The Kwinana district derives its name from the Steamship Kwinana. The Kwinana was originally the S.S. Darius and was bought in 1912 by the State Government. At first it was decided to rename her Kimerly but there were too many ships of this name in Lloys' Register of Shipping.

Kwinana was finally chosen, the name being taken from a sub-division in the Kimberly district. It is aboriginal for Pretty Maiden.

On Christmas Day, 1920, the Kwinana was damaged by a fire at Canarvon. A year later she was brought to Fremantle, where she was stripped and towed to a mooring at Careening Bay, Garden Island. During a westerly gale in 1922, a mooring shackle was parted and the vessel drifted across Cockburn Sound to where she lies today.

The rusting hulk of the Kwinana ship was cut down to low water level, and the centre was filled with limestone to form a platform as part of the jetty at Kwinana.