The name Perth itself is of course Scottish. It was chosen in 1829 by the future Governor of the newly proclaimed colony of Western Australia, Captain James Stirling, who was a Scotsman. Of the names of the 348 suburbs in the Perth-Rockingham-Mandurah Metropolitan area, 70 (20.1%) can be found in Scotland, or are based on Scottish family names or connected with Scotland in other ways. Of course, some of the names are used in other parts of the British Isles as well, but 35 of them (10.1%) are unique to Scotland or are readily identifiable with places in Scotland that are based on the same names.
Official suburbs and other localities with names that occur only in Scotland and not elsewhere in the British Isles, and/or are definitely or most probably of Scottish origin are:
- Alexander Heights - This suburb takes its name from Alexander Drive, the main arterial road into the area. The road, in turn, honours S.B. Alexander (ancestry not reported), "a Road Board member who was very active in civic affairs" (The WA Department of Land Information). Alexander is a Scottish family name, though the name has since travelled to England. The original name of the area was Alinjarra, an Aboriginal word for 'north'.
- Applecross (Highland). The WA Department of Land Information provides the following explanation of the origin of this suburb's name. "The land was finally acquired by Sir Alexander Percival Matheson in February 1896. Matheson, a Scot, formed the Western Australian Investment Company Limited and instigated the subdivision of the area, giving it the name of Applecross after a small fishing village on the North west coast of Scotland." (see also Ardross and Attadale below)
- Ardross (Fife and Highland). The name of this suburb is also attributable to Sir Alexander Percival Matheson. In his subdivision of the adjoining suburb of Applecross (see above), Matheson "created 'Ardross Street' naming it after either the town of Ardrossan on the Scottish west coast or Ardross Castle, located about 40km North of Inverness. The suburb derives its name from this street." (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Armadale (two places in Highland and one in West Lothian). "The suburb of Armadale derives its name from the railway station of Armadale which was established there in 1893. It is named after either of two Scottish towns of this name, one west of Edinburgh and the other on the North coast of Scotland." (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Attadale (Highland). Sir Alexander Percival Matheson (see Applecross and Ardross above) is believed to have named Attadale after a small town in Scotland situated on the eastern shores of Loch Carron, not far from Applecross.
- Baldivis - this is a name coined by local settlers after three ships that brought them to Western Australia in 1922, one of which, the Balranald, has a Scottish name (the other two being the Diogenes and the Jervis Bay).
- Bassendean (Scottish Borders). As pointed out by the WA Department of Land Information, the name "Bassendean" was first recorded by Surveyor J.W. Gregory in 1841 as the name of 1,455 acres granted to Mr. P. Brown, who had his homestead on the West Bank of Swan River. Peter Brown (or Broun) was WA's first Colonial Secretary in 1832 and apparently named his property on the Swan River after a family property, Bassendean, in the former Scottish county of Berwickshire. It is interesting to note that the suburb's name was chosen in 1922 as the result of a competition for a new name for the area previously known as West Guildford. Two school children nominated 'Bassendean' after Peter Brown's property. (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Brigadoon - there is a place called Auld Brig o' Doon just south of Tam O'Shanter Experience and Burns Cottage tourist attractions in South Ayrshire - see illustration. Brigadoon is of course the name of a musical by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe about a mythical Scottish village that comes to life once a century for one day only. In a personal communication received on 24 May, 2004 from Ros Fornaro, it was stated that the Perth suburb takes its name from a farm owned by the brothers David (Ms Fornaro's father), Robert and Alexander Bell, all three of whom were born in Scotland.
- Burns (Aberdeenshire, Scottish Borders, Dumfries & Galloway and Shetland Islands). This suburb derives its name from "Burns Beach", which had been named after a farmer who ran sheep in the area. (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Craigie (Aberdeenshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, Fife, Perth & Kinross and South Ayrshire). "Craigie was chosen as a suburb name in 1970 and honours an early councillor of the City of Wanneroo who did much work in developing the City." (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Dalkeith (Argyll & Bute, Midlothian and Perth & Kinross). The WA Department of Land Information provides the following account of the reason for this suburb's name: "The eastern portion of the present suburb of Dalkeith was originally Swan Location 85 of 320 acres, assigned to Adam Armstrong in 1831. Armstrong, a widower, arrived in the Colony aboard the 'Gilmore' with his six children in 1829. Prior to coming, he was the manager of the Earl of Dalkeith's estate in Scotland and when he erected a cottage in 1833 on his land, he named it 'Dalkeith Cottage' and raised goats and horses on the property."
