The newly established Community History Centre is part of the Wanneroo Museum and is located on the north side of the museum’s exhibition gallery on the ground floor of the Wanneroo Centre and Cultural Centre. Here in a dedicated research room, visitors can use our rich repository to explore Wanneroo’s history.

The Collection
The Centre collects, preserves and makes accessible to the residents of Wanneroo and wider communities, material about the districts that fall within the current boundaries of the City of Wanneroo. It also includes material relating to parts of the present municipal boundaries of the City of Joondalup, as historically, these districts fell within the Shire of Wanneroo’s boundaries before the creation in 1998 of the City of Joondalup. The collection focuses on the history and development of all these areas, with particular emphasis on its government, people, society, culture, physical environment and buildings, agricultural and commercial activities and the natural environment.

In the Community History Centre are books, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, maps, oral history interviews and transcripts, archive material, research files, local government reports, newspapers and ephemera. It also has newsclippings containing biographical information about the people of Wanneroo, the City’s heritage sites and the history of its suburbs, and the existing collection of historic and contemporary photographs is being developed to allow both traditional and electronic access.

Visitors curious about their ancestors and wanting to carry out research into their family histories will find in this Centre, a collection of essential genealogical publications, as well as access to web-based resources, including the database, Ancestry Centre Edition.

The Centre is open six days a week with the Community History Librarian in attendance for five of those days.

Contact Us

Community History Librarian: Carol Leigh
E-mail: carol.leigh@wanneroo.wa.gov.au