Atwell is a suburb within the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia, situated 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of Perth City, and located in the City of Cockburn local government area.
The Whadjuk Nyungar Aboriginal people were the first human inhabitants of the region, occupying the region from 40,000 years ago. The many lakes and wetlands of the region were important for sustenance and spiritually.
After European settlement of the Perth region in 1829, the land of much of the area including and surrounding what is now Atwell was granted to G Dunnage. The area was later part of the dairy property owned and operated for many years by Ernest Atwell. Originally it was purchased in the 1920s to rest horses he used in his livery stable business, which was conducted in Fremantle. It was later developed into one of the largest dairies in the Perth region. The huge amount of land was slowly sold off but the dairy was still operating until the late 1950s. The house and worker’s cottage were eventually demolished when the area was cleared for redevelopment.[3]
Development of the suburb of Atwell began in the early 1990s through the creation of several housing estates such as Beeliar parklands. It has continued to expand with the estates, Atwell Waters, and Harvest Lakes being developed. Most of the available land in the suburb has now been developed for residential, parks and reserves, roads and some retail.
Statistics
Selected medians and averages from the 2016 census:[4]
There are two community centres in Atwell. The Atwell Community Centre on Reynardson Ave, and the Harvest Lakes Community Centre, situated in the grounds of Harmony Primary School.
Community centre in Atwell
Education
There are two primary schools in Atwell. Atwell Primary School was established in 1998 and had 773 students in Semester 1 of 2020. Harmony Primary School was established in 2004 and had 550 students in Semester 1 of 2020. The senior high school, Atwell College, established in 2008, had 1421 students in Semester 1 of 2020.[6] Atwell College also incorporates the Kim Beazley Learning Community that enables the full-spectrum of opportunities for students with disabilities. There are also two child care centres that cater primarily for non-school age children.
Health
Atwell currently has a general practitioner'smedical centre, an infant health clinic, a pharmacy and a physiotherapy clinic, near the retail precinct on Reynardson Ave. A second medical centre, pharmacies, physiotherapy clinic and an Optometrist have been established at the Harvest lakes retail precinct.
Retail
There are three retail precincts in Atwell. A small centre in the north on Lydon Blvd was opened in the late 1990s, consisting of a delicatessen and a Chinese restaurant. A second larger centre was opened on Reynardson Ave in central Atwell in the early 2000s consisting of a supermarket and several other food and service stores. A third shopping centre was completed in June 2014 in Harvest Lakes that consists of a Woolworths supermarket, a Cafe', Chinese and Italian restaurants and several other food and service stores.
Recreation
Leisure
Atwell has a large number of parks and reserves. The two major parks are Atwell reserve, which has a lake, playgrounds, skate park and barbecue facilities and Harvest lakes park which has a lake and playgrounds.
Regular bus services on route 527, operates North to Cockburn Central railway station, located just outside the North Western boundary of Atwell, and Gateways regional shopping centre in Success, and South to Aubin Grove and Honeywood estate in Wandi. Train services connect to Perth and Mandurah. Aubin Grove train station which actually straddles Atwell and Success opened in April 2017.[7]
Atwell is well connected with transport infrastructure, being situated adjacent to a transport hub at Perth's southern approaches. Access to Perth in the North and Rockingham / Mandurah in the South is via the Kwinana Freeway which is accessible via interchanges at Armadale Road and Gibbs Road. East Access to Armadale is via Armadale Road. Western access to Fremantle is via Beeliar Drive and North Lake Road.
Pedestrian and cycling
Footpaths and dual use cycle paths are present on all of the major roads within Atwell. A dual use path on Armadale Road leads to the Kwinana Freeway dual use path, which connects to the more than 750 km cycle routes in the Perth Region.[12]
