York Road, Western Australia

York Road (currently known in parts as the Old York Road) was the main road connecting Guildford and York, in Western Australia, during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Its origins in a talk in 1929 claim an earlier name King Dick Road,^[1] and the first settlers usage of the route being on 6 September 1831.^[2]^[3]^[4]

It became, in the 20th century, portions of the Great Eastern Highway, and the portion of the road traversing the Darling Scarp at Greenmount was named the Old York Road. The re-aligned Great Eastern Highway removed some of the problems of the steep grades along the old alignment.

The road name was also a truncation of the usage of the name Old York-Perth Road.^[5] The York Road had convict era sites along its traverse. In the metropolitan area, Chippers Leap, Bilgoman Well, Mahogany Inn (still operating), and other sites have connections with that era, and the remaining original section on Greenmount Hill is still named Old York Road.

Notes

^ "King Dick's Line of Road". Inquirer. No. 483. Western Australia. 3 October 1849. p. 3. Retrieved 7 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "THE YORK ROAD". The West Australian. Vol. XLV, no. 8, 485. Western Australia. 30 August 1929. p. 16. Retrieved 12 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Pelloe, Mrs T. The York Road - read to The Western Australian Historical Society (It was not yet the Royal in 1929) on 25 October 1929, and published in the Journal and Proceedings Vol.1, part VI, pp 1-16
^ "Recollections ff York". The Avon Gazette And York Times. No. 301. Western Australia. 14 June 1919. p. 4. Retrieved 10 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Part of the Old York-Perth Road". Western Mail. Vol. XVIII, no. 923. Western Australia. 5 September 1903. p. 28. Retrieved 7 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.

Mundaring Arts Centre (1993) Up the old York Road Mundaring, W.A. Mundaring Arts Centre] (from Battye Library catalogue: - This project was initiated and co-ordinated by the Mundaring Arts Centre. It was a social history based project and involved 15 schools and a number of community groups within the Shire of Mundaring through the financial support supplied by a Department of Community Development Social Advantage Grant.) see http://catalogue.slwa.wa.gov.au/record=b2480392~S2

* Parker, Frank.(2006) The road to York : from Guildford to York Western Australia, an early history York, W.A. : Parker Print. ISBN 0-646-45651-2

Smith, Jennifer (1992). Historic watering holes : a report for the National Trust of Australia (W.A.). Stage 2. The Old York Road, from Guildford to York, Western Australia Centre of Prehistory Nedlands, W.A : The University.
Tuckfield, Trevor (197-?) The Old York Road, The Author

31°53′58″S 116°03′45″E / 31.899577°S 116.062557°E / -31.899577; 116.062557