- Duncraig (Highland). According to the WA Department of Land Information, the suburb name was approved in 1969 and was first used as a promotional name. The name is undoubtedly of Scottish origin.
- Eden Hill (a mountain in Argyll & Bute). The suburb takes its name from a farm in the area owned by Henry Brockman (ancestry not reported). Brockman is an English family name from Kent, which fact could well suggest that the name of this suburb has no Scottish connection, despite the name occurring only in Scotland.
- Eglinton (there is an Eglinton Castle and Eglinton Park in North Ayrshire as well as Port Eglinton in Glasgow) also the town of Eglinton to the east of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the name having been taken there no doubt by Scottish settlers. The Perth suburb was actually named after a ship that was wrecked on the nearby coast in 1852. Eglinton is a Scottish family name originating in Ayrshire.
- Erskine (Renfrewshire). "The suburb is named after Lieutenant Archibald Erskine of the 63rd Regiment. Erskine was a landowner in the Murray/Mandurah district and was appointed a Justice of the peace for the Murray district in 1831. The suburb was named in 1971." (The WA Department of Land Information). The picture here shows the Erskine Bridge over the river Clyde, between Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire.
- Forrestdale and Glen Forrest - Glen Forrest combines the elements Glen (to reflect the suburb's setting in hilly terrain) and John Forrest, the first Premier of Western Australia. Forrestdale also commemorates John Forrest who, in addition to being the first Premier, was one of the best known early explorers in Western Australia. Forrest is a Scottish family name.
- Forrestfield (North Lanarkshire). The origin of the name of this suburb is uncertain, being either purely descriptive of an agricultural clearing in the forest or, more likely (given its spelling), it is believed to honour John or Alexander Forrest, although their connection with the area has not been established. (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Gorrie - Although there is no trace of a place by this name in Scotland, according to the 'House of Names' heraldic website, Gorrie is a Scottish family name first found on the Isle of Skye. The name comes from the personal Viking name 'Goraidh' (equivalent to Godfrey), and was Gaelicised to MacGoraidh, which was subsequently anglicised to MacGorrie, Gorrie and other variants.
- Hamilton Hill (Scottish Borders, and also in Glasgow, spelt Hamiltonhill) but found in two places in England as well; however, Hamilton on its own is typically Scottish. The picture here, taken on a misty November evening, is of the family mausoleum constructed in Hamilton by the 10th Duke of Hamilton. The mausoleum is said to be the largest ever built apart from the Pyramids in Egypt and India's Taj Mahal. The origin of the name of this suburb, which is nearly as old as Perth itself, has not been recorded. It may be attributable either to Captain George Robb, who in 1830 took up land south of Fremantle, or to his agent, Sidney Smith, who had been engaged to establish Robb's farm. Since Robb is a Scottish family name, originating in Stirling, and the surname Smith is also common in Scotland, the chances of Hamilton Hill being a Scottish name are probably higher than it being an English one (Hamilton Hill is found in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire as well as in Scotland).
- Kinross (Perth & Kinross). That's Kinross House shown here. According to the WA Department of Land Information, the name was chosen because the adjoining suburb of Burns (see above) is also a name of Scottish origin.
- Lesmurdie (Lesmurdie House in Moray) - the Perth suburb was actually named for Lesmurdie Cottage, a shooting box near Dufftown in the former county of Banffshire.
- Melville (Melville House in Fife and Melville Grange in Midlothian). This suburb derives its name from 'Melville Water', which was named after Robert Dundas, the second Viscount Melville, by Captain James Stirling during explorations of the Swan River in March 1827, two years prior to British settlement. (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Murdoch (there is a Murdoch Head in Aberdeenshire). Murdoch is a Scottish family name, associated with Clans MacDonald and MacPherson. This suburb was named in 1974 after Sir Walter Murdoch. The WA Department of Land Information provides the following account: "Murdoch was born in 1874, and in 1912 was appointed Professor of English at the new University of Western Australia. He was Chancellor of the University from 1943 to 1947, and died in 1970 shortly before Perth's second university was named in his honour."
