Rockingham | |||||||||||||
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 Rockingham as seen from Palm Beach Jetty | |||||||||||||
 Interactive map of Rockingham | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates:32°16′52″S115°43′37″E / 32.281°S 115.727°E /-32.281; 115.727 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | Western Australia | ||||||||||||
| City | Perth | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||
| Established | 1847 | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 12.8 km2 (4.9 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 15,312 (SAL2021)[3][4] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 6168 | ||||||||||||
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Rockingham is a suburb ofPerth,Western Australia, located 47 km south-south-west of the city centre. It acts as the primary centre for theCity of Rockingham. It has a beachside location at Mangles Bay, the southern extremity ofCockburn Sound. To its north stretches the maritime and resource-industry installations ofKwinana andHenderson. Offshore to the north-west is Australia's largest naval fleet and submarine base,Garden Island, connected to the mainland by an all-weathercauseway. To the west and south lies theShoalwater Islands Marine Park.
Rockingham received its name from the sailing shipRockingham, one of the three vessels thatThomas Peel had chartered to carry settlers to Western Australia (the others beingGilmore andHooghly).Rockingham arrived on 14 May 1830.Rockingham was blown ashore and eventually abandoned after failed attempts to refloat her. She eventually broke up, having sunk in shallow waters.[6] Settlers supposedly camped near the wreck used the name "Rockingham Town" as their address.
The region had been inhabited for several thousand years by tribes of theNoongar people whose leader at that time was Galyute.[7]
Rockingham was first surveyed and lots offered for sale in 1847. However, few lots were sold until the development of arailway and jetty in 1872 to transportjarrah timber andsandalwood fromJarrahdale overseas. Rockingham prospered until the construction of theInner Harbour ofFremantle in 1897, which caused Rockingham as a timber port to steadily decline.[8] Another factor that contributed, albeit gradually, to the decline of the port's importance for timber export was the opening in 1893 of theSouth Western Railway, the line of which intersected the Jarrahdale-Rockingham line and created the possibility of trucking timber north to Fremantle or south to Bunbury where the ports were capable of taking larger ships with deeper draughts. By the turn of the century, the international timber trade was being handled by larger ships and when the timber merchants determined that they could not justify the expense of dredging to enhance access to the port of Rockingham timber exports shifted to Fremantle. After 1908 the port saw no further use for timber exports.[9]
The ending of the port coincided with the arrival of the motor car, and this new mode of transport gave impetus to the rapid development of the little coastal settlement into a seaside resort town.[10] It was a comfortable day trip by motor car from Fremantle and Perth, and a sufficient distance from those centres for the "travellers" to legally purchase alcoholic beverages at theRockingham Hotel on Sundays during an era when such sales were strictly regulated to protect the sanctity of that day. Holidaymakers had the use of the old port's jetties while they remained, but by 1947 they were gone, destroyed through the effects of decay and storms.[11] From the earliest years of the 20th century, holiday shacks were developed in the town, and by the 1970s Rockingham had also become a desirable locale for retirement villas - mostly of a modest scale.
In recent decades Rockingham has become a satellite city in Perth's southwest, together withMandurah, and is among Australia's fastest-growing residential districts. The maritime tradition has been strengthened by steady growth of theRoyal Australian Navy's main Fleet BaseHMASStirling and by the development of major shipbuilding and marine support services at nearbyHenderson.
Since the nineteenth century, abundant sightseeing and recreational attributes have been the basis of a tourism industry. Visitors can launch small boats or board ferries to view dolphins, seals, pelicans and penguins in the adjacentMarine Park. The coast at nearbySafety Bay is ideal forwindsurfing andkitesurfing.
On 7 May 2009, a boundary realignment ofCooloongup andHillman approved by the Minister for Lands incorporated theRockingham Train Station into Rockingham.
Rockingham is topographically flat, has sandy soils and coastal vegetation. It has a northern aspect toCockburn Sound, from Rockingham Beach and Palm Beach.
