Mt Claremont: suburb continues to grow and thrive

While its current name is based on neighbouring Claremont, a portion of this area had long been referred to as ‘Mt Claremont’ by local residents.

Graylands, which was the original name for the area, was most likely derived from landowner John Gray and his wife Maria.

John Gray purchased Swan Location 429 on the east side of Butler’s Swamp in 1889.

He died in 1891 and five years later his widow had a large portion of the land subdivided and 88 lots in the ‘Graylands Estate’ were made available for sale.

The name for the estate was most likely determined by the auctioneer responsible for the sale.

The name ‘Graylands’ came into common use but it was still not a popular residential area and apart from the site of the new hospital for the insane, consisted of mostly undeveloped bushland.

In 1912, 191 blocks were offered for sale in the initial ‘Mt Claremont Estate’ to the north of Butler’s Swamp, however there was little further residential development in the area and it remained a quiet semi-rural backwater for many years.

The local population grew significantly after WWII with the arrival of British and other European migrants under Federal Government assistance schemes and the decision of the state government Workers’ Homes Board to use vacant bush north of the railway line to build houses for returning servicemen and those unable to afford their own homes.

Graylands continued to be seen as largely a working class suburb for many years until more land was released by the State Government, piquing the interest of developers.

The area began to grow, and in 1985 both the City of Perth and the City of Nedlands requested the creation of a new suburb to be named Mt Claremont.

This was approved in January 1986.

Information sourced from Graylands: the evolution of suburb by Pamela Mikus. n