About Morley

Morley is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia within the City of Bayswater local government area, situated approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) northeast of the Perth city centre. It contains the Centro Galleria, Perth’s second-largest commercial shopping centre, constructed in 1994. The Morley bus station is near the Centro Galleria. From the late 1950s, Morley (originally known as Morley Park) began to develop as a major shopping and commercial centre.

The name Morley began appearing on maps around the turn of the twentieth century and was adopted when the Morley Park Estate was subdivided for urban development after the First World War. The most likely explanation for its use is that it commemorates Charles William Morley, who is known to have farmed in the area during the 1860s and 1870s.

The Morley area was in the early days of the Swan River Colony developed with agriculture. The area was originally known as Morley Park. In 1929 a landowner progress association petitioned the Bayswater Road Board for improved roads and lighting for improved transport of produce to markets.

Commercial icons appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the Wirrina Drive In, the Morley Park Hotel and the Boans department store. Parallel with the commercial growth, a settlement program resulted in the residential development of Morley. This was achieved through a series of town planning schemes undertaken by Margaret Feilman, the consultant town planner to the Shire of Bayswater. These schemes especially catered to the needs of the home building companies whose style of large scale development was a new phenomenon of the 1960s.

Tonkin Highway was constructed through Morley in 1984, bisecting the suburb in two.

After Boans burnt down in 1986, the Galleria Shopping Centre was built, opening in 1994.

In 2015 the City of Bayswater adopted an activity centre plan for the improvement of the Morley commercial precinct. It aims to build upon the strengths already present in the City Centre and promote an improved street interface with the Galleria Shopping Centre; Progress Street as the Centre’s Main Street; and an enhanced Morley bus station with improved efficiency and convenience. The activity centre plan’s vision is:

The Morley City Centre will grow into a lively and bustling place for business and shopping, with a vibrant community life. The City Centre will be home to over 10,000 people and 10,000 jobs and will become the City of Bayswater’s social, economic and civic centre.