Carabooda

Carabooda is a rural locality in outer Perth, Western Australia, 43 kilometres north of the Perth CBD. Select MORE for information on the suburb, its neighbourhood and history.

The area is a sparsely populated agricultural suburb with several plant nurseries and wineries located in the area. The region gives its name to a distinctive form of building limestone called Carabooda limestone, which was named after the Carabooda Lakes in the area.

Carabooda is bounded by Romeo Road/Karoborup Road to the south, the proposed Mitchell Freeway to the west, Cutler Road and Old Yanchep Road to the east and Walding Road (near the Yanchep turnoff) to the north.

It includes a heritage site, which features a group of three lime kilns within an area of natural bushland that were operational from the 1930s to 1985 - See more details in Origin of name and history below.

An abandoned theme park, known as Dizzy Lamb Park, was previously located on Karoborup Road. It was home to a variety of fun attractions and also specialised in vintage cars and military vehicles from the Western Australian Military Museum until its closure in 2000.

Carabooda is a bushland environment with a small population of around 700 people with just over 1,000 people living in the combined Carabooda, Neerabup, Nowergup and Pinjar suburbs. Carabooda is considered a rural area and currently does not have any public transport.

It is part of the City of Wanneroo local government area and sits within the City’s North East Rural & Industrial Place Management Area.

The ‘Carabooda’ name was officially adopted for the suburb on 3 September 1982 and takes its name from the lake in the area.

This lake’s name was derived from an Aboriginal word ‘Karroborup’ or ‘Karabooda’, possibly meaning "place of spider holes" or "place of wild potato". The original spelling recorded by JW Gregory in January 1843 was Karroborup when marking Swan Location 113 for M. MacDermott, but by 1867 the current spelling was in use.In the 1930s, limestone rock formations were found in the area and three Lime Kilns were built for the production of lime.

The heritage listed Emerald Reserve Lime Kiln site was operational from 1939 to the late 1960s by the Slovenian born, Josip Hribar. This is the only known lime-burning site in WA which also has the remains of the associated workers' settlement and was owned by the Yanchep Lime Company. The heritage listed Kiln Road Lime Kiln site, established by Jack Susac was operational from the 1930s to 1985 and includes a group of three lime kilns within an area of natural bushland. Cooper’s Lime Kilns located in Mindarie, also heritage listed, played an integral role in supplying lime to Kalgoorlie’s gold mining industry for more than ten years.

Visit the City’s Heritage Sites webpage for more details and the locations of these sites. (Historic information courtesy of Wanneroo Community History Centre)

Area: 38.59/km2 (99.9/sq mi) Population: 1,066 (2021 estimate from 2016 Census for combined Carabooda, Neerabup, Nowergup and Pinjar suburbs) Local Government Area: City of Wanneroo Phone: 08 9405 5000 Email: enquiries@wanneroo.wa.gov.au