Helena Vale Racecourse

Darling Range Hotel was a hotel in Bellevue, Western Australia, on the end of the slope on the Great Eastern Highway at the 'bottom of' Greenmount Hill and just north of the former Bellevue railway station, and over the road from the Helena Vale Racecourse. The locality known earlier as 'Helena Vale' and 'East Midland', was near the border of the council in the hills above 'Greenmount Road Board' - (now Shire of Mundaring), and the 'Midland Junction Council' (now City of Swan). In the First World War, it was the nearest hotel to the Blackboy Hill army campIt was started as the East Midland Hotel, on the earlier name for the highway - the York Road. Despite the name the local councils called it 'The Bellevue Hotel'.The hotel was licensed in 1905, and its outward appearance changed over the years with change of owners and managers and circumstances.The owners, Licensees or Managers to the end of the First World War included:- Thomas Wilkins 1903-1913 W.K. Lamzed 1914-1916 H. Finlayson 1916-1920The longest connection on record was that of J.K. Robinson and S. Boyd 1950 -1960It was considered an excellent location and opportunity for owners and trainers with horses at the Helena Vale Racecourse.It was the base of a lengthy association with billiards and darts for the area.More historic hotels in the Midland - Bellevue area have been lost due to fire, loss of licence and neglect. The Darling Range Hotel building is one of the few remaining buildings in the area with well documented connections to the troops leaving Blackboy Hill Training Camp, and leaving Helena Vale Racecourse by railway to serve in the First World War. The building remained, with a different configuration from the first world war era, and was in potential threat of immanent demolishing to make way for a service station development, in an area that already has a significant concentration of service stations.

Blackboy Hill was named after the Australian native "black boy" plants, Xanthorrhoea preissii, which dominated the site which is now absorbed into Greenmount, Western Australia. Originally a military camp, the facilities and adjacent structures were on the hill that is now used by St Anthony's Primary School and Church, and Greenmount Primary School. The remaining land (which has been left as a memorial to the troops who used the training camp) is known on official documents and maps as the Blackboy Hill Commemorative Site, but local signage tends to refer to the location simply as Blackboy Hill.

Koongamia is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located in the City of Swan local government area. The suburb was developed as a State Housing commission suburb, and had a brief time (1960-1962) as a location on the Perth metropolitan railway system, utilising a small portion uphill from Bellevue railway station on the track of the former Mundaring Loop railway line which was suspended since 1954 and had not been officially closed.

Swan View Senior High School is an independent public co-educational high day school, located in Swan View, Western Australia. The school is located within the North Metropolitan Education Region school district, a district of the WA Department of Education.Established in 1977, the school provides education for approximately 580 students from Year 7 to Year 12.

Bellevue railway station (also known as Bellevue Junction) was a junction station on the Eastern Railway in the Perth suburb of Bellevue.

Swan View is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government areas are the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Perth in the Perth Hills on the edge of the Darling Scarp, just to the west of the John Forrest National Park, east of Roe Highway and north of the Great Eastern Highway. The Brown Park community recreation ground is the location of the long-standing annual Swan View Agricultural Show.

Midvale is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, which is split between the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. Its postcode is 6056. Developed in the early 1950s, the area was named as a composite of Midland and the former Helena Vale Racecourse. The former racecourse site is now part of Midvale. Its southern boundary is the Great Eastern Highway, and eastern the Eastern Railway. A substantial amount of the housing in the suburb is known as State Housing; a significant amount of this housing was redeveloped by the Department of Housing under the "Eastern Horizons New Living Project".

Bellevue is an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia in the local government areas of the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring. It is at the foot of the slopes of Greenmount, a landmark on the Darling Scarp that is noted in the earliest of travel journals of the early Swan River Colony.

Midland Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Swan view in Perth, Western Australia. In earlier times it was known as the Midland Junction Cemetery due to its control by the local council of that name.It is currently administered by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board. Previously it had been administered by the local government.People interred at Midland Cemetery include Albert Facey. Burial lists up to 1998 are available from the Cemeteries Board and are viewable at Battye Library.