High-frequency passenger services are accessible at theRockingham Railway Station andWarnbro railway station on theMandurah Line. A bus network operates throughout Rockingham with multiple routes terminating at the railway stations.[12]The "Rockingham Shuttle Bus 555" is a frequent service which connects the train station with the Rockingham Beach foreshore. Frequent services connect Rockingham with Fremantle via the bus service 549 (viaKwinana andSpearwood) running at 15-minute intervals Monday to Friday and the 548 (via.Coogee). All three of these routes service the primary centre via dedicated bus lanes.Local heavy industry is serviced by branches of theKwinana freight railway which has a number oflevel crossings within the City of Rockingham.ARockingham Light Rail service is proposed to connect the railway station with the city centre and foreshore.[13][14]
TheKwinana Freeway is about 15 minutes' drive from the primary centre via Kulija Road (State Route 22) or viaSafety Bay Road, giving fast access to Perth, Mandurah andBunbury.National Highway 1 (Patterson Road and Ennis Avenue) provides alternative road connection with Perth, Fremantle and Mandurah.
Perth Bicycle Network route SW38 links Rockingham Beach with Waikiki Beach inSafety Bay.[15]
Rockingham Beach Primary School was founded in 1895 and is supplemented by Bungaree, Charthouse, East Waikiki,Hillman,Safety Bay andWaikiki primary schools. Public secondary schools areRockingham Senior High School andSafety Bay Senior High School. Private schools in the district include theRoman Catholic Star of the Sea Primary School,Kolbe Catholic College (High School), RockinghamMontessori School,South Coast Baptist College (formerly Maranatha Christian College),[16] andLiving Waters Lutheran College.
The Rockingham campus ofMurdoch University, located on Dixon Road,[17] comprises buildings for engineering studies, arts and commerce, administration and a library which is also accessible to the local community, being one of the largest public libraries in the state. It is linked with the Rockingham Information and Library Services group which includes Warnbro Community Library, Safety Bay Public Library and Mary Davies Public Library. The campus can be accessed by bus services fromFremantle viaKwinana, and from theRockingham train station on theMandurah line.
Rockingham is served by two substantial shopping districts, an extensive precinct near thelocal-government offices; and the older Rockingham Beach"high-street" shops. The former includes severalfast-food outlets, apetrol station, the Rockingham Centre, medical practices, restaurants and two multi-screen cinema complexes. Many of the older beachside shops have either switched to catering for tourism and recreational visitors, or have been redeveloped in a blend of high-rise residential units and associated services such as restaurants. Other shopping centres, located at nearbyWaikiki,Warnbro andPort Kennedy add to available variety and choice.
Residents also benefit from the proximity of largelight-industrial,warehouse andshowroom developments, including major vehicle dealers, all types of trade and professional services, discount electrical appliances, building and landscaping materials, household and mechanical maintenance services. A further abundance of similar competitive services is available in the adjoining suburbs mentioned above.
Mike Barnett Sports Complex is a seven-court multi-purpose community facility situated on Dixon Road. The stadium was opened in the 1980s[18][19] and is the home of theRockingham Flames, who play in theNBL1 West.[20] It was named after Rockingham MLAMike Barnett.[21]
On 9 September 2005, a memorial was unveiled at Palm Beach, Rockingham, to commemorate theCatalpa rescue, the famous escape of six IrishFenian convicts fromFremantle Prison on 17–18 April 1876. After journeying south from Fremantle by horse-drawn cart, the escapees were rowed from the beach to theCatalpa, an American whaler. The perilous flight succeeded in the face of an overnight storm and naval interception at dawn. The memorial consists of six wild geese in flight, symbolic of the flight to freedom and, to all Irish people, emigration. The wild geese are also a reference to the newspaperThe Wild Goose, which took its name from theFlight of the Wild Geese. The memorial is mounted on a plinth built with stones from ship's ballast. Mounted on the plinth are six granite panels sandblasted with photos of the six Fenian prisoners and a granite dedication stone. At the outer circumference of the circle there are six bronze plaques bearing text inscriptions from theWild Goose Journal which the Fenians had written on board theHougoumont as prisoners on their voyage to Australia. Creation of the memorial was initiated and documented by Francis Conlan and executed by Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith.[22] Historical information was sourced fromThe Fenian Wild Geese: from the last convict ship to the Catalpa rescue by Ormonde D. P. Waters (Catalpa Publications, 2011).
To the north of Rockingham lies theRockingham Naval Memorial Park, opposite HMASStirling. It contains a number ofcommemorative plaques, a 110 mm (4.5 in) gun turret ofHMASDerwent (DE 49) and a submarine fin fromHMASOrion, added in 2009.[23][24]
Built in 1986, this type of facility would cost in excess of $18 million to build today.
Plans were drawn and the Rockingham Basketball Stadium, now Mike Barnett Sports Complex, was opened in 1983.
Rockingham (Western Australia) travel guide from Wikivoyage| Authority control databases: Geographic |
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