Rockingham Council

The City of Rockingham is a local government area and council situated in the south coastal suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It is located within the traditional tribal territory of the Whadjuk, a subgroup of the Noongar language group. The city derives its name from the British ship Rockingham.

In 1896, the residents of Rockingham petitioned to establish a road board, initially proposing the name “Clarence” after the failed settlement of Thomas Peel at Woodman Point. However, the Department of Lands and Surveys declined this name, leading to the establishment of the Rockingham Road District on 4 February 1897.

Initially, the Rockingham Road District’s administration operated out of the agricultural hall at the corner of Flinders Lane and Kent Street. In 1905, an office was built on the corner of Office Road and Mandurah Road in East Rockingham. By 1929, the administration moved to Rockingham Beach, utilizing various buildings, including the Agricultural Hall and the former Rockingham Beach Primary School on Kent Street. In 1946, a new office for the Roads Board was constructed at the corner of Flinders Lane and Kent Street.

The northern portion of the Rockingham Road District was separated to form the Kwinana Road District in February 1954. On 1 July 1961, following the enactment of the Local Government Act 1960, the Rockingham Road District became the Shire of Rockingham. In 1971, the Shire’s administration relocated to new offices on Council Avenue, on land donated by developers Rockingham Park Pty Ltd, which was 2 km southeast of Rockingham Beach, the traditional center of Rockingham. This new area was intended to be the major center of Rockingham and Kwinana, marked by the opening of the Rockingham City Shopping Centre the same year. Despite this move, the community continued to view Rockingham Beach as the civic heart of the city, as evidenced by the construction of Flinders Hall on Flinders Lane in the same year as the new Council offices.

On 12 November 1988, the council attained city status, and in 1994, it moved to new council chambers and a civic center on Civic Boulevard. In 2008, the council adopted a plan for the Rockingham Strategic Regional Centre, which aimed to integrate the traditional center at Rockingham Beach and the 1970s “City Centre” into a larger, cohesive center. This plan seeks to increase the residential population within the new city center from 12,000 to 36,000 through transit-oriented development, which would support the operation of light rail between the Rockingham Train Station and Rockingham Beach.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Rockingham