Baskerville, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Baskerville is an outer northeastern rural suburb of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, in the Swan Valley region, 31 km from Perth's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 via Midland
Midland, Western Australia
Midland is a suburb in the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan area, as well as the regional centre for the City of Swan local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the Darling Scarp to the east. It is situated at the intersection of Great Eastern Highway and Great Northern...

 and Great Northern Highway
Great Northern Highway
The Great Northern Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the state's capital Perth with its most northern port, Wyndham. It is in length, with being National Highway...

. Nearly all of it is under cultivation with viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

 being the main economic activity, and several well-established Swan Valley wineries are based here. Its Local Government Area
Local Government Areas of Western Australia
The Australian state of Western Australia is divided into 141 local government areas...

 is the City of Swan.

History

The name Baskerville was given by William Tanner, a prominent Perth citizen and landowner, to Swan
Swan Land District
Swan Land District is one of the land districts of Western Australia, which is located within the South West Division. It covers all of the northern and eastern suburbs of Perth, as well as some inner southern areas such as Belmont and Applecross and the area to the north up to the Moore River,...

 Location 5 when he took up a grant there in 1831. He never lived on the properties, however, and left the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

 in 1835. In the 1880s, the land was acquired by Walter Padbury
Walter Padbury
Walter Padbury was an Australian pioneer and philanthropist.Padbury was born at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, in the English county of Oxfordshire. He arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia in the Protector with his father on 25 February 1830, but in the following July his father died...

, who employed his relative, Henry Hardwick, to manage it. In 1886 a homestead was built for him on what is now Memorial Avenue in the west of the suburb.

After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the Government decided to commence a soldier resettlement scheme in the Swan Valley
Swan Valley, Western Australia
The Swan Valley is a region in the upper reaches of the Swan River between Guildford and Bells Rapids, Western Australia. It is bordered to the east by the Darling Scarp. Both Ellen Brook and Jane Brook lie within the region and discharge into the Swan River...

 region, and subdivided it into lots of about 10-50 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

s which would be operated as small farms. However, many of the soldiers had no agricultural experience, and sold the land to new migrants, particularly those from Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 and Italy
Italian Australians
-Characteristics :The 2006 Census counted 199,124 persons who were born in Italy. However, 852,417 persons identified themselves as having Italian ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry . Italian is the fifth most identified ancestry in Australia behind 'Australian',...

 who had experience in viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

. A 1953 map by a CSIRO viticultural expert shows nearly all of Baskerville was used for grape growing, with some citrus orchards on the riverfront near what is now Amiens Crescent.

Although the name of Baskerville was commonly in use for the area, it was not approved for the suburb until 1992.

Geography

Baskerville is a narrow strip of land, starting on a curve in the Swan River
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....

 and measuring approximately 800 m north-south by 7.5 km east-west, with Haddrill Road providing the centre line. A small area of native forest exists to the east of the suburb, accessible from Joshua Mews. No explicitly residential areas exist in the suburb. The ABS 2001 census did not survey Baskerville.

Facilities

A hall, pavilion and oval are located on Memorial Avenue, a fuel station is located on Great Northern Highway
Great Northern Highway
The Great Northern Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the state's capital Perth with its most northern port, Wyndham. It is in length, with being National Highway...

 and many of the small family-run wineries, including an organic winery, on Memorial Avenue and Haddrill Road offer cellar door tastings. Belvoir Amphitheatre, an open-air concert venue, is just north of the suburb's boundary.

Transport

Great Northern Highway
Great Northern Highway
The Great Northern Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the state's capital Perth with its most northern port, Wyndham. It is in length, with being National Highway...

  , a two-lane single carriageway at this point, travels through the west of the suburb, and Haddrill Road, a minor distributor, provides access from the highway to the suburb's interior. Transperth
Transperth
Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system in Perth, Western Australia. It is operated by the Public Transport Authority.-History:...

 bus routes 310 and 311 serve Great Northern Highway while route 312 serves Railway Parade and Haddrill Road further inland. All services are operated by Swan Transit
SWAn transit
Swan Transit is a private bus operator whose primary purpose is to provide commuter bus services in and near the city of Perth, Western Australia. It is part of Transit Systems Australia.-History:...

.

External links

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