Port Kennedy 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 ...

, 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 ...

. Port Kennedy is built on

Becher Point Becher Point is the southernmost point of Warnbro Sound in Port Kennedy in Western Australia. It was the site of multiple ship beachings. It is a reference point for the adjacent Ramsar Becher Point Wetlands that lie inland from the point. It off ...

and because of its geomorphological history it is home to an unusual wetland formation, called the Becher Wetland Suite. These wetlands are linear in form rather than circular and have formed in dune swales parallel to the coast. Some wetlands have been absorbed into the Port Kennedy golf course and the remainder are protected in the Port Kennedy Scientific Park. Like

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 ...

, located In the east of the suburb, Port Kennedy Scientific Park is part of the

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 Threatened Ecological Community FCT19, Sedgelands in Holocene Dune Swales, is known to occur in these wetlands.

History

Port Kennedy is named after a feature in the southeastern corner of

Warnbro Sound Warnbro Sound, an Indian Ocean embayment, is located on the coast of Western Australia south of Cape Peron, 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of Fremantle. It is a semi-circular sound, wide with of shore. The area was surveyed in 1837 by Surveyo ...

which was initially named by

Surveyor-General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in t ...

in 1859 after the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

(1855–1862), Sir

Arthur Edward Kennedy Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy (; 5 April 1809 – 3 June 1883) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of a number of British colonies, namely Sierra Leone, Western Australia, Vancouver Island, Hong Kong and Queensland. Early l ...

. On 17 November 1953, a Townsite of Port Kennedy was declared. However, when the suburb was named in 1974, it was named ''Becher'' after Point Becher, located within its boundaries. On 1 June 1990, the suburb was renamed ''Port Kennedy''.

Education

Port Kennedy Primary School opened in 1996 and is part of the Department of Education and Training's Peel District. Initially, with an enrollment of 300 students, the school has grown to about 670 (2009) with a staff of approximately 55. Endeavour Schools is another primary school located in Port Kennedy which has an education support centre. There is also one private school linked to Roman Catholic which is St Bernadettes Catholic Primary School.

References

External links

Port Kennedy Planning Project

Port Kennedy Primary School Information
{{Suburbs of Rockingham Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia Suburbs in the City of Rockingham