Kwinana
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The Town of Kwinana is a Local Government Area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately 118 square kilometers in metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia and lies about 40 km South of the Perth CBD. The Town of Kwinana maintains 286.62 km of roads and has a population of 20,812. Kwinana is also a suburb within this municipality.
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History
Kwinana was named for the SS Kwinana, a ship that was driven ashore in 1922. Appropriately, some suburbs within Kwinana take their names from the sailing ships that first brought immigrants to Western Australia. For example, Medina, Calista and Parmelia.
Kwinana is actually an Aboriginal word, from the Kimberly region, meaning 'pretty maiden'. Many think this has turned out to be an ironic name, as Kwinana has a very large industrial area and the urban sprawl connects with neighboring areas, so that there is no significant break until Fremantle.
Industry
BP was the founder of the industrial area, in conjunction with the state government. The state government ensured that port facilities were developed to enable the offloading of significant amounts of oil. BP runs Western Australia's only oil refinery in Kwinana, and there are many other associated petro-chemical companies nearby, for example Coogee Chemicals [1] (http://www.coogee.com.au/).
Facilities
However, that said, Kwinana is not defined by urban sprawl, there are three public beaches at Cockburn Sound where the public can swim and enjoy the sunset at Kwinana Beach looking out to Garden Island - the SS Kwinana herself is actually part of the jetty at Kwinana Beach. The rusting hulk of the Kwinana ship was cut down to low water level, and the centre was filled with limestone to form a platform as part of the jetty at Kwinana. There are also wetlands and bushlands in the Kwinana area. The Spectacles are the local wetlands and are so named because from the air, the two lakes connected by a drain look like a pair of spectacles.
Amidst this, the local companies are keen to be seen preserving the environment and it is claimed that Kwinana companies demonstrate world's best practice, in production and in their environmental safeguards 1, at the very least they seem to among the best in the Southern Hemisphere. The BP Kwinana refinery is apparently responsible for 'Australia's cleanest petrol' - BP Ultimate 2, matching the most stringent environmental specifications demanded in Europe and the USA.
Kwinana also is home to an impressive facility that is a centre of attraction for Drag Racing, Dirt Track Speedway, Burnout competitions, Street Machine Car shows and Super Cross events 3. The Quit Motorplex opened in December 2000 at a cost of AUD$20 million, with catering, licensed bars and the latest state of the art stadium lighting .
At certain meets the 'top fuel' cars will demonstrate their power and speed at the Kwinana track.
Suburbs
- Anketell
- Bertram
- Calista
- Casuarina
- Hope Valley
- Kwinana
- Kwinana Beach
- Kwinana Town Centre
- Leda
- Mandogalup
- Medina
- Naval Base
- Orelia
- Parmelia
- Postans
- The Spectacles
- Wandi
- Wellard
External links
- Note 1: Town of Kwinana Website (http://www.kwinana.wa.gov.au/)
- Note 2: BP Kwinana Refinery (http://www.bp.com.au/refineries/kwinana/kwinana.asp)
- Note 3: Kwinana Motorplex (http://www.motorplex.com.au/)