Industry and Business
Small businesses like grocers, bakers, and dairies kept the farming communities of the Cockburn district running smoothly, and hotels provided some much-needed respite and leisure. But it was heavy industries like lime-burning, abattoirs, and smelting that brought money and workers into Cockburn and set it up for future prosperity.
Passion and Protest
View more information about the Passion and Protest exhibition.
Wartime
The Cockburn district had a unique experience of war, particularly World War Two, as both an agricultural district and one with many military installations around its isolated coastal areas. Find out more about wartime production, rationing, internment and the home front.
Sport and social lives
The hardworking farmers and labourers of the Cockburn district liked to play hard too, and their leisure time was filled with sports, dances, social clubs, and more. They formed local soccer, AFL, cricket, and tennis clubs with gusto, and trained and raced horses in Hamilton Hill and Jandakot.
Migration
The Cockburn district was built by migrants at every stage of its history. Early agricultural land policies encouraged migration to build farms and supply a growing colony, and the gold rush of the 1890s saw Chinese, Afghan, southern and eastern European migrants arrive to try their luck. Many moved into Cockburn temporarily, but many more paved the way for their families and friends to follow them, and built Cockburn into the diverse city it is today.
Buildings and places
Stories about the historical buildings and places around the Cockburn district, including community halls, churches, schools, and public space, as well as the history of all the suburbs in Cockburn.
Aboriginal Cockburn
The owners of the land that became Cockburn were the Beeliar Nyungar, and they called their land Beeliar Boodjar. When the first Europeans arrived in Western Australia, the Beeliar Nyungar were led by Midgegooroo and Yagan. Some of their language was recorded by an early settler, but for many years afterwards they were neglected and dispossessed by Europeans. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned that these articles may contain images of people who are now deceased.
Azelia Ley Museum
The Azelia Ley Homestead Museum and its associated outbuildings are located in Manning Park, Hamilton Hill. The heritage listed residence was built in 1923 for a member of the Manning family and offers a glimpse into the life of a prosperous settler family living in the Cockburn district.
About
Cockburn History is a collaborative effort between the Cockburn Libraries, City of Cockburn, and Azelia Ley Homestead Museum.
Archive
Digitisation of Cockburn's historical collections has been part of several projects over the years. Volunteers helped to scan and catalogue the photographic collection, mostly held at Azelia Ley Museum, and staff at Spearwood Library digitised the audio, video, and document collections, including Cockburn's 1978 local history book, Cockburn: the Making of a Community by Michael Berson.
Philip Jennings 2025, photo Nandi Chinna
Many of those people in the Roe 8 campaign, had been to the Wetlands Centre as school kids on school visits and had learnt about what goes on in the lakes and why the bush and the wetlands were valuable, and they didn’t want to lose it. Yeah, I’m sure the educational effort had a big impact. ‘Oral History with Honorary Emeritus Professor at Murdoch University, Professor Philip Jennings’, interviewed by Nandi Chinna, Wetlands Centre Oral History Project, 17 September 2024. ~ Phil Jennings
I think what surprised me and delighted me was to see the response when Main Roads tried it on again with Roe 8, and I think Main Roads were shocked too. I mean when they tried it on at Farrington Road probably 100 people came out and confronted them and the rest of the people scratched their heads and wondered what this was all about. But when they tried it on again with Roe 8, there were thousands there, and everybody knew what it was about, and even the incoming government was forced to say that we won’t allow this to go ahead. So, you know 30 years of effort did achieve something I think in terms of raising people’s awareness and making people realise what they’ve got and what they stood to lose. ‘Oral History with Honorary Emeritus Professor at Murdoch University, Professor Philip Jennings’, interviewed by Nandi Chinna, Wetlands Centre Oral History Project, 17 September 2024. ~ Phil Jennings
Bulldozing bush, Farrington Road 1984, photo Jan Rodda
Protesters and police, Farrington Road 1984, photo Jan Rodda
I feel that I owe society something and wanted to use what skills I have in areas where I can, and so I’ve done that in environmental areas, and ‘energy’ areas, where I feel I have some knowledge that’s relevant. I think it’s just a question of giving back to society in return for what it has given me. ‘Oral History with Honorary Emeritus Professor at Murdoch University, Professor Philip Jennings’, 2024. ~ Phil Jennings
Rex Sallur 2024, Save Beeliar Wetlands Facebook post
Pheobe Corke, Kate Kelly and Rex Sallur 2024