Innaloo is a 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 ...
, 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 ...
, 9 km (5.6 mi) from
Perth's central business district in the
local government area
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 (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
of the
City of Stirling
The City of Stirling is a local government area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about north of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and has a population of over 223,000, makin ...
.
Innaloo is an established residential suburb that is home to the
Westfield Innaloo
Westfield Innaloo is a major shopping centre in the northern suburbs of Perth. It is located at the corner of Scarborough Beach Road and Ellen Stirling Boulevard (formerly Oswald Street) in Innaloo, approximately north-west of the Perth central ...
and Westfield Innaloo Megacentre shopping centres, and is adjacent to Perth's largest cinema complex, the 18-cinema Event Cinemas.
Name
Innaloo was originally named Njookenbooroo (sometimes spelt Ngurgenboro, Noorgenbora or similar variants), believed to be derived from the local
Noongar
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 ...
name for
Herdsman Lake
Herdsman Lake ( nys, Njookenbooro), also known as Herdsmans Lake, is a freshwater lake located on the Swan Coastal Plain, north-west of Perth, Western Australia, in the suburb of Herdsman. The main shared use path around the lake is approxima ...
or a nearby
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
.
The spelling and pronunciation (e.g. "ny-ooken-borra") were deemed to be difficult to those unfamiliar with the name; in 1927, the local progress association asked welfare worker and anthropologist
Daisy Bates to compile a list of possible alternative names, drawn from various Aboriginal languages. Bates' rendering of the personal name of a woman, "Innaloo" (from
Dongara) was chosen.
Nevertheless, some local landmarks are still named "Nookenburra" – another variation of the original name.
The similarity of the name Innaloo to the phrase "in a
loo" soon made the suburb the butt of many jokes. However, campaigns aimed at changing the name have failed to gain significant support.
History
From settlement to suburb
Land near Innaloo was first granted to Thomas Mews in 1831. In 1898, Town Properties of WA subdivided the lands around Njookenbooroo Swamp for sale as market gardens, and drained the swamp into
Herdsman Lake
Herdsman Lake ( nys, Njookenbooro), also known as Herdsmans Lake, is a freshwater lake located on the Swan Coastal Plain, north-west of Perth, Western Australia, in the suburb of Herdsman. The main shared use path around the lake is approxima ...
over the following years, digging channels through the area to facilitate agriculture. They offered rent-free lease of the lots, with an option to later purchase at £100 per hectare if the occupants cleared them and brought them into production. The area between Hertha Road, Oswald Street and King Edward Road and Herdsman Lake was gazetted as the Njookenbooroo Drainage District, and by 1912, local market gardeners were turning off 25 tonnes of produce each week.
The Njookenbooroo School on Odin Road (then called Government Road), linked to the city by a
plank road
A plank road is a road composed of wooden planks or puncheon logs. Plank roads were commonly found in the Canadian province of Ontario as well as the Northeast and Midwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were oft ...
, was built in 1915. Although subdivision for southern Innaloo was approved in 1916, by the 1920s only ten houses had been built, with the majority of the land used for grazing.
Residential development accelerated during
World War II
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 ...
, and in the 1950s,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
(MGM) built a drive-in cinema in nearby Liege Street.
Development of modern Innaloo
Development of the suburb was essentially complete by 1970, and its status increased due to its proximity to
Scarborough Beach and the light industrial and commercial centre of
Osborne Park, the building of the Nookenburra Hotel (1962) and shopping centre (1967) and the nearby
civic centre
A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
in Hertha Road (1966).
Innaloo is also the home for the first
Hungry Jack's
Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-l ...
in Australia since 1971.
The
Mitchell Freeway
The Mitchell Freeway is a freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of State Route 2, which continues south as Kwinana Freeway and Forrest High ...
was extended to Hutton Street in 1981 and to
Karrinyup Road
Karrinyup Road is a major east-west arterial road in the inner northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting the City of Stirling council offices, Osborne Park Hospital and Karrinyup Shopping Centre with residential estates in Inn ...
in 1984. The shopping centre also hosted the region's main bus station until the construction of
Stirling bus/train interchange about a kilometre away in 1992. In 1999, Ellen Stirling Boulevard, named after the wife of the
first governor of Western Australia, was constructed on land purchased from the last market gardeners in the area to replace the increasingly hazardous Oswald Street as the main through link between the freeway and the shopping areas.
Geography
Innaloo is bounded by Karrinyup Road to the north, Huntriss Road to the west,
Scarborough Beach Road
Scarborough Beach Road is an arterial northwest–southeast road located in the inner northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It connects North Perth to Scarborough Beach, and is mostly a single carriageway road, with two or three lanes ...
to the south and
Mitchell Freeway
The Mitchell Freeway is a freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of State Route 2, which continues south as Kwinana Freeway and Forrest High ...
and the future line of Stephenson Avenue to the east. The majority of the suburb is residential, apart from the shopping areas in the south-east, several small parks and an undeveloped portion to the east of Ellen Stirling Boulevard.
