About the Area

THE HISTORY OF SUBIACO

The area now known as Subiaco was the homeland of the Nyungah Aboriginal people long before the first European settlers came to the area. A group of Benedictine monks, whose founder came from Subiaco, Italy settled in the area in 1851 and called their monastery New Subiaco. When the Perth to Fremantle railway opened in 1881, the name Subiaco was adopted for a railway station near the monastery and later for the cluster of houses and businesses which became the present Subiaco. 

Other European settlers followed, and in 1886, the first house in Subiaco was built on Mueller Road, now Roberts Road, near the Perth-Fremantle railway line. The opening of the railway encouraged settlement with land being much cheaper in Subiaco than in Perth or West Perth, and this in turn supported retail and industrial development. Subiaco's population increased phenomenally in the 1890s due to a depression in the eastern states and the gold rush in Kalgoorlie. Subiaco was proclaimed a municipality in 1897, and became the City of Subiaco in 1952. The City of Subiaco includes the suburbs of Jolimont, Daglish, Shenton Park, Subiaco and Crawley. By the 1980's Subiaco began to attract a lot of investment, both by commercial operators and residential investors, who saw Subiaco's near CBD location as ideal to work and live in. By the 1990's Town Planners saw an opportunity to reclaim government owned railway and other industrial land within the town. A body was formed to co-ordinate the planning and construction of a new section of the town, now known as "Subi Centro". 

Central to this new precinct was the sinking of a section of railway track below ground and the construction of an architecturally designed state of the art train station over two levels, linking old Subiaco to Subi Centro. What has resulted since the late 1990's is an explosion of residential dwellings and commercial offices/showrooms that have set the benchmark for urban renewal throughout Australia. The influx of people looking for a 'lifestyle' rather than an existence, is ever increasing and should inspire confidence to all looking to reside or invest in this fantastic locality.