News

Wanneroo Mayor Jon Kelly said all four library branches were marking this special milestone with the local community.

“This week our libraries have hosted morning teas for the members, and concludes with the Wanneroo Library celebrations on Tuesday (10 May),” Mayor Kelly said.

“The City of Wanneroo is very proud that we have provided library services to the local community for 50 years. The membership across all four libraries is more than 68,500 – about 44 per cent of the City’s population – which just shows how important this service is.”

The Wanneroo Library is the eldest in the City, first opening on 3 May 1961, followed by Girrawheen and Yanchep Two/Rocks in 1977 and Clarkson in 2005.

While it has had many homes over the past five decades, the first Wanneroo library was in the boardroom of the old Wanneroo Road, Health and Vermin Board building.

The first library officer was Margaret Cockman, now a Freeman of the City of Wanneroo.

The first month after opening, the Wanneroo Library had 177 members, compared to 16,764 today, with membership currently increasing by about 200 per month.

In 2009 the Wanneroo Library moved to its new, purpose built home in the Wanneroo Town Centre, which is almost three times larger than any of the other City of Wanneroo libraries.

Branch Information:

Clarkson Library

• Opened 24 January 2005.
• The area had previously been served by the Mobile Library visiting Quinns Rocks.
• 1,000 new members joined on the first day of opening. In the first week nearly 7,000 items were borrowed and over 5,000 people visited the library.
• Clarkson remains the busiest of the City of Wanneroo libraries.
• On its busiest days the library has welcomed over 1,800 people through the doors.
• Clarkson was the first library in Western Australia to feature a café within the library building.
• The library features a customer service counter where residents can make payments for rates, dog registrations, programs and infringements.
• An Early Childhood worker visits the library each week to assist with parenting queries.
• Over 250,000 people visit the library each year. The one-millionth item was borrowed in February 2008, just over three years from opening day. The two millionth item was issued in October 2010.

Girrawheen Library

• Opened 28 April 1977.
• In its first year the library had five staff.
• Membership grew quickly in its first year, to 4116 members.
• Loans for 1977/79 were 101,717. In March 1984 the Library issued its one millionth book, eight years after its opening.
• Extensions were carried out in January 1984 to provide an area for reading, browsing and displays and the partitioning of the activities room in 1984-5 to create additional work space.
• The library has built up a large collection in languages other the English, with the largest Vietnamese collection in the state. The inclusion of Vietnamese-speaking staff since 1997-8 has been crucial to servicing to this community.

Wanneroo Library

• Opened 3 May 1961 in the boardroom of the old Wanneroo Road, Health and Vermin Board building.
• When Council moved to a new administration building on 25 Nov 1971, the library took over the vacated premises on the west side of Wanneroo Road in 1972.
• The library moved to 932 Wanneroo Road following the Council’s move to the now City of Joondalup office building, opening  on 2 October 1980.
• The mobile library was integrated with the Wanneroo library in 1982/83 with staff working at both libraries under a single branch librarian. This continued until March 1996 when a new mobile library vehicle led to the libraries becoming separate entities once again.
• In January 2005, the library temporarily relocated to the Wanneroo Shopping Centre while refurbishments to the building were carried out in anticipation of the Seniors building being demolished to make way for the new Wanneroo shopping centre.
• The library returned to its redesigned premises in July 2005.
• In 2009, the Wanneroo Library moved into the purpose built Wanneroo Library & Cultural Centre.

Yanchep/Two Rocks Library

• In 1977, the growing population in Yanchep/Two Rocks decided a community library was needed. With a grant from the Shire of Wanneroo, donations of books and equipment through the local Lions Club and other groups, the race was on to prepare the library for opening. A call went out to the community, and volunteers arrived to help paint walls, erect shelves, sweep floors and prepare the books. Even the children from the local school stuck on labels and stamped due date slips.
• October 1977 the new Yanchep Community Library was opened in the premises of Two Rocks Shopping centre.
• 19th March 1983, the library re-located to the newly erected Bini Shell, (a purpose built recreation centre). At this time, the State Library of WA recognised Yanchep as a full branch.
• The library was closed between September 1986 and December 1988 while work was carried out on the building. During this time, the mobile library served the community once a week.
• The mobile library continued to serve the Yanchep community until it closed in October 2008. 
• In October 2008, the library was extended to accommodate mobile library’s stock when it closed its doors that same month