Guildford 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 i ...

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

City of Swan The City of Swan is a local government area of Western Australia. It is in the eastern metropolitan region of Perth and includes the Swan Valley and 42 suburbs. It is centred approximately 20 km north-east of the Perth central business ...

. Guildford was founded in 1829 as one of the earliest settlements of the Swan River Colony. 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 in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. It then flows west until it reaches the Darling Scarp. It passes ...

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 Swan River Colony before

succeeded in being the dominant location on the Swan Coastal Plain. 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 in place, though from the outside they have been covered by

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

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

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 Malvina Evalyn Wood (1893-1976), university librarian and college warden, was born in Guildford, Western Australia, daughter of a railway porter. Genealogy records show that the family's name was initially Shell, but was changed to Wood for un ...

(1893-1976), librarian and college warden. Alfreds_Kitchen_Guildford_9387

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

History

Notable residents

See also

Notes

References