Byford, Western Australia

Beenup took its name from the railway siding there, a corruption of the Aboriginal name given to nearby Beenyup Brook.^[1] In 1920, the name was changed to Byford.^[2]

Construction of the South Western Railway reached the district in 1892. Some time later a stop bearing the name Beenup was established in the vicinity of the present day township. Later, in 1957 a station was established on the line between Abernethy Road and Mead Street.^[3] After a long period of disuse, this station was demolished around 1990. The current Byford station is located just south of this. It is served by Transwa's twice daily Australind service from Perth to Bunbury.^[4]

Historically, brickmaking contributed much to the development of the town. Shale at Cardup had already come to the attention of colonists by the 1850s, but it was not until around the turn of the 20th century that a commercial brickmaking venture commenced at Cardup. In 1903, John Millard (a former manager of the Bunning Bros brickworks in East Perth) established The Cardup Steam Pressed Brick Company. Two years later, he entered into partnership with Atkins and Law, a rising giant in Western Australia's commercial world. With an injection of capital from Atkins and Law, the brickworks grew to become one of the state's leading producers of pressed shale brick.^[5]

A second major brickworks was set up at Beenup, north of Cardup, in 1913. This industry was a State Government initiative aimed at reducing the cost of worker housing. Like the brickworks operating at Cardup and Armadale, this one also exploited the shale deposits of the escarpment to produce high quality pressed brick and used the railway to transport the finished product to customers. The State Brickworks at Byford closed down in 1964, due in part to its operations being eclipsed by a new brickworks in Armadale.^[6] The Cardup brickworks closed in 2012,^[7] but much of the infrastructure is still extant.

Employment provided by the State Brickworks, the Cardup Brickworks, and the Munition Works (ie: RAN Armament Depot) that were established between Nettleton Road and the Cardup Brook in 1942^[8] were significant factors contributing to growth of the township of Byford. It was also a service town for a number of mill communities in the hills to the east and south-east, as well as a thriving rural community.

The most established part of the town has a distinctive square plan in which are centred two concentric circles, long diagonal roads, and short perpendicular roads. The original, 1906, township was located south-west of the intersection of Soldiers Road and Mead Street ^[9] but it appears that little if any housing was built in that area until much later in the 20th Century.^[10] However, the 1906 townsite included an allocation of land for recreation which is still used for that purpose today. Churches for the Anglican and Presbyterian denominations were built early in the 20th Century, as was a hall and State school.

In 1977, the local government responsibilities for Byford were transferred from the Shire of Armadale-Kelmscott (now the City of Armadale) to the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. Recently, Byford has become an extension of the Perth metropolitan area, connected to the Kwinana Freeway by Thomas Road, and has experienced a substantial rise in population. Historically, Byford's rural land supported sheep, beef and dairy cattle, orchards, and a vineyard (Sunrays, owned by the Vlasich family);^[11] but in recent decades there has been an increase in hobby farms geared to equine pursuits, and more recently housing estates with generous lot sizes.

The new subdivision "Byford on the Scarp" was constructed on the long time disused RAN Armament Depot. The depot was closed in 1981 and its functions relocated to Garden Island. After standing empty and neglected for many years, the storage bunkers and other depot buildings were progressively demolished; this work being complete in 2000. Traces of the rail infrastructure that once served the depot and brickworks still are visible today.

Today, Byford is a town with most of the amenities and conveniences that one comes to expect in Australia; including halls, two state schools, clubs, sporting oval, a range of shops and businesses, a flour mill, and farms in the surrounding rural areas. A Free Reformed Church was opened on the corner of Soldiers Road and Mead Street in 1987, and a private school was later built alongside this church.

References

↑ Coy, N.J.; The Serpentine: a history of the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, 1984; p.181
↑ Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of country town names – B". Retrieved 2007-06-08.
↑ Coy, op. cit.; p.190
↑ Australind Timetable Transwa
↑ Moore, B.; From the ground up: Bristile, Whittakers and Metro Brick in Western Australian history, University of Western Australia Press, 1987; pp.42-47
↑ Coy, op cit; pp.181, 183
↑ The West Australian, 28 March 2012
↑ The West Australian, 4 October 1945; p.9; see also webpage: http://users.tpg.com.au/borclaud/ranad/about_byford.html
↑ State Records Office plan: Cons 5698 Item 0306
↑ An aerial photograph of Byford taken 10 June 1949 shows the 1906 townsite undeveloped (and still cloaked in native vegetation) except the recreation reserve which had a race track
↑ Government Gazette of Western Australia, 12 January 1962, p 132: Notice indicating the dissolution of the family business as at 30 June 1960.

External links

Towns and suburbs of the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Perth, Western Australia

Byford Cardup Darling Downs Hopeland Jarrahdale Karrakup Keysbrook Mardella Mundijong Oakford Oldbury Serpentine Whitby

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