Trigg

Like the small island off the coast of this area, the suburb was named after Henry Trigg, who was appointed Superintendent of Public Works for the Swan River Colony in 1842. Soils in the area were too poor to attract the early settlers, though in the 1850s the land was used for grazing and the timber for road building and so on.  The Aborigines used the area as one of their fishing spots and were seen in this region in 1849 by a fishing party coming ashore looking for missing oars. The remains of a fishing trap can be seen among the coastal rocks.  One of the challenges faced by the Perth Road Board in fulfilling their duty to build roads was to establish a priority in that road development: the proposed roads generally would only serve a few settlers because of the slow movement of people from the cluster settlement in Perth.  One of the roads planned after the inception of the Board in 1981 ran west from Wanneroo Road to the coast near Trigg Island formed the basis for the future Balcatta and North Beach Roads.

Thomas Gull, a merchant at Guildford, bought Location 611 at Trigg Island for his son Arthur in 1872, and then built a cottage on it, near the beach.  Gull Cottage still exists in 2007, north of Bailey Street.  At this time the Hamersley's were only other family nearby, at North Beach, so the two families soon became friends, and Arthur Gull married Hugh Hamersley’s daughter Frances in 1896.  Residential land at Trigg remained largely vacant until 1877, when the first grants were taken up. During the 1880s a number of prominent Perth businessmen bought properties in Trigg and Scarborough.  A scheme attempted by developers from Sydney in 1888 divided a large area into one-eighth-of-an-acre lots but resulted in failure. By the 1890s the area was part of a sheep and cattle reserve that extended inland from Trigg Beach, north to Star Swamp and bounded on the south by the Old North Road, or Geraldton to Perth stock route.  In 1896 the cattle reserve included a quarantine area for camels imported to carry water to the Goldfields, and the Afghans themselves were housed in the “Castle”, which was leased by the Government as a quarantine station from 1896.  In 1900 the Castle became a hotel after it was purchased by James Gibson, who became the first licensee.  “James Gibson was a stonemason and was foreman on many important Perth buildings including the Museum and the Public Library.  The Castle had fallen into disrepair and although the flat roof was about three feet (one metre) thick, it leaked abominably.”

 In 1900, Peet and Company offered 340 square metre lots at five pounds each, or three for twelve pounds and six for twenty-two pounds on their Sandringham Estate, Location 1154, bit made no sales, and some of this land was resumed later for the realignment of West Coast Highway south of Marmion Avenue.  A photograph from the “West Australian” in 1914 shows beach shacks built on the rise above Trigg Island.  During the Depression, the Road Board Health Inspector discovered one family squatting in a dilapidated boat shed, and similar stories were recorded in other suburbs as people made do with whatever poor residence they could locate. Trigg eventually started to be formally developed in the late 1940's, when the old Sandringham Estate blocks were resurveyed and sold.  Many of the streets in the area were named after former residents and pioneers, as well as local personalities.

The City of Stirling attempted to lure an Australian Rules football team to either Trigg or Scarborough by offering to build league-standard facilities in the late 1970s, but no Club wished to relocate.  Nevertheless, the sport is popular in the municipality, initially feeding potential players into the Subiaco Football Club then into the West Coast Eagles. In 1986, following the Environmental Protection Authority’s acceptance of the Council’s management plan for the Trigg dune area, the Marmion Avenue extension was approved.  Residents and conservationists protested about potential damage to the area, and Aboriginal activist Ken Colbung claimed the area was a traditional Aboriginal site.  After investigation it was decided that there was no Aboriginal heritage value the road went ahead, removing the long loop which had to be travelled previously.

Trigg Island Café is adjacent to the Trigg Surf Lifesaving Club on the beachfront.  There are two centres offering medical and health services in the area.   Meath Homes offers both independent living and hostel style accommodation for seniors.  At the initial opening of Meath in 1973, 70 residents received free accommodation thanks to a generous bequest from the Homes family. There are no schools in this suburb: students travel to North Beach, Hamersley or Marmion, and the high schools are at Warwick and Carine.

Trigg Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Western Australia. It is used for many sports, including surfing and passive recreational pursuits such as swimming and sunbathing.  The dunes contain the white Quindalup soil type, which formed within the last 6,000 years.  This soil covers the limestone and yellow sand of the Spearwood dune system, which is 100,000 years old. The Blue Hole is a feature of the beach and has been the cause for a number of drownings.  A deeper channel along one side of the reef produces a swift flowing funnel of water, particularly when a strong south-west wind is blowing, and this rip washes swimmers out to sea. The Trigg Island Surf Club was formed in 1954 in response to the dangers to swimmers. To provide a safer area for swimmers, Club members began dynamiting the rocky reef on the north side of the island to form a swimming pool.  The Club’s effort ceased following complaints from residents of dead fish, noise from the explosions and threats to the breeding grounds for the marine life.  However, Army engineers continued the clearing work to produce a semi-natural swimming pool.  The Blue Hole continues to be a danger to swimmers following this work. However, the deep water in the winter provided a successful fishing spot for beach anglers.

The Marmion Marine Park was declared in 1987. This Class A reserve begins at Trigg Beach and includes all that northern coast to Burns Beach and out to sea for 5.5 kilometres.  The park is one of the legally declared marine sites which have special conservation features such as tourism, public recreation, historic sites, scientific interests, educational value, nature conservation or fishing industries.  The three sanctuary areas fall under the local government jurisdiction of the City of Joondalup. Trigg Island is a focal point for Trigg Beach and a popular recreational fishing destination.

Trigg Bushland Reserve is a Class A reserve contains a significant pocket of remnant coastal vegetation and provides a readily identifiable landscape feature.  “It preserves a range of vegetation typical of the coastal strip and exhibits a progression of soil and vegetation types found in no other metropolitan reserve. The reserve is a habitat for birds and an example of a landform/vegetation complex typical of what was once seen on the edge of the Swan coastal plain.”

In 1991 the City of Stirling adopted a management plan for the bushland, which includes the rehabilitation of vegetation, erosion and weed control, managing public access, fire safety and maintaining signs and fences. Students from local schools planted a further 1,300 trees and shrubs in Trigg Bushland Reserve on Friday 22 June 2007 as part of a re-vegetation programme initiated in 2004 to restore a section of reserve which was burnt in the 2002 fire.  A total of 90 students were involved from St Mary's Anglican Girls Primary School, St John's Primary School and Osborne Park Primary School.  Class teachers and some parents were also involved, as were staff and volunteers from the Men of the Trees and members of the Friends of Trigg Bushland.