City of Wanneroo

The City of Wanneroo is a local government area with city status in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It is centred approximately north of Perth's central business district and forms part of the northern boundary of the Perth metropolitan area. Wanneroo encompasses the federal divisions of Cowan, Moore and Pearce.

The city's main commercial and residential town centres are located at Wanneroo in the east and Clarkson in the north. Further urban centres are planned at Alkimos, Yanchep and Two Rocks in the future to coincide with rapid metropolitan expansion and development in the area. It is also home to the Yanchep and Neerabup National Parks, as well as the Neerabup Industrial Estate in the north.

From the city's inception until July 1st 1998, it also incorporated the neighbouring City of Joondalup in its entirety.

Geography

Wanneroo covers a land area totalling . The city is bounded by Beach Road and the City of Stirling to the south, Alexander Drive and the City of Swan to the east, Wanneroo Road and Lake Joondalup to the south-west, the Indian Ocean to the west and the Shire of Gingin to the north.

Wanneroo's population is concentrated in three locations: at the southern end centred on Girrawheen; in the region surrounding Wanneroo near the city's geographical centre; and along the northern Perth coastline centred on Clarkson, separated from Joondalup by the rural localities of Neerabup and Tamala Park. Land in the city's north and east remains predominantly rural in character.

The City of Wanneroo encompasses one of Perth's busiest industrial areas, Wangara. It is situated roughly 20 km north of the central business district, and is the industrial hub of the north side of Perth. The suburb of Wangara is a hub for commercial manufacturing, vehicle dealerships, industrial glaziers and commercial distribution warehousing. It is also roughly 10 km from Joondalup, Perth's largest satellite city north of the Swan River.

History

Prior to 1902, Wanneroo was part of the Perth Road District, which eventually went on to become the City of Stirling. The Wanneroo Road District was established on 31 October 1902 under the Roads Act 1888. The board was named after the Wanneroo wetlands in the area, first explored and recorded by John Butler in 1834.

With the passage of the Local Government Act 1960, all road boards became shires effective from 1 July 1961, and the Shire of Wanneroo came into being, encompassing everything north of Beach Road and west of Alexander Drive. With the development of and subsequent population growth surrounding Joondalup, the Shire of Wanneroo attained City status on 31 October 1985.

On 1 July 1998, on the recommendation of a report by the Local Government Advisory Committee, the City of Wanneroo was bifurcated. The southwestern section, encompassing the urban centre of Joondalup, was separately incorporated as the new City of Joondalup. The remainder, including the inland suburbs east of Lake Joondalup and the coastal suburbs north of Burns Beach, formed a reduced Shire of Wanneroo, which quickly regained City status on 1 July 1999. As this was before the local government elections to elect a mayor and councillors, the second incarnation of the Shire did not have a Shire President.

Demographics

The City of Wanneroo has experienced significant population growth of almost 110,000 persons in the 15 years between the 2001 Census and 2016 Census. The city also has the second largest population of any local government area in greater Perth.

Selected historical census data for Wanneroo local government area
Census year		2001	2006	2011	2016	2021
Population	Estimated residents on census night	80,008	110,940	152,077	188,212	209,111
	LGA rank in terms of size within Western Australia		3rd	Steady 3rd	Increase 2nd	2nd
	% of Western Australia population	4.37%	Increase 5.66%	Increase 6.79%	Increase 7.60%
	% of Australian population	0.43%	Increase 0.56%	Increase 0.71%	Increase 0.80%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses	English			31.0%	Decrease 29.5%	39.7%
	Australian			21.5%	Decrease 19.9%	26.3%
	Scottish			6.2%	Steady 6.2%	8.5%
	Irish			5.7%	Increase 6.2%	8.5%
	Italian			3.6%	Decrease 3.3%	4.6%
Language, top responses (other than English)	Vietnamese	3.8%	Decrease 3.1%	Decrease 2.7%	Steady 2.7%	2.6%
	Italian	1.8%	Decrease 1.4%	Decrease 1.1%
	Macedonian	1.4%	Decrease 1.2%	Decrease 1.0%
	Arabic	0.6%	Increase 0.8%	Increase 1.0%	Steady 1.0%	1.0%
	Polish	0.5%
	Spanish		0.5%
	Afrikaans			1.3%	Increase 1.6%	1.5%
	Gujarati				0.9%	1.3%
	Mandarin				0.9%	0.8%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses	Catholic	25.3%	Decrease 23.4%	Decrease 23.3%	Decrease 20.9%	18.1%
	Anglican	21.3%	Decrease 20.6%	Decrease 19.6%	Decrease 14.3%	10.1%
	No religion	19.3%	Increase 21.7%	Increase 23.8%	Increase 31.8%	42.0%
	Buddhism	3.5%	Decrease 3.0%	Steady 3.0%
	Uniting	2.6%	Steady 2.6%
	Not Stated					5.5%
	Christian, nfd					4.3%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income	Median weekly personal income		Template:AUD491	Template:AUD662	Template:AUD724	A$817
	% of Australian median income		105.4%	114.7%	109.4%
Family income	Median weekly family income		Template:AUD1184	Template:AUD1722	Template:AUD1910	A$2,148
	% of Australian median income		101.1%	116.2%	110.2%
Household income	Median weekly household income		Template:AUD1094	Template:AUD1415	Template:AUD1595	A$1,894
	% of Australian median income		106.5%	114.7%	110.9%