- Nedlands - There is nothing specifically Scottish about this name, but an indirect connection with Scotland becomes a distinct possibility depending on the ancestry of the person who was responsible for bestowing the name. In 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel John Bruce, the Military Commandant of the Colony between 1854 and 1870, purchased land in this area, for his son Edward. The Commandant is said to have referred to the estate as "Ned's Land". According to the WA Department of Land Information, Edward Bruce (later Major Edward Bruce of the 19th Bengal Lancers), visited Western Australia in 1883. The author goes on to state that "on a mortgage dated 29th June in that year, the various locations left to him by his father are described as being the land 'known as Nedlands'." Bruce is a Lowland Scottish family name.
- Perth (Perth & Kinross) and East, North, South and West Perth by extension. The City of Perth owes its name to Captain Stirling, the Lieutenant Governor designate of the proposed colony of Western Australia. A Scotsman himself (he was born near Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire), Captain Stirling was happy to implement the wish of Sir George Murray, Secretary for the Colonies, that the settlement be named for Perthshire. The reason for the request (which was more in the nature of an instruction to Captain Stirling) was that Perthshire was Sir George's birthplace as well as his parliamentary seat at Westminster. It is on record that at least one early settler, William Leake, complained to the Home Office about the choice of name.
- Rossmoyne - there is a definite Scottish connection concerning Rossmoyne, a name that was apparently made up after a visit to Scotland by the township developer and his family in 1937. Coincidentally, there is also a suburb called Rossmoyne in Cincinnati, Ohio as well as in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- Silver Sands - there is a Silversands Bay in Fife to the east of Aberdour on the Firth of Forth. The name is not necessarily a Scottish one, and is more likely to be a purely promotional name.
- Stirling (Aberdeenshire and Stirling). This is one of the more recent Scottish suburban names in Perth. In 1976, the suburb - formerly part of Balcatta - was named for Admiral Sir James Stirling (1791-1865), the Scotsman responsible for naming Perth itself (see Perth above) and who became the first Governor of Western Australia.
- Thornlie - there is a Thornliebank in East Renfrewshire and Thornliemuir in Renfrewshire. Thornlie is apparently based on Thornliebank in East Renfrewshire, but the name evidently reached Perth via Thornlie Bank in Madras, India.
- Walliston - Wallis is a Scottish family name of Strathclydean/Cumbrian origin and is one of the many variants of Wallace. The WA Department of Land Information provides the following account: "The name of Walliston honours the area's first settlers, John and Emma Wallis. The Wallis's moved to this district in the 1880's, and were prominent citizens of the district. The area was also known as Wallis' Crossing, Wallis' Landing and 12 Mile Siding, and finally resolved as Walliston in 1915."
Some of the following suburbs and neighbourhoods are also likely to have a direct or indirect Scottish connection, but these names can be found in other parts of the British Isles as well.
- Ashfield (Argyll & Bute, Borders, Moray, South Ayrshire and Stirling) also commonly found in England and Wales. The suburb was named after Ashfield Parade, the road constructed alongside the Swan River when the area was first subdivided in 1913.
- Bellevue (Dumfries & Galloway, Highland, Orkney Islands and Perth & Kinross) also in England, Ireland and Wales, sometimes spelt Belle Vue. According to the WA Department of Land Information, the suburb's name is a variation of "Belle View" which was used as the property name by Edward Robinson when he built a homestead in the area in 1887. The name Bellevue was used by the Railways Department on a time table on the 25th May 1897. Since Robinson is an English family name, it is unlikely that the homestead was named for a place in Scotland.
- Bertram (there is a Bertram House in South Lanarkshire) also a Bertram House in North Yorkshire and a Bertram Hill in Northumberland. This suburb in the Kwinana area derived its name from a 1920s settler (ancestry not reported) who owned land in the area. Bertram is an English family name first recorded in Northumberland.
- Claremont (Fife) and Mount Claremont by association; but names with Claremont as an element are fairly common in England as well. Perth's Claremont was apparently named for Clara Morrison (née de Burgh), the landowner's wife, with the suffix 'mont' referring to the hilly nature of the country. De Burgh is an Anglo-Irish family name from Galway while Morrison is decidedly Scottish.
- Halls Head - there is a place called Hall in East Renfrewshire, as well as in Devon, England. The Perth suburb was named for an early pioneer in the area, Henry Hall, whose ancestry has not been established. (One wonders whether this was the same Henry Hall who gave his name to a suburb of Canberra.) According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Hall is the 20th most common family name in England, Wales and the Isle of Man, which greatly reduces the chances that Halls Head has a Scottish connection.
