Wireless Hill Park, Nature reserve in Booragoon, Australia.
Wireless Hill Park is a 40-hectare park in Ardross, Western Australia, on a hill above Canning Highway. At the summit stand three brick station buildings: the 1912 Engine House, later the Transmitter Hall, the 1912 Operator's House and a stores building added around 1915. A 46-metre mast replaced the original 120-metre antenna in 1962 and was removed in 1967; the north concrete anchor block now serves as a viewing platform.
The Commonwealth Government called for coastal wireless telegraphy stations in 1909 and contracted Australasian Wireless Limited for the Perth site in 1910. Clearing and construction began in 1911, and the Applecross Wireless Station opened on 30 September 1912, run for the Postmaster-General's Department as a commercial service for shipping. The Royal Australian Navy took control in 1916 and again from 1939 to 1945; the Overseas Telecommunications Commission took over in 1947 and moved operations to Gnangara in 1967–68, closing the station in 1968. The land passed to the City of Melville in 1969 and was renamed Wireless Hill Park in 1971.
The hill lies on the land of the Beeliar group of the Whadjuk Noongar people, who know it as Yagan Mia and have lived in the area for millennia. The name Wireless Hill was already used by local residents before the site was formally renamed in 1971.
The park covers 40 hectares in Ardross, with the former station buildings and museum at the top of the hill. The north concrete anchor block of the old antenna mast serves as a viewing platform. Paths climb the hill and can be slippery after rain, so wear sturdy shoes.
The station's original 120 m antenna mast was held by three guy-wires, each fixed to a 200-ton concrete anchor block. Two of these blocks once served as viewing platforms; today only the north anchor block is used as one, and the mast itself was removed in 1967.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,782 contributors worldwide.