Nollamara

Nollamara is an indigenous name meaning ‘black kangaroo paw’.

The original land grant of 6,020 acres, Location Au, Perthshire, which includes the current area of Nollamara, was made to Thomas Richard Carey Walters in 1840.  Walters was born in 1803, and arrived in the Swan River colony aboard the “Warrior” on 12th March 1830.  He also obtained grants covering the area now designated Karrinyup and near Lake Monger. 

The State Housing commission resumed land along Wanneroo Road in 1950 to provide housing for people working in central Perth, and also in the industrial areas in the City of Stirling (then called Perth Road Board).  Nollamara was one of the suburbs intended to form a new satellite city of Mirrabooka, along with Balga and Yirrigan. The first forty houses and the Nollamara School were completed in 1956, 190 others were under construction, and contracts had been let for a further fifty houses.

Nollamara is generally characterised by single detached dwellings on small to medium sized lots. Construction styles vary from timber-framed character houses dating from the 1950's to modern brick and tile dwellings. Redevelopment is currently occurring in Nollamara, with many of the older homes being replaced by units and duplex developments. This is resulting in the reduced dominance of State Housing Commission properties.

Significant Landmarks include the water tower which is located adjacent to Mount Yokine Reservoir and is visible from both the suburb and elsewhere in the region. The Des Penman Memorial Reserve is the largest and most developed park within Nollamara, the reserve is centrally located and offers a wide range of facilities. The John Barleycorn Hotel is sited in the shopping centre in Hillsborough Drive and was built in the early 1960s.  The building is architecturally interesting for its era, particularly for a commercial building, and distinguishable for its unusual roof line.  It had considerable social significance in its day.

Prior to the Second World War land in the southern sector of Nollamara was used mainly for market gardens and poultry farms. Development in Nollamara did not commence in earnest until the late 1940s. The State Housing Commission (now Department for Housing and Works) resumed construction in the area in 1950. The suburb was named in 1954, and more than 2,500 homes were built in Nollamara by 1969.