- Helena Valley and Mount Helena - there is a Helenamore in Aberdeenshire, near Windyheads Hill, the only occurrence of 'Helena' as a place name element anywhere in the British Isles apart from places in England called 'St Helena'. The origin of the names of these suburbs is not known and may turn out to be quite unconnected with Scotland.
- Henderson (Henderson's Rock in Argyll & Bute) but there is also a Henderson's House in the north of England. Henderson is a Scottish surname (that's the family tartan shown here), the Perth suburb being named for Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, whose ancestry has not been reported.
- Hilton (Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll & Bute, Scottish Borders, Clackmannanshire, Fife, Highland, Moray, Orkney Islands, Perth & Kinross and Stirling) but found just as commonly throughout England. No explanation for the origin of this name has been found beyond the fact that it was named after 'Hilton Park', a reserve in the area.
- Lynwood (Scottish Borders, spelt Lynnwood) there is also a Lynnwood in Cumbria. Lynwood is a fairly common name in American cities. No explanation has been found for the origin of the name of this suburb.
- Mount Pleasant (Aberdeenshire, Argyll & Bute, Scottish Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, East Ayrshire, Fife, Highland, Moray and Orkney Islands) also all over England, Ireland and Wales as well as Australia, Canada and the USA it would seem. The suburb takes its name from a house built in 1911 by James Herbert Simpson. Simpson's ancestry has not been reported, but is more likely to be English than Scottish.
- Newburn (Stirling) but also found in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear in northern England.
- Port Kennedy - this suburb was named in honour of Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, Governor of Western Australia between 1855 and 1862. Sir Arthur, however, was an Irishman who, after leaving Western Australia became Governor of Vancouver Island (Canada), Sierra Leone (West Africa), Hong Kong and finally Queensland. The "Scottish" connection, in this instance, is therefore very indirect indeed, probably stemming from the days of the Scottish plantations in Ulster.
- Postans - this suburb was named after George Postans who was one of the first settlers in the area. According to the WA Department of Land Information, Postans "arrived in the Colony as a convict in 1850 and bought 100 acres of land in 1882, several years after getting his ticket-of-leave. The suburb was formerly known as Caledonia." Postans is counted as an English family name though, curiously, it is said to have originated in Roxburghshire in the Scottish border country.
- Salter Point - there is a place called Salter Grain in Dumfries & Galloway, but place names with Salter as an element are fairly numerous in the north of England. The suburb was named after a nineteenth century settler, Hannah Salter, daughter of Charles Salter (ancestry not reported).
- Stake Hill (a hill in Dumfries & Galloway) also three places in northern England.
- Stratton (Highland) but more common in south-western England. The suburb was named for John Peter Stratton (1888-1966), farmer, businessman, landowner and president of the Western Australian Trotting Association between 1930 and 1966. Stratton's ancestry has not been reported but is most likely to have been English since the family name originated in Wiltshire.
- Westfield (Aberdeenshire, Scottish Borders, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Highland, Moray, North Lanarkshire, Perth & Kinross, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian) but found just as commonly throughout England.
- Wilson - there are several places in Scotland based on the surname of Wilson. The list includes Wilsonhall (Angus), Wilson Burn and Wilson's Pike (Scottish Borders), Wilson's Noup (Shetland Islands) and Wilsontown (South Lanarkshire). Wilson is even more commonly found in England, including the town of Wilson itself in Herefordshire and Leicestershire. The Scots Wilsons are a sept of Clan Gunn and now have their own family tartan (seen here). The Perth suburb commemorates Mr G.H. Wilson (ancestry not reported), a member of the Road Board for 43 years.
A final category of suburban names comprises places that can be found in Scotland, but which, in Perth's case, definitely or most probably have no connection with Scotland.
- Belmont (Scottish Borders, Shetland Islands and South Ayrshire) also found in England, Ireland and Wales. It is thought that the Perth suburb was named by Captain Francis Henry Byrne after an estate in England, though details supporting this claim have not been documented.
- Canning Mills and Canning Vale (Canning Knowe in the Shetland Islands) but there is also Canning Town in London. These suburbs actually commemorate George Canning, the British Prime Minister at the time of Stirling's expedition to Western Australia and therefore have no direct connection with Scotland.
