WARail & telegraph
Gosnells
A London perfumer’s riverside estate, subdivided beside the railway.
1905Railway station opens
WHAT STARTED IT
The rich soils and water of the Canning River drew John Okey Davis to farm here from 1829, and his land was bought in 1862 by Charles Gosnell of a London perfumery firm. Once a station opened on the line south from Perth, developers subdivided the estate under the Gosnell name.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Market gardens, orchards and poultry farms grew up beside new housing lots, and in 1907 a new road board took the name Gosnells. Its early work centred on Albany Road and tracks for settlers, while floods on the Canning remained a worry.
TURNING POINTS
1905A station opens at Gosnells, where passengers had boarded beside the line.
1907The Gosnells Road Board is formed and the district takes the Gosnells name.
1918The road board discusses clearing snags from the Canning River to reduce flood damage.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A south-eastern suburb of about 21,100 people and the centre of the City of Gosnells, still built around its railway station.