[2007 StreetSmart directory, Department of Lands and Surveys, Perth.] Some of the undeveloped area next to Stirling station has been developed as a commercial area centred on a new
IKEA
IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...
store.
At the 2006
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
, Innaloo had a mostly middle-income population of 6,470 people.
Most homes are single detached homes of timber-frame construction built around
World War II
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 ...
, but some duplexes and recently built units also exist.
[ A number of elderly homes including Geneff Village, named for Sorrento businessman and philanthropist George Geneff (who also built the Nookenburra Hotel), are located within the suburb.
]
Facilities
Innaloo contains the Westfield Innaloo
Westfield Innaloo is a major shopping centre in the northern suburbs of Perth. It is located at the corner of Scarborough Beach Road and Ellen Stirling Boulevard (formerly Oswald Street) in Innaloo, approximately north-west of the Perth central ...
shopping centre. Next to Westfield Innaloo on Ellen Stirling Boulevard is the Westfield Innaloo Megacentre (acquired from Centro
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
*Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...
in August 2006), which contains 20 stores and a Spud Shed (formerly a Progressive Supa IGA, and before that an Action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
). Across Scarborough Beach Road is the Event Cinemas
Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 Multiplex (movie the ...
megaplex. The northern part of the suburb also contains a small local shopping area in Morris Place. Opposite the Megacentre, an IKEA
IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...
has been constructed, replacing the smaller store a kilometre away in the adjoining suburb of Osborne Park.
Innaloo's southern border with Woodlands Woodlands may back refer to:
* Woodland, a low-density forest
Geography
Australia
* Woodlands, New South Wales
* Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper
* Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...
hosts Perth's largest cinema complex, the 18-cinema Event Cinemas megaplex Innaloo, which contains Gold Class
Village Cinemas is an Australian-based multinational film exhibition brand that mainly shows blockbuster, mainstream, children and family films and some arthouse, foreign language and documentary films. Since 2003, its Australian sites beca ...
cinemas, as well as an arcade with numerous restaurants and dining speciality outlets, including Sizzler
Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States-based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Washington, Arizona, Neva ...
, Han's Cafe, Bollywood Resto Bar and Retro Betty's, and a game centre (centred on Timezone). It started off life as an MGM drive-in in the 1950s, then was rebuilt by Greater Union in 1990 with 8 screens, then expanded to a Megaplex - the first in Western Australia - in 1996. During the 2000s Greater Union was replaced with Event Cinemas
Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 Multiplex (movie the ...
.
Transport
Innaloo is served by bus links to Stirling train station on the Joondalup line
The Joondalup line is a commuter rail service in Western Australia, linking the Perth central business district (CBD) with the Perth metropolitan region, metropolitan area's north-western suburbs. The service is operated on the Northern Suburbs ...
, including the 410, 412, 421, 424 and the 998/999 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 ...
, and the 423 and 425 along the Karrinyup Road boundary.Transperth website
accessed 2006-11-18. Additionally, the 990 services link Scarborough and the
Glendalough railway station
Glendalough railway station is a railway station on the Transperth network in Perth, Western Australia. It is located on the Joondalup line, five kilometres from Perth station serving the suburb of Glendalough.
History
Glendalough station open ...
along Innaloo's southern boundary.
Prior to the construction of the Stirling railway station as part of the
Northern Suburbs Transit System
The Northern Suburbs Transit System is the name given to the project initiated and funded by the Government of Western Australia to provide high-speed passenger rail services to the northern corridor of metropolitan Perth, the capital city of Wes ...
, a possible deviation of the rail alignment was considered to directly service the suburb and its shopping district including
Westfield Innaloo
Westfield Innaloo is a major shopping centre in the northern suburbs of Perth. It is located at the corner of Scarborough Beach Road and Ellen Stirling Boulevard (formerly Oswald Street) in Innaloo, approximately north-west of the Perth central ...
.
[ Pg. 4, Accessed at ]J S Battye Library
The J S Battye Library (more properly known as the J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History) is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia. It stores much of the state's historical records and original publications including books, ...
, 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 ...
However, this idea was rejected by both the project and the public at large due to the significant cost, lack of identifiable benefits, and environmental impact grounds.
Politics
Innaloo is a mixed-wealth suburb with many "
mortgage belt
The Mortgage belt is a term used in Australian politics to signify residential suburbs which have a high concentration of families mortgaging their homes.
Often the belt covers areas where homes could be considered more affordable yet the cost o ...
" families, as well as many elderly voters. The Yuluma booth is among the northern suburbs' few genuinely marginal booths at federal level. However, they strongly support 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
state elections.
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{City of Stirling suburbs
Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia
Suburbs in the City of Stirling