Rockingham shares a similar climate as Perth, we get warm to hot Summers and cool, wet Winters but there is still plenty of sun in the cooler months to go around!  It's a typical Mediterranean style climate really! 

So whether you like it hot or a little cooler the weather is ideal for holidays in our beautiful region most of the year round, so planning a holiday is made so much easier. 

The coast around Rockingham had been explored by the Dutch and the French prior to the arrival of the English. Indeed Nicholas Baudin had named Garden and Carnac Islands respectively Ile Buache and Ile Berthellet and when Captain Stirling arrived to explore the area in 1827 the names of the islands were well established. In his journal Stirling wrote that at 'Buache Island we found fresh water by digging in the sand. I had a well made, fifty yards from shore, and it was instantly filled with fresh water'. It was probably this rather romantic perception of the island which helped Stirling to decide that Garden Island (he renamed it) would be the site of the first settlement.

On 7 June 1829 Stirling decided that until the site of Perth had been surveyed and further explorations had been carried out Garden Island should be the site of the temporary settlement. Storehouses and shelters were duly built on the island, wells were dug and a bakery was constructed. There is a memorial to this early settlement at Cliff Head on the island.

It is unfortunate that Garden Island, which has a number of important historical sites, is restricted. It is now joined to the mainland by a 4 km causeway. Access along the causeway is restricted to Naval personnel stationed at HMAS Stirling and the only access to the island for non-Navy personnel (which probably means you) is by boat or ferry.

The early settlement of Rockingham occurred when Thomas Peel arrived with a group of settlers aboard the ship Gilmore which anchored in Cockburn Sound on 15 December 1829.

Peel, cousin of the famous British Prime Minister Robert Peel, had developed a scheme to settle 10 000 people in the district. The British Government had granted him 1 million acres (404 million ha). He was preparing to sail to Western Australia when the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir George Murray, demanded that the colony be started by 1 November 1829. Peel arrived late and his grant was cut to 250 000 acres (101 000 ha). On 15 December 1829 169 settlers arrived at Cockburn Sound and they were followed shortly afterwards by the two further vessels, the Hooghly (a vessel of 465 tons) and the Industry (87 tons).

It wasn¹t until the 1870s that the tiny settlement of Rockingham began to grow. A syndicate headed by the Wanliss brothers began cutting the jarrah trees in the hinterland and, determined to export their rich harvest, they built a sawmill, a jetty at Rockingham, and a railway linking the mill to the jetty. For a brief period Rockingham became the most important port on the coast. Its importance declined with the construction of the railway from Perth to Bunbury in 1893 which resulted in much of the produce from the area being transported either to Perth or Bunbury. Around this time C Y O'Connor completed the Inner Harbour at Fremantle. With this excess of port facilities Rockingham continued to decline. By 1908 the Rockingham port had been closed.

For most of this century Rockingham remained a sleepy little seaside village. It was only with the establishment of Kwinana in the 1950s and the development of the Naval Support Facility at Green Island in the 1970s that the town was revitalised.

We are now including a "Touring WA" section in all our websites. Information on towns and their accommodations, attractions etc will be included in this new section. This is obviously a big job and will take some time to complete., but if your are visiting other towns you may find useful information in this section.

Travelling around Western Australia is relatively an all year round experience as our sealed road system is quite extensive. In the summer months those who wish to visit the north of Western Australia be aware the the seasonal rains of the north can close these roads in a very short time. Unsealed roads in this area are usually closed from November to March.

Road trains are likely to be encountered on many of our highways and care should be taken when deciding to overtake them or even passing them in opposite directions. These vehicles can be up to 50 metres long so when passing make sure there is a least a one kilometre distance between your vehicle and any oncoming car. Never attempt to overtake these vehicles unless you are absolutely sure it is safe to do so. When passing these road trains in opposite directions, the air displacement ahead of the road trains and as they pass can be quite surprising. When approaching a road train slow down and keep a firm grip on your steering wheel as they pass.

Bush fires, especially in the summer months are a regular occurrence. Visitors need to exercise extreme caution as the lighting of fires can cause irreparable damage to the area.