- Carmel (Carmel Bank and Water in East Ayrshire and Carmelhill in the City of Edinburgh) but Carmel on its own occurs frequently throughout Wales as well as the USA. According to the The WA Department of Land Information, "the name was probably first suggested by Edward Owen who had established an orchard and founded a Methodist community near [Levi] Green's property. It is a Hebrew word meaning 'park' or 'garden of God' and is also the name applied to a mountain ridge in Palestine." If Edward Owen was a Welshman, which seems likely given that he was a Methodist, then one of the many places in Wales itself called Carmel might also have inspired the name of the Perth suburb
- Greenwood (Scottish Borders, Moray and South Lanarkshire) also in England and Ireland. It is one of the most popular British place names to have travelled the world, possibly because of its association with Robin Hood's "The Greenwood". The name of this suburb appears to be a promotional one, from the estate name 'Greenwood Forest' used by the Gold Land Development Corporation, which began developing this area in 1969.
- Highgate (Dumfries & Galloway and North Ayrshire) but far more commonly found in both England and Wales. Perth historians attribute the name to the town of Highgate in Kent, England.
- Inglewood (Clackmannanshire) also in England. It is far more likely, however, that the Perth suburb was named after Inglewood in California or a Norwegian ship of that name that docked at Fremantle during the gold rush at the end of the nineteenth century. A Californian Gold Rush connotation becomes a distinct possibility, given that the suburb was developed during the gold boom era of the 1890s by a company calling itself 'Gold Estates of Australia'. E.W. Harner named part of the estate "Inglewood Estate" in 1895. (The WA Department of Land Information).
- Kelmscott (Scottish Borders) but actually named for the town in Oxfordshire, England in honour of Archdeacon Scott, one of the first ordained ministers in Perth.
- Midland (East Ayrshire and Orkney Islands) also in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The Perth suburb was actually named after the Midland Railway Company.
- Mount Hawthorn (there is a Hawthorn in Scottish Borders) but Hawthorn is also found all over England and in south Wales. The Perth suburb was named for the suburb of Hawthorn in Melbourne, Australia, which itself has no connection with Scotland.
- Peel Estate (there is a Peel in Angus and Scottish Borders) but Peel is also found in northern England and on the Isle of Man. The suburb was named after Thomas Peel, the leader of a grandiose settlement scheme planned in England in 1828 to accommodate 10,000 emigrants, but which failed to get off the ground. Peel, who was probably an Englishman, settled at Mandurah and died there in 1856.
- Red Hill (Aberdeenshire) also all over England; in the case of the Perth suburb the name is purely descriptive of the colour of the earth in the area.
- Victoria Park (City of Glasgow - see illustration) and East Victoria Park by association but Victoria Park is even more commonly found all over England as well as in other Australian, Canadian and South African cities. Victoria Park honours Queen Victoria, either directly or indirectly through the Melbourne suburb.
- Woodlands (Aberdeenshire, Argyll & Bute, Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Fife, Highland, Perth & Kinross, South Lanarkshire) also all over England and is found in Ireland and Wales as well. This suburb name was approved in 1961, and derives its name from Woodlands Estate. As pointed out by the WA Department of Land Information, "many of the street names in the area are the names of trees, in keeping with the woodlands theme of the area." It is therefore highly unlikely that the suburb was named for a particular place in Scotland or other parts of the British Isles.
Acknowledgments:
Marmion has a "Scottish ring" about it as is the title of one of Sir Walter Scott's poems but the Perth suburb was actually named for Peter Marmion who operated a whaling station in the area in 1849. Marmion is a family name of Norman origin (there is a place in Normandy called Fontenay-le-Marmion), resulting in Marmions in both England and Ireland. The name therefore appears to have no connection with Scotland beyond its use by Sir Walter Scott. Although not obvious from its name, Ellenbrook also has an indirect connection with Scotland. This suburb was named for Ellen Stirling, Governor James Stirling's English wife. The suburb of Guildford also owes its origin to Stirling's wife, who came from Surrey. Finally, the suburb of Success has a connection with Captain Stirling as it was the name of the ship (HMS Success) he commanded when he explored the Swan River in 1827.
- Government of Western Australia, Department of Land Information Website.
- The House of Names Heraldic Website.
- Perth City and Suburban Maps, 2002 (Travelog, a division of Universal Press Pty Ltd).
- Perth, Southwest Australia, not dated (Periplus Travel Maps, Singapore).
- Websites, place name gazetteers and published Ordnance Survey maps of British and Irish cities, towns, villages and counties.
© Ian Kendall
If you wish to contact Ian about his research, his e-mail address is iankendall@bigpond.com.
Melbourne, Australia, May 2004
Revised, April 2006
