Published on Tuesday, 28 May 2024 at 9:00:00 AM

Happy #TimeWarpTuesday! You may have heard that the former name of the suburb of Carlisle was Bickford, but do you know where the name came from?

Bickford

The Original Name for the Suburb of Carlisle

Most sources assumed that the name ‘Bickford’ had been chosen by Peet & Co. but there were no official records to confirm this. We are happy to be able to announce that through the knowledge of one of our readers we have solved the mystery. Thank you, Terry.

In the late 1800s land in Western Australia was hot property given the discovery of gold in the Kimberly. An enterprising group in Adelaide, South Australia saw an opportunity to capitalise and established the Perth Suburban Land Company Ltd. The first annual meeting of which was held on Saturday 31 July 1897 in Adelaide. A certain Harry Bickford was one of the directors of the company and it is from here that the name Bickford came. Harry is known to have visited Perth and the land in Bickford several times, but it doesn’t seem like he ever called Perth home. By October 1907 the Perth Suburban Land Company Ltd was liquidated in Adelaide and a new company was registered called Bickford Park Land Company Limited.

If you have stories, photographs, documents or other information to share please get in touch with the Local History Coordinator at the Victoria Park Library on T: 9373 5500 or email: vicparklibrary@vicpark.wa.gov.au

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Bickford land sales advertisement, 1914. Courtesy of Peet.

Peet and Co advertisement for Bickford land sale, Sunday Times 28 July 1912, p. 2.

Courtesy of Trove and the National Library of Australia.

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