City of Kwinana

The City of Kwinana is a local government area of Western Australia, Australia. It covers an area of approximately 118 square kilometres in metropolitan Perth, and lies about 38 km south of Perth CBD, via the Kwinana Freeway. Kwinana maintains 287 km of roads and has an estimated population of 36,145.

History

Kwinana is a Kimberley Aboriginal word meaning either "young woman" or "pretty maiden". The ship SS Kwinana was wrecked on Cockburn Sound in 1922 and blown onto Kwinana Beach. The nearby area acquired the name and it was officially adopted for a township in 1937. Some of its suburbs take their names from the sailing ships that first brought immigrants to Western Australia, for example, Medina, Calista and Parmelia.

The Kwinana Road District was formed out of part of Rockingham on 15 February 1954 as a result of the passage of the Kwinana Road District Act 1953. Section 4 of the Act stated that "there shall not be a duly elected Road Board for the Kwinana Road District but the Governor may, by Order in Council, appoint a fit and proper person having a comprehensive knowledge and experience of local government matters to be Commissioner of the district."