| Balga Perth, Western Australia |
|||||||||||||
|
Balga
|
|||||||||||||
| Population: | 8,494 (2006 census)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1954 | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 6061 | ||||||||||||
| Location: | 13 km (8 mi) N of Perth | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | City of Stirling | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Girrawheen | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Stirling | ||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Balga is a suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, and is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of Perth's central business district (CBD). Its Local Government Area is the City of Stirling.
The name "Balga" was adopted in 1954 and is the Noongar (Aboriginal) word for the indigenous grass tree Xanthorrhoea preissii.[2] It was designed by the State Housing Commission along with Nollamara and Westminster as part of the "Mirrabooka Project", and the laying of streets and building of homes commenced in the 1960s.
Contents |
Balga is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of Perth, and is bounded by Wanneroo Road to the west, Reid Highway to the south, Mirrabooka Avenue to the east and Beach Road to the north.[3]
At the 2006 census, Balga had a population of 8,494.[1]
Balga residents had a median age of 34, and median incomes were well below average for the Perth metropolitan area and the region — $347 per week compared with $513 per week in Perth, and $526 in the North Metropolitan statistical region. The population of Balga was more ethnically diverse than the Perth average, with 57.7% born in Australia and significant minorities from Sudan, Italy, Macedonia, Vietnam and Burma identified in the 2006 census. At the 2006 census, 4.49% of residents identified as Indigenous Australians.
Balga contains a state high school, Balga Senior High School which opened in 1970; three state primary schools, Balga (1965), North Balga (1968) and Warriapendi (1970); one special school, the Gladys Newton School; and one private school, Majella Catholic Primary School (1971). Additionally, a campus of Polytechnic West (formerly known as Swan TAFE) is located in the southeast of the suburb.
Balga Senior High School includes an Intensive English Centre for newly arrived refugee students as well a program for teenage parents and a sports-based education program for indigenous students, and an emphasis on literacy, numeracy, health and careers through all levels of the school. It is one of the few high schools in Western Australia not to offer a Tertiary Entrance Exam (TEE) program, although several students each year complete a university preparation course conducted by Edith Cowan University.
The suburb is served by a number of Transperth bus routes operated by Path Transit. The 372 (Mirrabooka-Marangaroo) covers Marangaroo Drive and inner portions of the Suburb, the 346 (Perth–Wanneroo) covers Wanneroo Road, and the 363, 373 and 374 (Perth–Marangaroo) routes along with various routes from Mirrabooka bus station cover other parts of the suburb.
|
|||||||||||||||||