Nyaania Creek (31°55′S 116°03′E) is a creek in Western Australia. It is a seasonal tributary that flows into the Helena River with a catchment that moves through a number of hills suburbs just east of the Darling Scarp. Its source is in Mahogany Creek, and it flows through Glen Forrest, Darlington, and Boya before meeting the Helena River at Helena Valley. It was originally known as the Smiths Mill Brook on maps between 1902 and 1920. In the 1920s it became known as Nyaania Brook, and in 1945 it officially took the current name. Its importance stems from the fact that it flows through private land for most of its length, linked to issues that affect watercourses in the Darling Scarp region: usages of herbicides and other contaminants that can become waterborne excess nutrients from fertilisers used in domestic gardens inappropriate exotic weeds that flourish in difficult to access locations.It has significant areas of reserves either adjacent, or within 100 metres (330 ft) either side of its main creek bed. It runs in a number of places along what was rail reserve of the Eastern Railway – which is now the southern part of the Railway Reserve Heritage Trail.

Swan View railway station, Perth was a railway station of significance on the Eastern Railway in Western Australia. In all working timetables during the operation of this line, the station was the point of control for the Swan View Tunnel. The Bellevue to Chidlow railway line involved the encounter with the Darling Scarp requiring extra power for the up line, and considerable extra caution for the up and down lines. The station master's house was adjacent to the station.Due to the volume of traffic passing through, various accidents were regular either at the station or in the vicinity, also being near the tunnel, some tunnel related accidents were reported with the station as context.The station was closed in 1966 at the time of the Avon Valley rail route being opened, and the old Eastern Railway route became superfluous to Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) needs. For almost 50 years the major curve between this railway station and the Swan View Tunnel was the main location for photographs for tourism brochures and promotional picture of new rolling stock and locomotives, as well as the main named train of the WAGR – The Westland. Since the closure and removal of the railway line, and the development of the Railway Reserves Heritage Trail the Swan View station site is one of the very few on the trail to have the railway platform retained (for instance – Mundaring and Darlington).

Greenmount National Park is a national park in the locality of Greenmount, Western Australia, 22 km east of Perth. It is one of the smaller national parks along the Darling Scarp and is a component of the Darling Range Regional Park. Due to its proximity to John Forrest National Park, which used to be known as Greenmount National Park until 1928, and relationship to subsequent reserves to the south it is a vital scarp wildlife corridor. Bus tours were available from Perth in 1933 with Hill's Bus Tours offering passengers a tour around the park on Sundays in September. Beam Transport Ltd. offered a similar service through the Park to Mundaring Weir in 1937.As a feature adjacent to the Helena River Valley it has significance in Aboriginal folklore, and also featured very early on in early European settler's diaries. Mountain Quarry is one of several blue stone quarries located within the park, popular with rock climbers and walkers. Vehicle access to the quarry site is restricted; however a car-park and picnic facilities including toilets are within walking distance of the main site, which is completely accessible on foot. There are several panels containing historical information about the site spread around as part of the popular Railway Reserves Heritage Trail, which runs close to the quarry. The Boya/Koongamia leg of the Railway Reserves Heritage Trail, also known as the "Bridle Trail", curves around the south-western edge of the park, crossing through the Mountain Quarry car-park and picnic area. In the early 2000s significant bushfire damage occurred on the southern slopes of this park. Large fire-breaks bisect the park, serving as popular walking routes among locals. The western and northern slopes, visible from Great Eastern Highway, have extensive Watsonia infestations. In late 2005, the government authority in charge of the national park was taking steps to prevent vehicular access along the top of the ridge to the lookout due to vandalism and issues with residents adjacent to the park.The park is situated along the side of Greenmount Hill and has views over the Swan Coastal Plain below and Perth to the west. The dominant vegetation in the park is eucalypts such as marri and wandoo along with an array of wild flowers and heathland along the northern slopes. The hill is steep and contain several breakaways and rocky outcrops.