Ballajura, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Ballajura
city = Perth
state = wa


caption =
lga = City of Swan
postcode = 6066
est =
pop = 19,735 (2006)
area =
propval =
stategov = West Swan
fedgov = Division of Cowan
near-nw = Landsdale
near-n = Cullacabardee
near-ne = Cullacabardee
near-w = Alexander Heights and Koondoola
near-e = Whiteman
near-sw = Malaga
near-s = Malaga
near-se = Beechboro
dist1 =
location1= coord|-31.836|115.892|type:city(19735)_region:AU-WA_scale:30000|format=dms|display=title

Ballajura is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, in the City of Swan local government area. Ballajura is located 14 km north of the Perth CBD. The postcode for the suburb is 6066.

History

The Ballajura area was first settled in 1905, when Ernest Maltby Kerruish, an immigrant from the Isle of Man, purchased land for a farm at the present site, which at the time was located in Caversham. He named it Ballajora, after a farm at Maughold on the Isle of Man. John Creer and Arthur Eaton, who also emigrated with Kerruish from the Isle of Man, joined him in clearing the land to build a house and begin farming the land. After a few years, Kerruish decided the soil was not fertile enough and moved his operations to an established vineyard in the present-day Caversham area, a few kilometres southeast.

The names Kerruish, Eaton, and Creer have been given to three of the four houses of Ballajura Primary School. The fourth is named after Matilda Bennett, a woman also of Manx descent who was the wife of John Septimus Roe, the first surveyor general of Western Australia under the first governor of the state, Sir James Stirling. Bennett Brook, a stream which ran through the Ballajora farm, was also named after Matilda Bennett.

Community

In the 2001 Census of Population and Housing by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of the Ballajura postcode area was 19,784, in an area of 9 square kilometres. Australian-born residents accounted for about 64% of the population.

The suburb has four primary schools (Ballajura, South Ballajura, Illawarra, and Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School) and one high school (Ballajura Community College or BCC). No train line serves the Ballajura area, but it has several local bus services straight to the city.

The median house price in Ballajura was AU$260,000 as of December 2005 (slightly lower than Perth area median price), and has followed the general trend of the Perth metro, rising an average of 13 percent per year over the last five years.

The median house price in Ballajura rose to AU$308,000 calculated up till June 2006, again closely following the general Perth housing price trend. The median price increased sharply in 2007 and many two storey properties in the Lakes Estate are worth upwards of a million dollars.

References

* [http://www.illawarraps.det.wa.edu.au/ Illawarra Primary School]
* [http://www.sthballajura.wa.edu.au/ South Ballajura Primary School]
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