Winthrop is a 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, located within the

City of Melville The City of Melville is a local government area in the southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, east of the port city of Fremantle and about south of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of ...

History

Winthrop was originally a pine

tree plantation A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...

owned by the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. The first blocks were sold in the early 1980s. After the first residents moved in, more blocks were sold off in a number of phases. Shortly after the first residents, a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

opened for business, which now includes a post office, IGA store and a florist. Soon the Winthrop Primary school and Winthrop village shopping centre were opened. Blocks were so sought after that many people resorted to sleeping near the sales office for up to a week just to secure a position. The name is derived from that of the first Chancellor of the University of Western Australia, Sir

John Winthrop Hackett Sir John Winthrop Hackett Sr. (4 February 184819 February 1916), generally known as "Winthrop Hackett", was a proprietor and editor of several newspapers in Western Australia, a politician and a university chancellor. Early life Hackett was b ...

. There are very few reminders of Winthrop's past as a pine plantation, with scattered remnants of pine trees being the only indication.

Transport

Road

Winthrop is bordered by 3 major roads:

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 ...

to the north, Murdoch Drive to the east, North Lake Road to the west and Somerville Boulevard to the south, which connects North Lake Road to Murdoch Drive. The main local neighbourhood distributors are: Winthrop Drive, dividing the east and west of Winthrop, and Jackson Avenue, which passes both Winthrop Primary School and the Winthrop Village Shopping Centre. Winthrop Village Shopping Centre has been labeled Western Australia's 'Best Value Supermarket' by

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befo ...

. Other minor tier roads include Hatherley Parade, Aitken Drive and Ten Seldam Circle.

Bus

There are numerous bus routes serving Winthrop. These are: *115 (Hamilton HillElizabeth Quay Bus Station) *503 (Bull CreekMurdoch) *504 (Bull CreekMurdoch) *511 (MurdochFremantle)

Train

The closest train stations are Bull Creek and

Murdoch Murdoch ( , ) is an Irish/Scottish given name, as well as a surname. The name is derived from old Gaelic words ''mur'', meaning "sea" and ''murchadh'', meaning "sea warrior". The following is a list of notable people or entities with the name. ...

, both situated east of Winthrop. Fremantle Train Station is located approximately to the west.

Education

The primary schools in and around Winthrop are Winthrop Primary School, Booragoon Primary School, Caralee Community School, Kardinya Primary School and Yidarra Primary School. Nearby secondary schools include

Applecross Senior High School Applecross Senior High School is a public co-educational high school, located in Ardross, a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1958, Applecross Senior High School has traditionally been one of the leading public high schoo ...

, Corpus Christi College, Melville Senior High School, Murdoch College, and

Kennedy Baptist College Kennedy Baptist College is an Australian coeducational, independent, Baptist, secondary school located in Murdoch, Western Australia. The school educated 1124 pupils in 2019, and is named after Baptist minister and pioneer William Kennedy. It is ...

which was formed by a merger of Winthrop Baptist College and Somerville Baptist College in 2013. Nearby tertiary institutions include

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

, Murdoch Institute of Technology, and Challenger Tafe.

Nature

Winthrop has many parks, with the central area of the suburb containing Winthrop Park that is bordered by pine trees. There are few areas left of the original pine plantation, the largest of which is located near Winthrop Park. Situated in the north-east of Winthrop is the Piney Lakes Reserve. There are a number of trails through it and a guided footpath. The Piney Lakes conservation centre hosts school visits, and aims to maintain the natural ecosystem in the area. The Piney Lakes Nature Reserve is home to a number of native birds including

willie wagtail The willy (or willie) wagtail (''Rhipidura leucophrys'') is a passerine bird native to Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Eastern Indonesia. It is a common and familiar bird throughout much of its range, ...

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers Th ...

s and

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the ord ...

Southern brown bandicoot The southern brown bandicoot (''Isoodon obesulus'') is a short-nosed bandicoot, a type of marsupial, found mostly in southern Australia. It is also known as the quenda in South Western Australia (from the Noongar word ''). Taxonomy George Shaw ...

s also inhabit the area. A natural wetlands houses many native flora and fauna and is open to the public.

References

External links

{{City of Melville suburbs Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia Suburbs in the City of Melville