Wungong, Western Australia

Wungong Perth, Western Australia
Wungong Location in metropolitan Perth
Coordinates	32°10′55″S 116°00′43″E / 32.182°S 116.012°E / -32.182; 116.012Coordinates: 32°10′55″S 116°00′43″E / 32.182°S 116.012°E / -32.182; 116.012
Population	229 (2011 census)[1]
• Density	53.3/km2 (137.9/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	6112
Area	4.3 km2 (1.7 sq mi)
Location	32 km (20 mi) from Perth 4 km (2 mi) S of Armadale
LGA(s)	City of Armadale
State electorate(s)	Armadale
Federal Division(s)	Canning
Suburbs around Wungong: Brookdale Armadale Mount Richon Brookdale Wungong Bedfordale Darling Downs Byford Bedfordale

Wungong (older spelling Wongong, both pronounced Woongong) is a semi-rural south-eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located midway between Armadale and Byford and under the administration of the City of Armadale.^[2]

The first survey in this area was by Alfred Hillman in January 1835. Hillman named the perennial stream that flows through the district the ‘Marshall River’ after Captain Marshall MacDermott, but this name did not gain hold.^[3]

The earliest documented use of the district's name is J W Gregory's survey of Canning Location 22 dated April 1844 ^[4] which maps the course of the 'Woongan River' for the first kilometer west of the hills and shows the land selected by G & J Armstrong which they developed into what became known as 'Wongong Farm'.^[5] The name, aboriginal in origin, is said to mean "embracing" and derives from the manner in which the north and south branches of the Wongong Brook clasp the parcel of land that was the center of the Armstrong's farm.

While for many years maps identified the watercourse as the 'Woongan' River or Brook (the latter becoming the more prevalent), the most consistent spelling for the farm became 'Wongong' and this variant was also applied to the railway stop established there when the railway to Bunbury was put through in late 1892. The railways continued to use this name until 1949. In 1909, a new variant of the name was introduced when the Crown offered land near the railway for sale as lots in the 'Wungong Townsite'.^[6] However, this variant did not take hold until after 1949, when it was applied to the railway stop,^[7] but many older residents clung to the old spelling.^[8] It has been claimed that the Government's introduction of Wungong (with a 'u') was intended to more clearly distinguish this district from Wongan Hills.^[9]

Until around 1900, settlement in the district was more or less limited to Wongong Farm, an adjoining property owned by Claude Marsh, Edward Gibbs's smallholding in the hills named 'Cooliabbera' and Walter Butcher's property at Upper Wongong (situated in wide section of the gorge where the Admiral Road reserve crosses). Nearby settlement included the Saw's property south of Armadale and properties in the Byford (then Beenyup) area.^[10]

The railway line from Perth to Bunbury passed through Wongong in late 1892, and a stop was created at the northern boundary of the farm from where milk was picked up and children from the farm boarded to travel to the school in Armadale. In 1910 the stop was moved to higher ground 600 metres northwards because in frosty conditions it was difficult to get the south-bound train moving uphill. The stop existed until 1969, and comprised a siding (removed 1954), weatherboard shelter, and stock pens. Its removal probably coincided with the creation of a cutting to remove the gradient.

In the 1890s, the sale of a vast tract of undeveloped land owned by Samuel Richard Hamersley (also owner, for a time, of Wongong Farm) and its subsequent subdivision by an Eastern States speculator named Goss opened up the districts of Wongong and Westfield as a patchwork of small rural lots averaging some 60 acres apiece. At both Westfield and Wongong, provision was made for a township centered on the railway (that at Westfield being on the Jandacot line). The Wongong townsite was gazetted on 12 March 1909 although it was not subsequently developed. By this time, many of these properties has been taken up by settlers, a number of whom were recent immigrants from the UK.

Settlement in the Wongong area was particularly concentrated within a radius of 1 kilometre of the intersection of Eleventh and Wungong Roads (Wungong Road being known as 'Rowley Road' at that time), an intersection that came to be known as 'Bodicoat's Corner' after the elderly couple who occupied the cottage on the north side of the intersection. Names of other early families included Cockshott, Hilbert, Sermon, Marsh, Billingham, Whiteley, Cassell, Dutton, Smith, Aitkin, Mills, Baggs, Grafham, Henderson and Wheeler. These settlers formed a community and took the initiative to erect a hall on Eleventh Road, 400 metres north of Bodicoat's Corner (at the intersection with Rowley Road). The land was donated by Dutton. It was vested in the Congregational Union and formally known as the 'Wongong Congregational Mission Hall'. This hall was the centre of community activities for the next 50 years. In the early 1950s, while for a time disused by the Congregationalists, it was hired by the fledgling Free Reformed Church for their worship services, Bible study evenings and, in 1954, as the venue for the first synod of the Free Reformed Churches of Australia.^[11] Over the years, the hall served as a venue for various religious and secular festivities (but not dancing), weddings, a meeting venue for the local Progress Association, a polling place for elections, and even for a short time as an overflow classroom for the Armadale Senior High School. By the early 1960s, with the prevalence of motor cars and advent of television, the hall fell into disuse and in 1964 it was dismantled and relocated to Roleystone. A concrete pad and steps remained on the site until around 2013 when the steps were relocated to the grounds of the newly opened Free Reformed Church of Darling Downs, on the corner of Rowley and Masters Roads. The site continues to have social significance to many local residents.

A quarry for gravel pit was formed in the Wongong town reserve, which by the 1920s was filled with water and occasionally used by local youths as a swimming hole. In the 1950s, prior to the establishment of the Shire of Armadale's Hopkinson Road tip, it was used as a rubbish dump. For many years after this use ceased, it was still an informal dumping ground for rubbish - although otherwise a place remarkable for the beauty of its surviving native flora. Locals recall it also being used as a gathering place for Guy Fawkes fireworks nights in the 1950s, and during the 1980s its network of tracks were being used by a local horse trainer and by youths on motorbikes or in old cars. The former townsite is now fenced, cleared of most rubbish, and designated as the Lambert Lane Nature Reserve.

A wildlife sanctuary named ‘Armadale Reptile and Wildlife Centre' was opened on the South-Western Highway in Wungong in 1995 by the Gaikhorst family and has the largest public reptile and amphibian display in Western Australia, featuring dingoes, flying foxes, farm animals marsupials and birds.^[12]

References