Brigid+Hamilton+Hill

Memorial Hall cnr of Rockingham and Hamilton rds, Hamilton Hill, [|Western Australia]. Built in 1925, the memorial hall was renovated and extended during 2008 The earliest known settler at Hamilton Hill was Sydney Smith, the agent of Captain George Robb. Robb arrived in Western Australia in 1830 and took up land south of Fremantle. During the next twelve months Smith was actively engaged in establishing Robb's farm. In a letter dated 27 August 1830, he gives his address as Hamilton Hill. The origin of the name, and whether it was Robb or Smith who did the naming, remains uncertain but the area has been known as such ever since.[|[2]] In 1860 Charles Alexander Manning bought 364ha of Robb's land, and six years later built Davilak House for his son Lucius Manning.[|[3]] The house of twelve rooms, was built using convict labour[|[4]] and was owned by the Manning family until they abandoned it in the late [|1950s]. It burnt down in 1960, and after this the [|Shire of Cockburn] took over the administration of the whole estate. A second homestead was built in 1920 by the eldest daughter of Lucius Manning, Azelia Ley. She had married John Morgan Ley in 1900, and after he died in 1927 she continued to maintain the family farm.[|[3]] This house became derelict after Azelia died in 1954, but was restored by the Historical Society of Cockburn in 1983 and now serves as a comprehensive Azelia Ley Homestead Museum of artifacts pertaining to the Cockburn district ** HAMILTON HILL  **

The earliest known settler at Hamilton Hill was Sydney Smith, the agent of Captain George Robb. Robb arrived in Western Australia in 1830 and took up land south of Fremantle. During the next twelve months Smith was actively engaged in establishing Robb's farm. In a letter dated August 27th, 1830, he gives his address as Hamilton Hill. The name Hamilton is derived from the Hamilton Ross Company of Cape Town which operated the "Leda", the ship that brought Robb and Smith to Western Australia. The founder of the company, Hamilton Ross, had been born in Galway, Ireland in 1775, into a family that had moved from Scotland about two generations prior to his birth. The first master of the "Leda" had been Captain John Northwood and several of Hamilton Ross's nephews were indentured to become master mariners on the "Leda", including Richard Hamilton Allen, whose son, William Hamilton Allen, later settled in Western Australia. Cockburn is named after the [|Cockburn Sound], which was named in 1827 by Captain [|James Stirling] after Admiral [|Sir George Cockburn]. Sir Cockburn was born in London in 1772 and was a renowned British naval officer, eventually becoming [|Admiral of the Fleet] and [|First Sea Lord]. It was he who took [|Napoleon] to exile on the island of [|Saint Helena] after the [|Battle of Waterloo] in 1815. In 1871, the Fremantle Road District was created under the //District Roads Act 1871// to cover the area to the south and east of [|Fremantle], and the Fremantle Road Board was created to manage it. The original District was bounded on the north by the [|Swan River] from [|Fremantle] to the mouth of the [|Canning River] ; on the east by a line from [|Bull Creek] to the junction of what is now the intersection of the [|Albany] and [|South Western] Highways in [|Armadale] ; on the south by a line from Armadale to, and including the [|Rockingham] townsite; and to the west by the [|Indian Ocean]. In the first five years of the Board's existence most of its members served on the [|Fremantle Town Council]. The function of the Board was simply to provide the roads that linked Fremantle to other parts of the Colony. By 1913 the District was divided into Wards, each electing representatives to the Board. In 1922 the Board constructed new offices at the corner of Forrest and Rockingham Roads. In July 1923, the District received a large amount of land (gaining the localities of [|Atwell] and [|Banjup] and 75% of the [|Jandakot] locality) from Jandakot Road District when that entity was abolished. On 21 January 1955, it was renamed Cockburn,[|[2]] after a successful referendum underlined the desire for recognition of the District's independence from Fremantle. On 1 July 1961, Cockburn Road District became a Shire following the enactment of the //Local Government Act 1960//, and on 24 January 1971, almost exactly 100 years after the formation of the Fremantle Road District, it became a Town[|[3]] in recognition of its increasingly urban nature. On 26 October 1979 the town attained City status.[|[4]][|[5]] A public inquiry into corruption in the City of Cockburn was held in 1999.[|[6]] The Council was suspended in April 1999 and dismissed on 30 June 2000, with administrators running the council until an election held on 6 December 2000.[|[7]][|[8]] In 2007 the City of Cockburn was again embroiled in controversy as alleged evidence of corruption arose at the Corruption and Crime Commission.