppermint Grove into a new council tentatively named the City of Riversea, and the absorption of Cambridge and a small part of Stirling into Subiaco, as part of a wider plan to reduce the number of councils in Perth from 30 to 16,[5][6] the councils involved opposed the mergers, with the Shire of Peppermint Grove even spending ratepayer funds on launching legal action.[7][8] In 2015, the proposal was scrapped.

State

The electoral districts of Churchlands,[9] Cottesloe[10] and Nedlands[11] cover the western suburbs. These electoral districts are some of the safest seats in the state for the Liberal Party.

Federal

The Division of Curtin covers the western suburbs.[12] It is one of the safest seats in Australia for the Liberal Party.

Suburbs

Suburbs of the western suburbs, with local government in brackets:

Of these suburbs, eight are in Perth's top ten most expensive suburbs. Those suburbs, starting from the most expensive, are Peppermint Grove, Dalkeith, Cottesloe, Swanbourne, City Beach, Nedlands, Floreat and Claremont.[13] In addition, all of these suburbs, aside from Daglish, Karrakatta and Wembley Downs have a median house price above $1,000,000 as of 2020.[14]

Media

The western suburbs have two local newspapers: Community Newspaper Group's Western Suburbs Weekly,[15] and The Post, which is independent.[16]

Education

Private schools in the western suburbs include Christ Church Grammar School, Hale School, Iona Presentation College, John XXIII College, Methodist Ladies' College, Newman College, Presbyterian Ladies' College, Scotch College and St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls. These schools are some of the most prestigious, high achieving and expensive schools in Western Australia.[17][18]

There is currently a shortage of public high schools in the western suburbs. In 2000, Hollywood Senior High School and Swanbourne Senior High School were merged to form Shenton College, and in 2005, City Beach Senior High School was shut down. This meant that the only comprehensive high schools in the western suburbs after 2005 were Churchlands Senior High School and Shenton College. In the 2010s, the student enrolment at these schools increased rapidly. As of 2021, these two schools have the highest number of students of any school in Western Australia, at 2,797 and 2,404 respectively.[19] Churchlands had a record of 34 transportable classrooms in 2018.[20] In 2020, Bob Hawke College opened to alleviate some of the pressure on these two schools. The school is planned to have a capacity of 2,000 students in 2025.[21]

The only other public high school in the western suburbs is Perth Modern School, which is the state's only fully-selective public high school, and has students from all over Perth.

References
  1. Pascual Juanola, Marta. "What postcodes are home to WA's highest earners? It's not just the golden triangle". WAtoday. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  2. "History". Shire of Peppermint Grove. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  3. "About Us". The Grove Library. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. "About Us". Western Metropolitan Regional Council. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  5. "Landmark report sets out new look for metro Perth". Media Statements. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  6. Nicholson, Leanne. "South Park part of state government council restructure". WAtoday. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  7. "Local Government Reform". City of Nedlands. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  8. Strutt, Jessica. "Peppermint Grove council to launch legal action over state government's merger plans". ABC News. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  9. "CHU.pdf" (PDF). Electoral Boundaries WA. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  10. "COT.pdf" (PDF). Electoral Boundaries WA. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  11. "NED.pdf" (PDF). Electoral Boundaries WA. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  12. "AEC Curtin Final Divisional" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  13. "Perth's most expensive suburbs list". Perth Now. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  14. "Perth suburbs price data". Reiwa.com. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  15. "Western Suburbs Weekly". Perth Now. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  16. "Who Are We?". Post Newspapers. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  17. Pilat, Lauren. "Prestigious Perth schools shoot up academic leaderboard as ATAR ranking released". WAtoday. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  18. "School Fees Report" (PDF). Edstart. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  19. "Alphabetical List of Western Australian Schools by Education Region" (PDF). Department of Education. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  20. Pond, Laura. "Western suburbs schools record drop in temporary classrooms despite WA rise". Perth Now. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  21. Bell, Frances. "Bob Hawke College, Perth's new inner-city public school, prepares to welcome first students". ABC News. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
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