Wooroloo Western Australia | |||||||||
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Coordinates | 31°48′11″S116°18′50″E / 31.803°S 116.314°E Coordinates: 31°48′11″S116°18′50″E / 31.803°S 116.314°E | ||||||||
Population | 2,613 (SAL 2021) [1] | ||||||||
Established | 1900s | ||||||||
Postcode(s) | 6558 | ||||||||
Elevation | 330 m (1,083 ft) | ||||||||
Location | 61 km (38 mi) from Perth | ||||||||
LGA(s) | Shire of Mundaring | ||||||||
State electorate(s) | Swan Hills | ||||||||
Federal division(s) | Hasluck | ||||||||
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Wooroloo is a town on the outer fringe of the Perth metropolitan region, located off Great Eastern Highway in the eastern part of the Shire of Mundaring. At the 2021 census, Wooroloo had a population of 2,613.
The name comes from a Noongar word that was first recorded in 1841, with other spellings also used. A timber mill operated by Byfield Brothers commenced operations in the 1880s, and Byfield's Mill was established as a railway stopping place for the Eastern Railway in 1893, being renamed to Wooroloo in 1897. [2]
A school opened on 22 August 1903 with 22 children and one teacher, and a community hall was built with help from residents of nearby Chidlow in 1904; [3] the townsite of Wooroloo was declared in 1913. [2]
The Wooroloo Sanatorium for people with tuberculosis and leprosy was built in 1915, but by the 1960s the sanatorium was no longer required and the institution became a general hospital for the surrounding district. The facility was subsequently converted into a prison after Corrective Services took over the site in 1972.
In 1970, Ray Williams, a Perth businessman, travelled around the world looking for what he considered to be the perfect horse to breed and cross with Australian horses. He decided upon Andalusian horses after seeing them at an equestrian show in London, and subsequently travelled to Jerez de la Frontera, Spain and in September 1971 bought the stallion "Bodeguero" and five purebred mares. He then started the first Andalusian stud in Australia at Wooroloo, "Bodeguero Stud", [4] which in 1974 was incorporated into El Caballo Blanco, now El Caballo Resort.
Wooroloo contains a community hall, liquor and general store, post office and primary school (1903), and is also home to El Caballo Resort, with a convention centre and 18-hole golf course, as well as horse dressage displays.
The town is the site of two major prisons in the Western Australian prison system, the minimum-security Wooroloo Prison and the medium-security Acacia Prison. The pool at Wooroloo Prison is open to local residents.
The population in 1991 was 761, and in 1996 was 853.
The water course and catchment of the same name has its source in the locality.
Wooroloo, at 36 miles and 40 chains from Perth, was a booking railway station from 1897 to 1965 on the Eastern Railway.
Wooroloo currently has the 328 Transperth bus three times weekdays from Midland, with a journey time of approximately 50 minutes; also has two 331 trips during weekdays from Mundaring, with a journey time of approximately 35 minutes. [5] All services are operated by Swan Transit.
Darlington, Western Australia, is a locality in the Shire of Mundaring on the Darling Scarp, bisected by Nyaania Creek and north of the Helena River.
The Eastern Railway is the main railway route between Fremantle and Northam in Western Australia. It opened in stages between 1881 and 1893. The line continues east to Kalgoorlie as the Eastern Goldfields Railway.
Bellevue is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia in the local government areas of the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is at the foot of the slopes of Greenmount, a landmark on the Darling Scarp that is noted in the earliest of travel journals of the early Swan River Colony.
The Railway Reserves Heritage Trail – also on some maps as Rail Reserve Heritage Trail or Rail Reserves Historical Trail, and frequently referred to locally as the Bridle Trail or Bridle Track – is within the Shire of Mundaring in Western Australia.
Glen Forrest is a suburb within the Shire of Mundaring, south of John Forrest National Park, west of Mahogany Creek, east of Darlington, and north of the Helena River. Its northern boundary is determined by the Great Eastern Highway.
The Mundaring Branch Railway is a historical section of the original Eastern Railway main line across the Darling Scarp in the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) system.
Chidlow is a small community in the Shire of Mundaring approximately 45 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia.
Swan View is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government areas are the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Perth in the Perth Hills on the edge of the Darling Scarp, just to the west of the John Forrest National Park, east of Roe Highway and north of the Great Eastern Highway.
Boya is a locality on the Darling Scarp, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia; it is on the south side of Greenmount Hill, and just west of Darlington.
Mahogany Creek is a suburb of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is part of the Shire of Mundaring local government area.
Bailup is a Western Australian locality and rural residential estate located 62 kilometres (39 mi) northeast of the state capital, Perth, along Toodyay Road. The population recorded at the 2021 census was 54. The area is split between the Shire of Toodyay and Shire of Mundaring, the latter of which contains most of the Bailup area.
Stoneville is a suburb east of Perth in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia. It is named after Edward Albert Stone, who was Chief Justice of Western Australia when the place was named in 1905. The name was chosen by the local residents, who were developing the district for fruit growing. The town's population is 2,050, with a median age of 36 years and 7.1% of residents aged over 65.
Sawyers Valley is sited on the Great Eastern Highway about 40 kilometres from Perth, Western Australia in the Shire of Mundaring. The community began as a sawmill and railway siding to process timber from the forest surrounding the Helena River to the south. Local employment included forest and Goldfields Water Supply Scheme maintenance, small orchards, and the Midland Railway Workshops. The suburb's name comes from the occupation of many of the first European settlers to the area in the 1860s, who were sawyers working at the local saw-pits. The Sawyers Valley Tavern, which sits on the Highway opposite the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail, was first established in 1882 and the Sawyers Valley railway station was built in 1884.
The Lakes is an outer northeastern locality of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located within the Shire of Mundaring. It is located 51 kilometres (32 mi) east of the Perth CBD, at the junction of the Great Eastern Highway and the Great Southern Highway, and is the easternmost suburb within the Metropolitan Region Scheme. At the 2021 census, The Lakes had a population of 20.
Hovea is a suburb in the Shire of Mundaring in Perth, Western Australia.
The Shire of Mundaring is a local government area in eastern metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The Shire covers an area of 645 square kilometres (249 sq mi) and had a population of approximately 38,000 as at the 2016 Census.
Bellevue railway station was a junction station on the Eastern Railway in the Perth suburb of Bellevue.
El Caballo Blanco is the name for equine Andalusian theme parks that operated in the south-western Sydney suburb of Catherine Field between 1972 and 2007; and in the north-eastern Perth suburb of Wooroloo in Western Australia since 1974.
The Kep Track is a bicycle, walking and horse track in the Darling Range and further east in Western Australia.
El Caballo Blanco was the name for an equine Andalusian theme park that operated in the north-eastern Perth suburb of Wooroloo in Western Australia from 1974.