I know it is a bit ridiculous I thought the same way when Rockingham was given city status.

I'm not going to argue with anyone on here about their opinions of Kwinana (my opinion is obviously going to differ). It has as I stated, had a very rough past, there is no getting away from that, and unfortunately the stigma from its past will take decades to remove. Like every where, Kwinana has good areas and not so good areas, Wellard is a good area. I live in what would be classed as the best part of a bad area! I can put my hand on my heart and say I have never in my time here had any problems. My neighbours are fantastic, all are long time residents and there is a real sense of community. I think the community aspect of it stems from the fact that this was such a bad place, that people (in my street) tend to look after each other a little more.

And your right, if I lived here in the 60's to 90's I would have wanted to get out as well. My neighbours tell me that during the 80's they all had their houses broken into at least 5 times, but again that was in the past.

The biggest problem I find in this area (kwinana) is graffiti, its at epidemic proportions. I'm the president of a local sport club here and our club rooms get hit every weekend. Once I painted all the doors on the club house to cover up the tagging and it was back six hours later!

The reason I moved here was because it was the closest thing I could find to a country town, close to the beach, the city, Fremantle and Rockingham where the majority of my family lived (most live in Kwinana now). It has some great parks, heaps of tree's, fantastic bird life and doesn't have that suburbia feel.

Not having kids, I can't comment on the schools. The new Gillmore College looks great, but what its like, I have no idea...

Some trivia... Medina was designed by a woman in the 1950s, Margaret Feilman, She designed it so that if you look down on the town from the highest point (Chalk Hill) you can't see roof tops only trees and its now heritage listed.

Here is a link to the Kwinana Town Council web site http://www.kwinana.wa.gov.au/

Thanks for everyone's comments. I know you can't judge a place unless you actually see it for yourself and ask the people who are already living there. Everyone's tastes and opinions are different, if they weren't it would be a very boring world. At the moment i living in Northumberland and i know some people wouldn't dream living there because its too quiet and need the excitement of Newcastle. I don't ready care how far i am from the beach, i am about a ten minute drive away from it at the moment, so its there when and if i need it. Nice home, area, good schools and new friends for ourselves and my children are more important.

Fair point.

Affordable suburb within easy reach of the city (Good transport links) ... well priced land.

Worth a look ...

Hope so

what street or area in Port Kennedy do you live? I'm in St Clair.

This is the really nice thing about Kwinana, it's amongst the trees, huge open spaces and wide roads. If it hadn't a bad reputation, it would be a great place to live. It's the opposite of the new suburbs popping up everywhere.

I have a friend that lives in Wellard, seemed like a nice area from what I saw... like everywhere else you are probably best to rent for a few months so you can see if it's for you or not.