Willagee 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 south-southwest of the

Perth central business district 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 ...

. It is within the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

City of Melville The City of Melville is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in the southern List of Perth suburbs, suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, east of the port city of Fremantle and about south of ...

, and the

electoral district of Willagee Willagee is an Electoral districts of Western Australia, electoral district of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia. The district is located in the southern suburbs of Per ...

, which takes its name from the suburb.

History

Willagee is named after ''Willagee Swamp'', the

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

name of a now-reclaimed feature in the area. The suburb originally comprised a housing estate known as ''Willagee Park'', created by the State Housing Commission. Willagee was brought into existence "primarily to provide accommodation for employees in the new industrial area being developed by the

Fremantle City Council The City of Fremantle is a local government area in the south of Perth, Western Australia. The City covers an area of , and lies about southwest of the Perth central business district. History The City of Fremantle is named after Charles ...

." Surveying and clearing of the land had commenced in December 1950, with a number of "first-class roads" constructed by the

Melville Roads Board 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 and h ...

in 1951. A number of dwellings were

prefabricated home Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes or simply prefabs, are specialist dwelling types of prefabricated building, which are manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled. ...

s imported from Austria. The suburb is now characterised by demountable, wooden cottages with

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

(spears), although it is in the midst of a sweeping redevelopment plan, which is supposed to improve the quality of the housing.

Geography

The suburb is bounded by

Leach Highway Leach Highway is a east-west arterial highway in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, primarily linking Kewdale, Western Australia, Kewdale and Perth Airport with the city of Fremantle. It is allocated State Route 7 and is a dual ...

to the north, Garling Street to the south,

Stock Road Stock Road is an arterial road in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The northern terminus is at Page Street in Attadale, near Point Walter on the Swan River. It runs southwards to Canning Highway and then Leach Highway as a r ...

to the west and

North Lake Road North Lake Road is a major road in the southwestern suburbs of the Perth metropolitan area functioning as an intermediate arterial collector positioned between the limited-access Stock Road to the west and Kwinana Freeway to the east. North La ...

to the east. Willagee borders Melville and Myaree to the north and north-east, Winthrop to the east, Kardinya to the south-east and south,

O'Connor O'Connor or O'Conor may refer to: People * O'Connor or O'Conor, an Irish clan * O'Connor Sligo, a royal dynasty ruling the northern part of the Kingdom of Connacht * O'Connor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places * Burdett ...

to the south and south-west, and

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

to the west and north-west.

Parks and reserves

There are ten parks and reserves located in Willagee: Arthur Kay Reserve, Harmony Park, Harry Bailey Park, Joan Williams Park, Roy Neal Reserve, Tony Zevela Park, Walter West Reserve, Webber Reserve, William Reynolds Reserve and Winnacott Reserve. The largest of these are Webber Reserve and Winnacott Reserve, which are both used by local sporting clubs, including the Willagee Bears Rugby League Football Club and the Winnacott Kats Junior Football Club.

Facilities

Much of the suburb's facilities are centred along two main thoroughfares: Winnacott Street, running north–south, and Archibald Street, running east–west. A large precinct, consisting of a library, community centre, an

IGA IGA or IgA may refer to: Businesses and organizations * IGA (supermarkets) (initially Independent Grocers Alliance), a name used by many independent supermarkets throughout the world ** IGA (Australian supermarket group), the local Australian v ...

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and various other stores, is located at the junction of these two roads. A smaller shopping centre, Willagee Supermarket, is located at the intersection of

and Stock Road, in the north-west corner of the suburb. Caralee Community School was formed in 2005 from a merger of Willagee Primary School and Carawatha Primary School, and is currently attended by approximately 300 students. The school is located in

Melville Senior High School Melville Senior High School is a public co-educational high school located in Melville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Opened in 1960, as of 2024 the school had an enrolment of 1,451 students from Year 7 to Year 12, with its catchment ar ...

's catchment area. The Fremantle Language Development Centre is also located at the site.

Transport

Willagee is served by the 140, 160 and 502

Transperth Transperth is the public transport system for Perth and surrounding areas in Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation, and consists of train, bus and ferry services. Bus operat ...

bus routes from

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

.Network map 5
– transperth.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 23 November 2011. All services are operated by

Transdev WA Transdev WA is an Australian bus company operating Buses in Perth, Transperth bus services under contract to the Public Transport Authority (Western Australia), Public Transport Authority. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Australasia. History On ...

References

{{City of Melville suburbs Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia Suburbs in the City of Melville 1952 establishments in Australia