Mindarie, Western Australia

Mindarie is named after Mindarie Lake, a Noongar Aboriginal name possibly meaning either "the place near which is held a ceremony" or "green water", and was first recorded by Alexander Forrest in 1874. The actual lake is located just off Delich Road in Carabooda, some 16 km away. There is also a Mindarie in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, which claims origin from a Dieri word meaning "festival to invoke peace".^[3]^[4]

[edit] History

The Mooro group of Noongar were familiar with the area, and several of their traditional stories and legends refer to local land features, including Waukolup (Waugul) Hill in neighbouring Tamala Park, although evidence suggests that they lived much further east, closer to modern-day Wanneroo Road.^[5]

Mindarie remained unpopulated until the 1980s, when a developer proposed the name Clarkson for the area. In 1985, the name Mindarie was chosen and gazetted, and Clarkson was allocated to an area further inland. In the same year, plans for two developments at Mindarie - the marina ("Mindarie Keys"), subject to a Project Agreement with the State Government and the then Shire of Wanneroo, and discussed in a West Australian report the previous July, and a refuse plant to handle landfill waste from Perth, Stirling and Wanneroo councils - were proposed. Neither was without controversy - the Quinns Rocks Environment Group formed in June 1985 by local residents concerned about the proposals^[6] In 1988, Tamala Park was gazetted from land formerly part of southern Mindarie, and was set aside for refuse disposal and public open space.

Boat at Mindarie Marina

The first stage of Mindarie Keys, including the harbour, marina and hotel, was developed by Smith Corporation between 1988 and 1990. However, cost overruns together with unrealistic estimates of the value of the land, the relative isolation from Perth of the development (at this stage Marmion Avenue had not been built beyond Ocean Reef) and adverse market conditions brought on by the late 1980s recession limited the growth and development of both the facility and surrounding residential area.^[7] The popularity of Hillarys Boat Harbour to the south and the marina at Two Rocks for mooring was also underestimated in the planning.

Nonetheless, the residential area did eventually come to fruition - the first residents moved in in 1987, the hotel opened in May 1989 and by 1998, the west and south of the suburb had been fully developed. The area around the marina is characterised by a number of very exclusive-looking residences with private jetties backing onto the water. The inland part of the suburb to the north of Honiara Way and Rochester Drive was proposed in 1998 and approved by Wanneroo City Council in 2002, and has since been developed.^[8]^[9]

[edit] Geography

Mindarie is bounded by the ocean to the west, Tamala Park to the south, Marmion Avenue to the east and Quinns Road to the north.^[9]

At the ABS 2001 census, Mindarie had a relatively high-income population of 4,675 people living in 1,605 dwellings, 27% of whom were born in the United Kingdom.^[1]

[edit] Facilities

Anchorage Drive, Mindarie.

Mindarie is a largely residential suburb, relying on two small neighbourhood shopping centres for daily needs and Ocean Keys Shopping Centre in neighbouring Clarkson for other commercial services.

The marina and hotel offer a range of entertainment and dining, including pubs, a micro brewery and a cafe.

[edit] Education

Mindarie contains a primary school (1997) and two small private schools, as well as Mindarie Senior College, a Year 11-12 school which opened in 2003. The suburb is within the Clarkson Community High School catchment area.

[edit] Transport

Mindarie is served by Transperth bus routes 481, 482 and 490 from nearby Clarkson train station, with a short commute to trains linking the area to the Perth CBD.^[10] All services are operated by the Public Transport Authority.

[edit] Politics

Mindarie's western part is reasonably affluent and generally strongly supports the Liberal Party at both levels of government, while the east is predominantly "mortgage belt" families which lean towards the Liberal Party in federal elections and the Australian Labor Party in state elections, in line with many northern Perth suburbs. The suburb contains one polling booth at Mindarie Primary School.