Midland is a suburb in the

Perth metropolitan region The Perth metropolitan region or the Perth metropolitan area is the administrative area and geographical extent of the Western Australian capital city of Perth and its conurbation. It generally includes the coastal strip from Two Rocks in ...

, as well as the regional centre for the

City of Swan The City of Swan is a local government area of Western Australia. It is in the eastern metropolitan region of Perth and includes the Swan Valley and 42 suburbs. It is centred approximately 20 km north-east of the Perth central business ...

local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

to the east. It is situated at the intersection of

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...

and

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

. Its eastern boundary is defined by the

Roe Highway Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Middl ...

. Midland is almost always regarded as a suburb of

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, being only away from the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

History

Railway

Midland was the site of the

Midland Railway Workshops The Midland Railway Workshops in Midland, Western Australia, were the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) for over 80 years. History The first railway workshops in Western Australia were located at Fremantle and ...

- the main workshops for the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respons ...

(WAGR) for over 80 years. It was also a terminus for the

Midland Railway Company The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

. At the end of the Second World War it was the junction of the Midland Railway, the

Upper Darling Range Railway The Upper Darling Range Railway (also known as the Upper Darling Range Branch) was a branch railway from Midland Junction, Western Australia, that rose up the southern side of the Helena Valley and on to the Darling Scarp via the Kalamunda Z ...

, and the main Eastern Railway. The

Transperth Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...

suburban railway system currently has a terminus at Midland station. Until 1966 the earlier railway station at Midland was the connecting location for trains to Bellevue and then onto Chidlow. Prior to 1954 it included the passenger service from the Mundaring Loop - or the original

Eastern Railway (Western Australia) 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. Initial section The fir ...

, which went through Mundaring,

Glen Forrest A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrowe ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington under ...

. Until 1949 the passenger service to Kalamunda on the Upper Darling Range Railway was still operating via the 'Zig Zag' at Gooseberry Hill to Midland.

Commercial

Midland Junction developed around the Town Hall (1906) and Post Office (1913) sites and spread slowly east and north for over 70 years. The centrality of the main services, and the unusual presence of the Midland Railway Company sheds and yard directly adjacent to the Town Hall and Post Office, combined with the Government Railway Workshops, gave a focused sense of location to the commercial centre, and the local residences. The commercialisation of

roadfront residential properties to Bellevue was not complete before the 1990s. In the 1970s the development of

Midland Gate Midland Gate Shopping Centre is located in Midland, Western Australia. It is north of Great Eastern Highway, and east of the earlier Midland Junction shopping area that was focused on the Great Northern Highway. Midland Gate is one of three s ...

Shopping Centre completely changed the focus of the community, with businesses traditionally within walking distance of the Post Office and Railway Station closing down or shifting over the following decades. The re-development of the Midland Gate Shopping Centre has reasserted the car oriented nature of the regional centre, and the old centre of Midland is currently undergoing revitalisation and redevelopment with mixed use commercial and residential property providing the main focus.

Townsite

Midland's townsite is based around both

, which carries east bound traffic, and Victoria Street, which carries westbound traffic. It is possible to transfer from one to the other via the Padbury Terrace intersection to access Great Eastern Highway from Victoria Street, or use Helena Street to complete the reverse. Cale Street which forms the perimeter of the Midland Gate Shopping Centre also provides this access. The townsite is lively and becoming increasingly busy attracting commuters from a wide surrounding area. Commercial and retail trade has been expanded further east on Great Eastern Highway. Continuing development in commercial and residential property within the original townsite means that despite the age of the townsite, it has taken on a modern character which blends seamlessly with the original and it is the main port of call for eastern travellers who do not bypass the historical area via Roe Highway.

Redevelopment

It currently is being re-developed in part by the Midland Redevelopment Authority, which is organising redevelopment of the Railway Workshops site. Although some museum and storage facilities are being developed at the old workshops site, most of the massive railway superstructure and presence in Midland has gone. The Redevelopment Authority has under its act been vested with lands that do not fully encompass the whole 'old town' of Midland, but only parts of it. The Midland Saleyards which are at the eastern end of the Railway Workshop site have been in the process of closing and all the related businesses and properties are in the process of being relocated and redeveloped. The Midland Military Markets at the northern edge of the Midland Saleyards - literally utilised an old Military site for a weekend market. The markets were destroyed by fire on 25 April 2007.ABC News, 25 April 2007,
Blaze Destroys Perth Markets
, accessed 23 July 2007 Not far west and adjacent to the Lloyd Street railway crossing - a large

Harvey Norman Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based, multi-national retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned ...

store was opened in 2005 on the corner of Clayton and Lloyd Streets. Parts of the Midland Railway Workshops site are planned to house a campus of

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

and are already home to a large

Western Australian Police The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia, an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction, with a population ...

