It’s not hard to love the western suburbs of Perth. The area takes in suburbs that collectively form a triangle running from Mosman Park along the river to the city and out to City Beach. As a father of three teenagers, two of which whom attend private schools, I have been fortunate to live in the area.
My two attend Scotch College (Uniting) for boys and St Hildas Anglican School for Girls respectively. Both are great schools. They could have conceivably gone to any one of a number in the area though. Christchurch Grammar School for boys is just a “hop step and a jump” from Scotch. Iona (Catholic), Presbyterian Ladies College and Methodist Ladies College are all very close to St Hildas.
Should we have elected to send our kids to a co-educational school – John 23rd College (Catholic) is based in Mount Claremont while Shenton College, a public school, is situated in Shenton Park.
Aside from secondary education, the Western Suburbs also offers the advantage of housing the University of Western Australia. UWA, one of Western Australia’s most picturesque establishments, is situated in Nedlands, and is relatively easy to reach via public transport from any of the other western suburbs.
Lifestyle is the major attraction for people in the area. No matter what suburb you live in, you’re never that far from a stunning beach or a relaxing walk along the river’s edge. Invariably, your also close to a large oval or two where you can kick a football, throw a Frisbee with the kids or, take the dog for nice long walk.
There’s an array of sporting clubs in the area including surf life-saving, football, cricket, golf, tennis, rugby, bowls, hockey and netball and sailing. The hard thing for our kids has been choosing which sport to play.
Shopping in the western suburbs tends to take place at one of several shopping precincts. Floreat Forum and the Grove Plaza are the most "traditional" of the centres in terms of layout. Neither are particularly large - but they do offer an undercover "mall feel" that is typical of some of the major centres in Perth such as Karrinyup, Garden City and Galleria. The western suburbs has several shopping areas that are best described as "strips" and are typically serviced by independent retailers, coffee shops and restaurants. This makes the western suburbs great for catching up with friends. Go down the main streets of these suburbs any Friday or Saturday night and chances are that you’ll see people - young and old - out enjoying themselves. In this sense thay are "mini-versions" of what people might have experience in Lygon Street in Melbourne or Rundle Street in Adelaide.
David Fear (Director, Altus Real Estate )