Prior to European settlement, the
Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl. In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at
Freshwater Bay (in modern-day
Peppermint Grove) to attract travellers on the road from
Perth to
Fremantle. A wetland became known as Butler's Swamp (later Lake Claremont). After the arrival of
convicts in the colony in 1850, work began on constructing the
Fremantle Road. The government allocated land on the foreshore and at Butler's Swamp to 19
Pensioner Guards and their families, and a permanent convict depot operated at Freshwater Bay (until 1875). A state school and church were built in 1862, and a community gradually developed around what is now Victoria Avenue. A settler named James Morrison acquired property at Swan Location 702 and named it Claremont Estate after his wife, Clara (née de Burgh). During the 1870s, several prominent families, including the Triggs, Sandovers, and Stirlings, acquired land in the district near the future site of
Christ Church Grammar School, with some of their homes later purchased and used by the school. In 1881, the
railway line from Perth to Fremantle was built, along with a station at Butler's Swamp; the name of the station was changed to
Claremont in 1883. The focus of the community shifted to the area between the railway line, Fremantle Road (Stirling Highway) and Bay View Terrace. The Freshwater Bay school ceased to play a central role; it became a boarding house nicknamed "’Appy ‘Ome" in 1892 (and in 1975 a museum). Land speculators purchased property in the area and subdivided blocks into varying sizes, resulting in a wide class diversity within the suburb. By around 1903, the entire suburb—except for a dozen or so streets—had been subdivided, and by the
Second World War, the community was firmly established. ==Geography==