TOWN NAMES

BICKLEY

In the 1890s a siding in this area was known as Heidelburg or Heidelburg Grove, it being the name given to his property by George Henry Palmateer who held three hundred acres (121.5ha) in the area in 1893. In 1915, because of the First World War, the Railway Department was asked to change the name to something not of German origin. The Under Secretary for Lands proposed the name Bickley after a pioneer in the area who was a member of the first Legislative Assembly. Samuel Wallace Bickley or Wallace Bickley, as he was more commonly known, was the original owner of 640 acres (258.2ha)as on the Canning River in 1843, and the brook which entered the Canning River at the corner of the land was known as Bickley’s Brook.

CARILLA

The place name of Pickering Brook was used. Because of its proximity to the water catchment country, settlement was not encouraged, and a named town site was not formed. A town site was formed about 2 miles east on 22nd January 1922 and it was known as "Beamulla", an aboriginal word meaning "Black Cockatoo". At a meeting of the Pickering Brook Progress Association, a request was made to the Under Secretary of Land, requesting a change of name. The reply dated 26th December 1923, presented three names for consideration. The name Carilla, on the recommendation of the Surveyor General was gazetted on the 17th February 1926, replacing Beamulla. Carilla is the Aboriginal name for "running water". In 1952 the location of Carilla was cancelled and Pickering Brook formally encompassed the whole area. The town site of Pickering Brook was gazetted on 12th January 1973.

CARMEL

The name was probably first suggested by Edward Owen who had established an orchard and founded a Methodist community near a property owned by Levi Green, a well-known Perth businessman who moved into the district in 1844 and had the nearby siding named after him. The area was originally known as Green’s Landing after a siding on the timber line. The name Carmel was formally adopted for the siding in 1915 and for a town site in 19187. “Carmel” is a Hebrew word meaning “park” or “garden of God”’ and is also the name of a mountain ridge in Palestine.

GOOSEBERRY HILL

Gooseberry Hill dates back to 1854. First settler was a Mr. Robbins, who planted gooseberry bushes, apple and pear trees he had brought from England. Story has it that the Hon. Mr. Amherst, Aide-de-Camp to Governor Broome, took a party of orphans to the hills for a day’s outing, and as Mr. Robbins’ gooseberries were nice and ripe, they indulged rather to excess, with the result that their stomachs were upset. The extent of the upset was gauged the following year when a wide swathe of country was dotted with young gooseberry bushes, and so the name “Gooseberry Hill” came into being. The name was officially recorded by a surveyor who named the hill in 1878.

HACKETT’S GULLY

The name of this rural suburb was approved in 1972 and derives its name from the feature of the same name. Hackett’s Gully is believed to honour Thomas Hackett (1814 – 66) who established a market garden in the hills district.

KALAMUNDA

The earliest historical reference to Kalamunda appears in the W.A. Year Book of 1900. Old residents declare that a committee was formed of 32 residents to choose a name for the district, and that a composite name “Kalay” meaning “Home”, and “Munda” meaning forest, was adopted, thus Kalamunda, or “Forest Home” came about. Against this some declare that “Kalay” was a native word for fire, so if that explanation is accepted, Kalamunda would mean “Forest Fire”. “Forest Home” is certainly more picturesque, and, like Kalamunda, more euphonious. The name was respelt Kalammunda by the Surveyor General, but later, in 1901 was amended to Kalamunda.

KARRAGULLEN

Finally in 1912 the Government agreed to extend the line and on the 5th August to a new terminus called Karragullen. The name was chosen by Miss Daisy Bates using the aboriginal name for "Red Gully". The first train into Karragullen steamed through a ribbon held by Mabel Parker (Mrs. Arthur Bettenay) and Doris Bettenay, on the 5th August 1912. Another source claims “Karragullen” is the Aboriginal name for the Cannington area, as supplied by the Aboriginal Tommy Bimbar in 1916.

LESMURDIE

Lesmurdie come to us from Scotland. When the families of Leslie and Murdoch intermarried the Scottish property was given the name of “Lesmurdie”, and when representatives of that family settled in the State, the name was perpetuated in the glorious Hills resort and also the falls. In 1897 Mr. Archibald Sanderson, a Perth journalist, commenced the acquisition of a number of properties, with a view to building up a “rural retreat”, and he named his property “Lesmurdie”. Lesmurdie Cottage was a shooting box in Banffshire, Scotland, near Dufftown, and was let to Mr. Sanderson’s father. It was in memory of this cottage that Sanderson applied the name to his property.

PICKERING BROOK

The 341 ton sailing ship "Atwick" was under the command of Captain Hugh McKay when she left London with passengers and general cargo bound for Western Australia. She carried two guns and had a crew of 20 men. She arrived in the Swan River Colony on October 19th, 1829.

Forty-eight year old agriculturalist Capt. Edward Picking (aka Pickering) from Gainborough, was a passenger on board. His servant William Hyde (aka Hide) was also on board. He applied for a land grant the same day as he stepped from the boat. He farmed in several places in Western Australia. In 1834 he was assigned 3000 acres, but this was lost due to non-payment of location fees. He was Postmaster in Perth in 1841. In 1844 he became Clerk of the Roads Trust and called tenders for Canning Bridge in 1846. It appears that he made several exploratory journeys along the Helena River. In the Hand Book of Western Australia, there is a map dated 1835 which shows the Helena River and a tributary, "Picking Creek" flowing north into it. All other maps show the tributary as "Pickering Brook" and one can only conclude that it has, over the years, been corrupted into "Pickering". About 4 miles west of the creek or brook is the settlement of Pickering Brook. It seems that when the Canning Jarrah Timber Company Ltd. owned the Upper Darling Range Railway, a log line running in an easterly direction, was built from a point on the main line somewhere below Monument Hill. That point was of course, a junction and before the railway was taken over by the Government, was known as Pickering Junction. Later it was called Pickering Brook, presumably because the Government did not acquire the log line. 

The place name of Pickering Brook was used. Because of its proximity to the water catchment country, settlement was not encouraged, and a named town site was not formed. A town site was formed about 2 miles east on 22nd January 1922 and it was known as "Beamulla", an aboriginal word meaning "Black Cockatoo". At a meeting of the Pickering Brook Progress Association, a request was made to the Under Secretary of Land, requesting a change of name. The reply dated 26th December 1923, presented three names for consideration. The name Carilla, on the recommendation of the Surveyor General was gazetted on the 17th February 1926, replacing Beamulla. Carilla is the Aboriginal name for "running water". In 1952 the location of Carilla was cancelled and Pickering Brook formally encompassed the whole area. The town site of Pickering Brook was gazetted on 12th January 1973.

WALLISTON

The name of Walliston honours the area’s first settlers, John and Emma Wallis. The Wallis’ moved to this district in the 1880s, and were prominent citizens of the district. The area was also known as Wallis’ Crossing, Walls’ Landing and 12 Mile Siding, and finally resolved as Walliston in 1915.

Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2008-2020