Cooloongup is an outer southern 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, 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 ...

, located within the

City of Rockingham The City of Rockingham is a council and local government area, comprising the south coastal suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth. History Rockingham is located in the southern part of the traditional tribal territory of the ...

. It consists mainly of residential dwellings.

History

The suburb of Cooloongup, first named in 1974, is named after

Lake Cooloongup Lake Cooloongup, sometimes also referred to as White Lake, is a shallow saline lake in the suburb of Cooloongup, south of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is part of Rockingham Lakes Regional Park. I ...

. The name ''Lake Cooloongup'' was first recorded by Surveyor AC Gregory in 1843. While Landgate has noted that it is an Aboriginal name, it has also claimed that the meaning of the name is not known. An elder of the

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, the traditional Aboriginal occupants of the area, has said that ''Cooloongup'' means "place of children". It is also suggested that Cool moon lgup refers to the moon and its similarities to the white saltlakes of the same name. The Noongar word for moon was not known at the time of European settlement which led to the belief that cool moon look up was not known. Simply it could be known as the place of moon people.

Geography

Lake Cooloongup dominates the Eastern portion of Cooloongup. The lake and its immediate environment, together with

Lake Walyungup Lake Walyungup is a shallow saline lake in the suburbs of Warnbro and Port Kennedy, located south of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is part of Rockingham Lakes Regional Park. In the local Nyungar ...

and

Lake Richmond Lake Richmond (Aboriginal Australian name: Naragebup) is a freshwater lake in Rockingham, Western Australia. It is approximately , with an area of , and is deep in the centre. It is believed to be named after the London borough. It is part of ...

, is incorporated into

Rockingham Lakes Regional Park Rockingham Lakes Regional Park is a conservation park approximately south of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Rockingham. The park, established in 1997, covers a non-continuous area of and occupies approximately 16 percent ...

. The Park is managed by the Government of Western Australia via its Department of Environment and Conservation. The lake is shallow and water in the lake is saline. The lake is described as "seasonable" because the lake is dry of surface water the majority of the year. The dry white salt residue gives this lake, together with its neighbour Lake Walyungup, the title "White Lakes" which was the name used to refer to the locality before the lake was incorporated into Cooloongup.

Transport

Ennis Avenue Ennis Avenue is a major road between Rockingham and its southern suburbs and is part of Australia's National Highway 1 for all of its length. It is a controlled access road and after leaving Rockingham has only four intersections (Willmott Dr ...

(

National Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

) bisects Cooloongup; this road provides vehicle access to

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 ...

and

Mandurah Mandurah () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 107,641 as of the 2021 Australian census, 2 ...

. The eastern part of Cooloongup, known as Woodbridge, currently has only one vehicle access point (Elanora Drive). The Rockingham Kwinana Development Office is progressing plans to construct a second access road to Woodbridge. A number of

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 ...

bus routes service Cooloongup; all buses operate from Rockingham Train Station.

Facilities

Rockingham General Hospital Rockingham General Hospital is a public hospital in Rockingham, Western Australia, in the south west of the Perth Metropolitan Region. The hospital was originally known as Rockingham Kwinana District Hospital, but was renamed in 2008 during a ...

'', a major regional public hospital, is located on Elanora Drive. The hospital is owned and operated by the State Government of Western Australia via its Department of Health. ''Rockingham Golf Club'',Rockingham Golf Club (Inc) website
/ref> first established in 1947, is located in Cooloongup at the East end of Elanora Drive. The club was re-located there in 1985 from its previous location on Patterson Road (Corner Read Street), Rockingham. The Rockingham site was redeveloped and sub-divided into residential lots. ''Hourglass Reserve'', so named because of its shape, has been developed as a purpose built baseball park (north portion) and athletics field (south portion) servicing the local region.

References

{{Suburbs of Rockingham Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia Suburbs in the City of Rockingham