Guildford is a suburb of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, 12 km northeast of the city centre within the

City of Swan The City of Swan is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area of Western Australia, in the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, eastern metropolitan region of Perth. It is named after the Swan River (Western Austral ...

. Guildford was founded in 1829 as one of the earliest settlements of the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

. It is one of only three towns in the metropolitan area listed on the Register of the National Trust.

History

Guildford was established in 1829 at the confluence of the

Helena River The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, Western Australia, Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. ...

and Swan River, being sited near a permanent fresh water supply. During Captain Stirling's exploration for a suitable site to establish a colony on the western side of the Australian continent in the late 1820s, the exploration party of boats found a fresh water stream across the river from the site of Guildford which they called Success Hill. Guildford was originally the centre of the

before

succeeded in being the dominant location on the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

. A Guildford Town Trust was established in 1838, but ceased to function within a couple of years. It was reconstituted in 1863, and became the Municipality of Guildford in 1871. Guildford was originally the political centre of what is now called the

. The original council chambers have been converted to a library. Alongside the library stands the town hall; behind this is the stables built for the councillors while attending meetings and as a depot for council equipment. These stables have been converted and are now the home of the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ...

, which is the oldest operating theatre group in Western Australia. The original structure is still visible. The roof still has its original

shingles Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. T ...

in place, though from the outside they have been covered by

corrugated galvanised iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...

. It also houses the oldest government funded primary school in Western Australia: Guildford Primary School.

Historic sites

Over 200 locations in Guildford are listed on the

State Register of Heritage Places The State Register of Heritage Places is the heritage register of historic sites in Western Australia deemed significant at the state level by the Heritage Council of Western Australia. History In the 1970s, following its establishment of the N ...

, including: *

St Matthew's Church, Guildford St Matthew's Church is a heritage-listed Anglican Church in Australia, Anglican Church (building), church in Stirling Square (Guildford), Stirling Square, , Western Australia. The church is part of the Anglican Diocese of Perth. Saint Matthew's ...

(1836) * Guildford Railway Station Precinct (1881) *

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, coeducational Primary school, primary and Secondary school, se ...

(1896) and School Chapel (1914) *

(1932)

Notable residents

* George Cyril Abdullah (1919-1984) was a prominent Aboriginal community leader who was born in Guildford to a Bengali labourer father and Indigenous mother. * Charles Walter Harper (1880-1956) was an orchardist and co-operator. * Malvina Evalyn Wood (1893-1976), librarian and college warden. Alfreds_Kitchen_Guildford_9387

Transport

Guildford is located on the Midland railway line and contains the stations of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

and East Guildford.

Bus

* 290 Midland Station to Redcliffe Station – serves

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...

, East Street, James Street and Johnson Street

Rail

* Midland Line ** Guildford Station ** East Guildford Station

Notes

References

* Bourke, M. J. (Michael Joseph), (1971) Old buildings at Guildford icroform ( Microfilm copy of typescript ( 40, 190leaves) and illustrations prepared for University of Western Australia, Faculty of Architecture, 1971.) {{City of Swan suburbs Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia Suburbs and localities in the City of Swan