History of Devon Road

Devon Road was built in 1901 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Some of the land in what was to be the suburb of Swanbourne was granted in 1885 to military pensioners who had served as convict guards. Devon Road was built unsealed in 1901 through the middle of one such land grant, which had by then been sold to George Dent.

The land was subdivided and Devon Estate land was advertised for sale in 1903 and the price appeared to be aimed at the higher end of the market. Despite this intention the suburb of Swanbourne became later known colloquially as “the poor man’s Claremont”.
Devon road became home to a mixture of white and blue collar workers. Some of the more famous figures on the street included Charles Munt, the Under-Secretary of the Department of Public Works, Alexander Wright, the son of one of Australia’s first dentists, Robert McKenzie who was the Mayor of Kalgoorlie and later a member of state parliament, Thomas Robertson, the Director General of the Education Department of WA, Ian Brayshaw the retired sportsman and sports journalist, and Thomas Hogarth, one of W.A.’s few qualified veterinarians at the time.

Devon Road had become a sandy track over the years and the last of it was sealed around 1950. Sometime during the 60’s a dogleg was constructed at the Mitford Street intersection as a traffic slowing device to counter the increasing number of “yahoos” in cars speeding to and from the drive-in to the north on Narla Road on weekends.

Some of the famous establishments and business’ on Devon Road include: Swanbourne State Primary School from1905-2001 - the school buildings are still used for community purposes, Swanbourne Veterinary Centre since 1938, and the local shops since 1910. The types of shops have changed over the years; for example no.91 started as a confectionery in 1910, then became a butchers shop, and now is a military antiques store.

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