Bellevue is an eastern suburb of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia in the

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...

of the

City of Swan The City of Swan is a local government area of Western Australia. It is in the eastern metropolitan region of Perth and includes the Swan Valley and 42 suburbs. It is centred approximately 20 km north-east of the Perth central business ...

and the

Shire of Mundaring The Shire of Mundaring is a local government area in eastern metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The Shire covers an area of and had a population of approximately 38,000 as at the 2016 Census. History The Greenmount Road ...

. It is at the foot of the slopes of Greenmount, a landmark on the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to t ...

that is noted in the earliest of travel journals of the early

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

Community

Bellevue has been bisected by the

Roe Highway Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Middle ...

, railway, and substantial changes in the eastern parts of Midland. The Bellevue Primary School was closed and amalgamated with the Koongamia Primary School to form the new Clayton View Primary School slightly up the hill towards Greenmount. It was the location of the original offices of what became the Mundaring Shire Council. It was also the location of the Catholic Church that preceded the St Anthony's church in Greenmount. A significant point of contact in the twentieth century for the local community was the Darling Range Hotel.

Geography

Bellevue is bounded by the

Helena River The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. It then flows west until it reaches the Darling Scarp. It passes ...

to the south,

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link ...

to the north and Military Road and Cowie Close to the west. The suburb is an even mix of residential, industrial and parkland (mainly along the Helena River). Being at the eastern part of the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

, Bellevue is also at the foot of the

with Greenmount Hill as the point of access to the region to the east.

Change

Bellevue has changed over the duration of its existence due to a number of factors - the extensive claypits of the early twentieth century (most having been since filled in), and the industrial locations adjacent to the railway lines. The creation of the standard gauge railway and the removal of the railway station in the mid-1960s removed it from the railway map. Construction of the Roe Highway embankment in the western part removed a section of the suburb. The Midland Military Markets were located in the west of the suburb, but were destroyed by a fire in April 2007.ABC News, 25 April 2007,
Blaze Destroys Perth Markets
. Accessed 23 July 2007.

Railways

Originally known as the siding in 1896, it became known as Bellevue on 24 May 1897. It was the railway station at the foot of the hills through which the Eastern Railway climbed, first for the line that proceeded east to Greenmount then

Boya Boya may refer to: *Boya, Western Australia *Boya, Nepal *Boya people, an ethnic group in Sudan *Boyar caste, Boyar caste of India *Mireia Boya Busquet (born 1979), Spanish scientist and politician *Pierre Boya (born 1984), Cameroonian footballer * ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and on to Mundaring, then for the line through Blackboy Hill,

Swan View Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

, the Swan View Tunnel and on to Chidlow. The third and final route of the railway that goes through the Avon Valley passes over the site where the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

was located. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the branch line to the Helena Vale Race course was used for transporting troops between Blackboy Hill and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. Although the old Mundaring Loop was closed for passenger traffic in 1954, trains were still utilising the line to Boya, where the Mountain Quarries siding was still in use. This operation closed in 1962. Up until the 1960s it was the terminus of the passenger services from

. From 1960 to 1962 a new railway station was made at Koongamia, which was half-way to the old Greenmount Railway station. The suburban service now terminates at Midland.

References

External links

Mundaring and Hills Historical Society website

Bellevue
on

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...