City of Joondalup: History
Prior to the 1970s, the region now known as the City of Joondalup was sparsely populated. During the 1980s and 1990s, massive growth occurred, partly due to State Government policies which made Joondalup a regional centre, including the extension of the Mitchell Freeway and the construction of the Joondalup railway line.
Until 1998, the area had been controlled by the City of Wanneroo and its predecessors. An independent commission suggested the creation of Joondalup out of the coastal areas of Wanneroo, and the City of Joondalup came into existence on 1 July 1998.
The city is named after Lake Joondalup. The name Joondalup is a Noongar word, first recorded in 1837 and possibly meaning either "place of whiteness or glistening", or "place of a creature that can only move backwards".
During the latter part of the 1960s, the Metropolitan Regional Planning Authority developed the Corridor Plan for Perth which was published and adopted in 1970. The plan called for the creation of five "sub-regional" retail centres (Fremantle, Joondalup, Midland, Armadale and Rockingham) which would form the commercial and economic focus of each "node", and take the retail burden away from the CBD. The Corridor Plan was not endorsed by Parliament until 1973.
In order to grow both the five "sub-regional" retail centres and these off-corridor regional shopping centres, a Retail Shopping Policy was developed by MRPA in 1976, and a Perth Metropolitan Region Retail Structure Plan was put in place to regulate the industry. This Plan was amended as new centres were required.
Most of the land in the area remained largely undeveloped until the 1960s, and Joondalup started to become the "city of the north" towards the late 1980s to the early 1990s when houses and businesses were established in the area. …