Operations Centre, as well as other projects. The Coal Storage dam at the western side of the Workshops has become an ornamental lake adjacent to residential redevelopment called 'Woodbridge Lakes'. In November 2005 the State Government announced plans to construct a 326-bed hospital on the site of the old railway workshops. Located on Clayton Street, the estimated new A$182.7 million Swan Health Campus will be constructed by around 2010–2011 and replace the old Swan District Hospital.

Notable people from Midland

James Knox James Robert Knox GCC (2 March 1914 – 26 June 1983) was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church. After years as a Vatican diplomat, he served as Archbishop of Melbourne from 1967 to 1974, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worshi ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Archbishop of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

- 1967 to 1974 * Ralph Sarich: engineer, inventor and entrepreneur *

Keith Slater Keith Nichol Slater (born 12 March 1935) is a former Western Australian cricketer and West Australian Football League (WAFL) player. Cricket career In cricket, Slater was an all-rounder who played in only one Test match, against England in ...

: Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer * Ken Bagley: Australian rules footballer *

Jack Wong Sue Jack Wong Sue, (12 September 1925 – 16 November 2009), also known as Jack Sue（）, was a Chinese Australian from Perth, Western Australia. Wong Sue served as a member of the commando/special reconnaissance section, Z Special Unit, dur ...

Chinese Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chines ...

soldier, mariner, author and entrepreneur *

Albert Facey Albert Barnett Facey (31 August 1894 – 11 February 1982), publishing as A.B. Facey was an Australian writer and World War I veteran, whose main work was his autobiography, '' A Fortunate Life'', now considered a classic of Australian litera ...

: author of the auto-biography - A Fortunate Life *

Bruce Yardley Bruce Yardley (5 September 1947 – 27 March 2019) was an Australian cricketer who played in 33 Test matches and seven One Day Internationals between 1978 and 1983, taking 126 Test wickets. Known to his teammates as 'Roo', Yardley was an off-sp ...

: Australian cricketer * Mike Richardson - Australian rules footballer *

Garry Sidebottom Garry Thomas Sidebottom (21 November 1954 – 28 March 2019) was an Australian rules football player who played for the St Kilda Football Club, St Kilda, Geelong Football Club, Geelong and Fitzroy Football Clubs in the Australian Football Leagu ...

: Australian rules footballer * Ian Williams - Australian rules footballer *

Allan Cuthbertson Allan Darling Cuthbertson (7 April 1920 – 8 February 1988) was an Australian-born British actor. He was best known for playing stern-faced military officers in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Cuthbertson was born in Perth, W ...

: actor *

Simon Katich Simon Matthew Katich (born 21 August 1975) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He captained New South Wales and also, until the end of the 2007 season, Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Katich also played for Lancashire, represen ...

: Australian cricketer *

Jessica Gomes Jessica Gomes (born 25 September 1985) is an Australian Model (person), model who appeared in the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Swimsuit Issue'' of the American publication ''Sports Illustrated'' every year from 2008 to 2015. She works ex ...

: international model *

Cameron Meyer Cameron Meyer (born 11 January 1988) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2009 to 2022. Career Born in Viveash, Western Australia, Meyer started cycling at the age of 13 in 2001 and first rep ...

: Australian cyclist * Travis Meyer: Australian cyclist *

Nic Naitanui Nicholas Mark Naitanui (; born 4 May 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was born in Sydney to Fijian parents, and his family moved to Perth, Western Austral ...

: Australian rules footballer - West Coast Eagles *

Stephen Coniglio Stephen Coniglio ( ; born 15 December 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer and the captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). Drafted with the second pick in the 2011 AFL national draf ...

: Australian rules footballer - Greater Western Sydney Giants

References

{{City of Swan suburbs Midland Suburbs and localities in the City of Swan