With less than 53% of the population having been born in Australia at the 2016 Census, Wanneroo has a large immigrant populace. Over 13% of Wanneroo's residents were born in the United Kingdom, compared to less than 4.0% nationwide. New Zealanders, Vietnamese and South Africans compose the city's most significant minority populations.

Suburbs

The suburbs of the City of Wanneroo with population and size figures based on the most recent Australian census:

Suburb	Population	Area	Map
Alexander Heights		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Alkimos		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Ashby		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Banksia Grove		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Butler		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Carabooda		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Carramar		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Clarkson		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Darch		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Eglinton		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Girrawheen		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Gnangara		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Hocking		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Jandabup		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Jindalee		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Koondoola		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Landsdale		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Madeley		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Marangaroo		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Mariginiup		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Merriwa		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Mindarie		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Neerabup		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Nowergup		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Pearsall		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Pinjar		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Quinns Rocks		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Ridgewood		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Sinagra		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Tamala Park		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Tapping		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Two Rocks		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Wangara		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Wanneroo		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Woodvale		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink
Yanchep		Template:Cvt	Template:Maplink

Transport

The City of Wanneroo is served by two major north–south arterial roads, Wanneroo Road and Marmion Avenue. The two roads run parallel to each other through Wanneroo's eastern and western suburbs respectively. A third north–south arterial route, the Mitchell Freeway, extends north from Joondalup to terminate in the south of Alkimos.

The City of Wanneroo has five railway stations in Clarkson, Butler, Alkimos, Eglinton and Yanchep, which are all served by the Yanchep line.

Governance

The Wanneroo City Council operates out of the Council Chambers on Dundebar Road, Wanneroo.

The current mayor is Linda Aitken, who was elected in September 2022.

Elections are held every four years, for a mayor and 14 councillors across the city's seven electoral wards, covering 36 suburbs. Two councillors are elected to each of the wards.

Local government wards

Ward	Councillors	Suburbs
North	Alex Figg Sonet Coetzee	Alkimos, Carabooda, Eglinton, Jindalee, Two Rocks, Yanchep
North-East	Glynis Parker Bronwyn Smith	Butler, Merriwa, Ridgewood, North Clarkson, Nowergup
Central-West	Helen Berry Phil Bedworth	Quinns Rocks, Mindarie, Tamala Park, South Clarkson, Neerabup
Central-East	Marizane Moore Paul Miles	Pinjar, Carramar, Banksia Grove, Tapping, Ashby, Mariginiup, Jandabup
Central	Jacqui Huntley Jordan Wright	Wanneroo, Sinagra, Hocking, Pearsall, Gnangara
South-West	Natalie Herridge Vinh Nguyen	East Woodvale, Wangara, Madeley, Darch, Landsdale, North-West Marangaroo
South	James Rowe (Deputy Mayor) Eman Seif	Marangaroo, Alexander Heights, Girrawheen, Koondoola

Sister cities

Wanneroo has three sister cities. It was also formerly twinned with Sorrento in Italy, but this association was broken with the bifurcation of Wanneroo in 1998, when the Wanneroo suburb of Sorrento was incorporated into the City of Joondalup.

• Template:Flagicon Sinagra, Sicily, Italy
• Template:Flagicon Kastoria, Greece (1992)

Heritage listed places

As of 2024, 149 places are heritage-listed in the City of Wanneroo, of which 34 are on the State Register of Heritage Places, a large number of those located in Yanchep National Park.