Rockingham

History

Rockingham received its name from the sailing ship , one of the three vessels that Thomas Peel had chartered to carry settlers to Western Australia (the others being and ). Rockingham arrived on 14 May 1830. Rockingham was blown ashore and eventually abandoned after failed attempts to refloat her. She eventually broke up, having sunk in shallow waters. Settlers supposedly camped near the wreck used the name "Rockingham Town" as their address. The region had been inhabited for several thousand years by tribes of the Noongar people whose leader at that time was Galyute. Rockingham was first surveyed and lots offered for sale in 1847. However, few lots were sold until the development of a railway and jetty in 1872 to transport jarrah timber and sandalwood from Jarrahdale overseas. Rockingham prospered until the construction of the Inner Harbour of Fremantle in 1897, which caused Rockingham as a timber port to steadily decline. Another factor that contributed, albeit gradually, to the decline of the port's importance for timber export was the opening in 1893 of the South Western Railway, the line of which intersected the Jarrahdale-Rockingham line and created the possibility of trucking timber north to Fremantle or south to Bunbury where the ports were capable of taking larger ships with deeper draughts. By the turn of the century, the international timber trade was being handled by larger ships and when the timber merchants determined that they could not justify the expense of dredging to enhance access to the port of Rockingham timber exports shifted to Fremantle. After 1908 the port saw no further use for timber exports. The ending of the port coincided with the arrival of the motor car, and this new mode of transport gave impetus to the rapid development of the…

Geography

Rockingham is topographically flat, has sandy soils and coastal vegetation. It has a northern aspect to Cockburn Sound, from Rockingham Beach and Palm Beach.

Most-observed species

• Australian Raven

  Corvus coronoides Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  2,553
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,201
• Australian Pelican

  Pelecanus conspicillatus Temminck, 1824 · Aves
  1,776
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  1,763
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,732
• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  1,584
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,545
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  1,464

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2005-05-06
  5 km NW of Bullsbrook, Australia
• M 2.5 — 2005-04-15
  10 km SSW of York, Australia