The suburb of Applecross takes its name from the Applecross peninsula in Wester Ross, Highland, on the northwest coast of Scotland. Many of the streets in the suburb have names from the area, including Carron, Gairloch, Ullapool, Kintail, Strome, Ardross, Alness, Kishorn, Glenelg, Duncraig, Dunvegan, Killian and Roskhill.[2]
The suburb of Applecross was originally assigned to Lionel Lukin on 28 May 1830. The land was finally acquired by Alexander Matheson, second son of Sir Alexander Matheson, 1st Baronet of Lochalsh, in February 1896. Matheson formed the Western Australian Investment Company Limited and instigated and named the subdivision of the area.
Matheson developed the waterfront land as gentlemen's residences. He operated a ferry service to bring day-trippers to the area from Perth for picnics, tennis and sailing. The difficulty in finding reliable water stymied further development and Matheson sold the land to the London and Australian Investment Company around 1903.[3]
In 1925, Thomas Burke (businessman) stopped at Fremantle on his return from England. He was persuaded to view the Applecross land held by the London and Australian Investment Company. Burke quickly realised the potential of the undeveloped land as an affordable, long-term investment for working Australians. He purchased 2,200 acres between the Swan River (Western Australia) and along the Perth-Fremantle Road (the precursor to Canning Highway) from Canning Bridge, Applecross, and towards Point Walter.[4]
For the next ten years, Burke bundled the land as ¼ acre blocks and sold them in estates: Applecross Estate, Kintail Road Estate, Canningview Estate, Ardross Park Estate, Wireless Station Estate, Rivermount Estate, Radio Park Estate, Melville Park Estate, and Lucky Bay View Estate. Some buyers built on their block. Others took Burke's advice and gambled it would increase in value significantly with the forthcoming establishment of better road connections with Perth via Canning Bridge. By 1960, the year after the opening of the Narrows Bridge (Perth), a block in the Kintail Road Estate purchased for £45 in 1940 returned £1,750.[4]
A distinguishing feature of the suburb are the jacaranda trees that line its streets and flower in the late spring. Planting of these and other exotic trees along the streets began in 1935.[5] In keeping with this theme, Applecross is home to an annual Jacaranda festival in late November.
World War II
In 1940, the suburb was the location of a "Patriotic Grand Prix", a once only usage of the streets of the suburb for a car race known at the time as a "Round-the-houses" race.[6][7][8][9][10]
Landmarks
A number of well known landmarks and facilities are in Applecross. These include:
The former Heathcote Hospital – used for mental health services from 1929 to 1994. Now used as a community recreation facility. Point Heathcote was named after Midshipman George Gage Heathcote. Captain James Stirling landed at the location in his 1827 expedition up the Swan River, and the site was considered by Stirling as an alternative to the Perth site when establishing the Swan River Colony in 1829.
^City of Melville Suburb and street History "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"Melville Park Sale". West Australian. 23 January 1926. p. 8.
^ abUren, Malcolm (1975). The City of Melville: from bushland to expanding metropolis. Melville, WA: City of Melville.
^"Melville Tree Planting". West Australian. 22 October 1937. p. 16.
^Cocks, Graeme; Fremantle Motor Museum; Vintage Sports Car Club of WA (2006), Patriotic road racers : the Patriotic Grand Prix : 11 November 1940 : Applecross WA, Fremantle Motor Museum in association with the Vintage Sports Car Club of WA, ISBN978-0-9757944-2-5
