Bicton

Bicton is an affluent riverside suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-west of the central business district.

Bicton is an affluent riverside suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-west of the central business district. The suburb is mostly residential, and falls within the City of Melville local government area. Bicton borders the Swan River to the north, with the northern third of the suburb taken up by a Class-A reserve at Point Walter.

Originally settled in the 1830s, when a large vineyard was established, Bicton was mainly rural until the subdivision of the former Bicton Racecourse, beginning in 1919. Further subdivisions of the Castle Hill area in 1921 established the suburb as a middle-class area of Fremantle. Bicton underwent further expansion after the conclusion of World War II. Now with a large demographic of business owners and high net worth individuals, Bicton is considered one of the most affluent riverside suburbs in Perth.

Prior to European settlement, the Beeliar subgroup of the Noongar Aboriginal people obtained food and drinking water from the river edges and open grassy areas. The sandbar at Point Walter was used as one of the few river crossing between the mouth of the river and The Narrows. The area around Point Walter was known as Dyoondalup in the local language, meaning "place of white sand", and featured in local creation myths. The area along the East Fremantle and Bicton foreshores, extending into Blackwall Reach, was called Quaada gabee, meaning "beautiful water", and included a number of freshwater springs.

The Swan River Colony was declared by Charles Fremantle in April 1829, however, Bicton was not settled until 1830, when four land grants were given to John Hole Duffield, who had arrived on Warrior in March 1830, Alfred Waylen, Joseph Cooper and William Hapgood. The area was named after the village of Bicton in East Devon, where Duffield had previously had an estate. Duffield planted the colony's first commercially-operating vineyard, comprising 5,700 vines, in 1845. His son, James Hole Duffield, and another worker, John Luff, died on 30 March 1860 after they were buried alive in what the Perth Gazette called "a lamentable accident" while attempting to sink a well on Duffield's property.The Bicton Racecourse was established in 1904 on land leased by the Higham family after the closure of the South Fremantle Racecourse. The course was closed in 1917 after the passing of the WA Racing Restrictions Act. The former racecourse was subdivided into suburban blocks in 1919, and the Castle Hill area, close to Point Walter, was subdivided in 1921 by Gold Estates. Further development occurred after the conclusion of the Second World War.