Kings Park Road is situated in West Perth in

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 ...

. It was once known as Brooking Street. It runs as a boundary between the suburbs of West Perth and Kings Park, from the west end of Malcolm Street to the corner of Bagot Road, Subiaco and Thomas Street, West Perth. It was bitumenised in the 1930s. In 1939, a setback rule was suggested by the

Perth City Council 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 junction with Thomas Street and Bagot Road has been modified a number of times. The junction at the eastern end was regularly called the King's Park Circus. The central median strip had been lined with trees, however they were removed and replaced with rose bushes some time after May 1949.

Edith Dircksey Cowan Memorial

The Edith Dircksey Cowan Memorial stands on the

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

at the junction of Kings Park Road, Malcolm Street and Fraser Avenue in West Perth. Formerly this was the intersection of Kings Park Rd, Fraser Avenue and Mount Street, until the building of 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 ...

in 1950s, which cut Mount Street and saw the demolition of the barracks leaving behind just the

Barracks Arch The Barracks Arch is located on the corner of Malcolm and Elder Streets, at the western end of St Georges Terrace in Perth, Western Australia. The Barracks Designed by Richard Roach Jewell, the Barracks were originally built from 1863 to 18 ...

and the creation of Malcolm Street.

Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (' Brown; 2 August 18619 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. Cowan h ...

was the first female member of any Australian Parliament. Following the death of Edith Cowan in June 1932 a committee was formed to create a memorial to her. The committee initially wanted the memorial to be within Kings Park but the Kings Park Board refused to allow the memorial, saying that she was not a person of national significance. The committee became aware of the Perth City Council's plans for a memorial on the Kings Park Road Circus, and when approached they agreed with the memorial being designed by

Harold Boas Harold Boas OBE (27 September 1883 – 17 September 1980) was a town planner and architect in Western Australia. Boas designed many public buildings in and around Perth and was an influential Jewish community leader. He served as an elected m ...

and Henry Attwell, featuring a bronze relief designed by Margaret Johnson of Mount Hawthorn, with a wreath of gum leaves and nuts. This alternative location of the memorial was also of concern at the time.

Intersections

References

{{reflist, 30em Streets in West Perth, Western Australia Kings Park, Western Australia