Bellevue, Western Australia

From the 1880s until 1966, Bellevue was the railway station at the foot of the hills through which the Eastern Railway climbed. First for the line that proceeded east to Greenmount, then Boya, Darlington and on to Mundaring. Then for the line through Blackboy Hill, Swan View, the Swan View Tunnel and on to Chidlow. The third and final route of the railway that goes through the Avon Valley passes over the site where the railway station was located.

During the First World War the branch line to the Helena Vale Race course was used for transporting troops between Blackboy Hill and Fremantle.

Although the old Mundaring Loop was closed for passenger traffic in 1954, trains were still utilising the line to Boya, where the Mountain Quarries siding was still in use. This operation closed in 1962.

Up until the 1960s it was the terminus of the passenger services from Perth. For a brief couple of years (1960-1962) a new railway station was made at Koongamia which was half-way to the old Greenmount Railway station. The suburban service now terminates at Midland.

[edit] Community

Bellevue has been afflicted by dissection by the Roe Highway, railway, and substantial changes in the eastern parts of Midland. The Bellevue Primary School was closed and amalgamated with the Koongamia Primary School to form the new Clayton View Primary School slightly up the hill towards Greenmount.

However it is a significant community despite the depredations of the transport routes and changes. It was the location of the original offices of what became the Mundaring Shire Council. It was also the location of the Catholic Church that preceded the St Anthony's church in Greenmount.

[edit] Geography

Bellevue is bounded by the Helena River to the south, Great Eastern Highway to the north and Military Road and Cowie Close to the west. The suburb is an even mix of residential, industrial and parkland (mainly along the Helena River), and the Midland Military Markets are located in the west of the suburb.^[3]

At the ABS 2001 census, Bellevue had a population of 1,851 people living in 800 dwellings. About 8% of the population are Indigenous whilst about 12% are of Southern or Eastern European origins.

[edit] References

^ 2001 Census, Australian Bureau of Statistics
^ REIWA Suburb Profile
^ 2006 StreetSmart directory, Department of Lands and Surveys, Perth.

[edit] Further reading

Elliot, Ian (1983). Mundaring - A History of the Shire, 2nd ed., Mundaring: Mundaring Shire. ISBN 0-9592776-0-9.
Spillman, Ken (2003). Life was meant to be here: community and local government in the Shire of Mundaring. Mundaring: Mundaring Shire. ISBN 0-9592776-3-3.