Portal:Australia/Featured article/Week 12, 2007

Hamersley is a residential suburb fourteen kilometres north-northwest of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and six kilometres from the Indian Ocean. The suburb adjoins two major arterial roads &mdash; Mitchell Freeway to the west and Reid Highway to the south &mdash; and is within the City of Stirling local government area. It was built during the late 1960s and 1970s as part of the Government of Western Australia's response to rapidly increasing land prices across the metropolitan area. Prior to development, Hamersley was a remote district covered in jarrah, marri, banksia and other vegetation typical of the Swan Coastal Plain, with small areas having been cleared for small-scale agriculture such as market gardening and poultry farming. Rapid growth in areas further north removed the focus from Hamersley, which was completed in 1981, remaining relatively stable since. Significant reserves of remnant bushland are retained in parts of the suburb. The guyed tower was constructed in 1939 and is a landmark in the region, although it has become a local political issue over the past decade.