Boya, Western Australia

Boya
Perth, Western Australia
Boya; Perth, Western Australia
	Boya from the south, Mountain Quarry and Greenmount Hill behind
Coordinates	31°54′50″S 116°03′22″E / 31.914°S 116.056°E
Population	669 (SAL 2021)
Postcode(s)	6056
LGA(s)	Shire of Mundaring
State electorate(s)	Midland
Federal division(s)	Hasluck
	Suburbs around Boya:

Boya is a locality on the Darling Scarp, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia; it is on the south side of Greenmount Hill, and just west of Darlington.

The name of Boya is a local Noongar word meaning "stone" or "rock", and was imposed by government officials in the early twentieth century.

Quarries

It was crucial as a site of quarries. The Mountain Quarry and the Government Quarry were both important blue stone quarries in their time.^[2]

The harbour and moles at Fremantle were built using stone from the Government quarry.

The Government Quarry (on the south eastern part of the locality) was variously named during its time of operation as Mr O'Connor's quarry, the Fremantle Harbour Works Darlington Quarry,^[3]^[4] the Public Works Quarry, the Government Quarry, and, currently, as Hudman Road Quarry.^[5]

Being at the edge of the Greenmount National Park and the Hudman Road Quarry, Boya has been subject to serious threatening bushfires spreading from these locations in recent years.

Railway

In the history of the early Eastern Railway, which passed through Boya, Boya was the location of "Cape Horn", a notorious curve at the 22-mile (35 km) mark, where runaway trains derailed a number of times.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

The community has a rich architectural variety of houses due to the challenge of steep and rocky blocks.

Transport

Bus

322 Midland Station to Glen Forrest – serves Scott Street, Marriott Road and Coulston Road^[10]

Notes

^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Boya (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
^ "Australian Web Archive". Archived from the original on 12 November 2005.
^ "FREMANTLE HARBOUR WORKS". The West Australian. Vol. 17, no. 4, 779. Western Australia. 1 July 1901. p. 5. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "FREMANTLE HARBOUR WORKS". Western Mail. Perth: National Library of Australia. 6 December 1902. p. 49. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "BOYA QUARRY CLOSED". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 2236. Western Australia. 1 December 1940. p. 6. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 27 April 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ "THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR GREENMOUNT". The Daily News (Perth, Western Australia). Vol. XII, no. 5, 927. Western Australia. 27 April 1894. p. 2. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "THE GREENMOUNT RAILWAY ACCIDENT". Southern Times. Vol. 6, no. 101. Western Australia. 28 April 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT". Western Mail (Western Australia). Vol. IX, no. 436. Western Australia. 28 April 1894. p. 37. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Route 322". Bus Timetable 96 (PDF). Transperth. 16 January 2024 [effective from 4 February 2024].

References

Elliot, Ian Mundaring – A History of the Shire. 1983 ISBN 0-9592776-0-9
Spillman, Ken Life was meant to be here: community and local government in the Shire of Mundaring. 2003 ISBN 0-9592776-3-3
Watson, Lindsay The railway history of Midland Junction. 1995 ISBN 0-646-24461-2