Bentley is a southern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

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 ...

, the capital city of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, southeast of Perth's central business district. Its

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 ...

are the

City of Canning The City of Canning is a local government area in the southeastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about southeast of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and had a population of approximatel ...

and the

Town of Victoria Park The Town of Victoria Park is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of 17.62 km² in metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It had a population of approximately 35,000 as at the 2016 Census. It l ...

. Bentley is home to the main campus of

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

and

Technology Park A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park”, "technopark", “technopole", or a "science and technology park" (STP)) is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters the growt ...

History

Prior to European settlement, the area was originally home to the Beeloo

Nyungar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

people, whose territory extended from the

Canning River The Canning River (Djarlgarra in Nyungar) is a major tributary of the Swan River in the South West Land Division of Western Australia. It is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species. Source a ...

to 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 th ...

. The Beeloo hunted and fished in land close to the river, which was then forested with

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

and marri trees, as much of the metropolitan area was at the time. In 2001, the ABS reported that about 3% of Bentley's population were Aboriginal. In 1830, the land was granted to James McDermott, and changed hands several times before being subdivided in 1885. The suburb was known as "Bentley Hill" from the 1860s onwards, honouring John Bentley (1822–1871), a prison warder and

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

veteran who arrived in the

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 ...

as a pensioner guard, and supervised

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

building the then- Albany Road in 1862–1864. A large camp for the road workers was established in what is now St James. In the 1880s, a dairy was established at "Canningford House" near the present-day intersection of

Albany Highway Albany Highway links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its oldest settlement, Albany, on the state's south coast. The highway travels through the southern Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions, and is designated State Route ...

and

Leach Highway Leach Highway is a east-west arterial highway in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, primarily linking Kewdale and Perth Airport with the city of Fremantle. It is allocated State Route 7 and is a dual carriageway for its enti ...

by Fred and Harry Liddelow, and in 1905 a piggery was established opposite. In the 1940s, the State Housing Commission commenced urban residential development in the area. Housing was also provided by the government to reward former military servicemen for their efforts during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Some of these modest war service homes remain today, a few are still occupied by ageing veterans. In 1960–1961, two large retirement housing complexes, Bentley Park (formerly Swan Cottage Homes) and Rowethorpe Homes, were built in the suburb's west and West Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), later

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

, was opened in 1967. Brownlie Towers Bentley, Western Australia

In 1969–1970, the Brownlie Towers precinct was createdthe main feature of which was the twin 10-storey Brownlie Towers. Also included in the precinct were a smaller two-storey apartment complex, 104 two-storey townhouses and 20 single detached houses. Complete with a school, community centre, shopping area, swimming pool and sports facilities and linked to

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

, it was initially championed as a triumph of community building and innovative design by the State Housing Commission. However, social problems developed on and around the site, in part due to high vacancy rates and the public accessibility of the main towers. In 2002, the Government added the precinct to its "New Living" refurbishment program, which commenced at Brownlie Towers in 2004. Ultimately, the towers were demolished in 2019 to make way for the Bentley 360 residential development. The Western Australian Technology Park was established opposite the university in 1985, and expanded in the 1990s. Over 90 companies, government departments and research groups with over 2,500 employees across a range of technological and scientific fields opened offices and research facilities at the park. It claims to contribute over $2 billion per annum to the Western Australian economy.

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 8,782 people in Bentley. 33.6% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were Malaysia 6.9%, China 6.3%, India 5.3%, England 4.1% and Indonesia 3.4%. 42.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 10.9%, Indonesian 3.5%, Cantonese 2.8%, Punjabi 1.8% and Other Southern Asian Languages 1.6%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 25.2% and Catholic 15.6%.

Geography

Bentley is bounded by Kent Street to the west, Manning Road and Burton/Mills Streets to the south, Jarrah Road, Holder, Coolgardie and Tate Streets to the north and the Armadale railway line to the northeast. The section east of Albany Highway is largely commercial and industrial, while the area to the west bounded by Jarrah Road, Marquis Street, Cunning Road and Kent Street is dominated by environmental and cow grazing facilities. The rest is almost entirely residential.Map 403-404, 2007 StreetSmart directory, Department of Lands and Surveys, Perth.

Senior and tertiary education

Bentley contains a university, further education colleges and a senior high school. * Curtin University * Morling College * South Metropolitan TAFE * Canning College The presence of Curtin University, Canning College (originally Bentley High School, built 1960 and reopened 1982 as a college supporting adults returning to education, one of only four in the State) and the Bentley campus of Polytechnic West has attracted large numbers of fee-paying international students to the area, many of whom live in the suburb or in nearby parts of East Victoria Park, St James, Karawara and

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. In 2001 the ABS reported that 25% of Bentley's population are from East or South-East Asia.

Facilities

Bentley is an established suburb with schools, restaurants, a shopping centre (The Bentley Centre, formerly La Plaza Bentley), the Bentley Hospital, and a large retirement housing complex (Rowethorpe and SwanCare). Although it is predominantly a residential suburb, Bentley has a retail and light-industrial component in the areas adjacent to

. It also contains the Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women, a minimum-security prison.

Transport

The suburb is served by a range of bus services, including the

CircleRoute The CircleRoute is a pair of circular bus routes operated by Transperth through Perth's suburbs. History The CircleRoute was introduced in two stages. On 16 February 1998 the first stage of the CircleRoute commenced operating between Fremantl ...

from

Oats Street railway station Oats Street railway station is a railway station on the Transperth network in Perth, Western Australia. It is located on the Armadale and Thornlie line, 8.2 kilometres from Perth station serving the suburbs of Carlisle, East Victoria Park an ...

and the

Transperth Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...

34 and 72 bus routes between Perth City and Cannington interchange. These services are operated by the Public Transport Authority.

Politics

Bentley is a mixed-class suburb which consistently favours the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

at both federal and state elections. The strongest results for Labor are recorded at the Bentley Community Centre booth adjacent to Brownlie Towers.Tables are summation of results at Bentley, Bentley West, Bentley South, Rowethorpe and Swan Cottage Homes and their state equivalents.

References

External links

{{Authority control Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia * *