By Anthony Barich
Glendalough parishioners will retain their parish-suburb name despite the Town of Vincent changing the boundaries so that the Church now sits in Mt Hawthorn (see graphic).
The Town of Vincent has shifted the boundaries, renaming as Mt Hawthorn a portion of Glendalough east of the Mitchell Freeway.
St Bernadette’s Church on Jugan Street is in the triangular area to be renamed, but Perth Vicar General Fr Brian O’Loughlin says there is no need at this point to change the parish name to Mt Hawthorn.
This is especially the case, Fr O’Loughlin said, given the historical significance – Glendalough was named thus by Bishop Matthew Gibney – the founder of The Record. The Vicar General said Glendalough is named after an ancient monastery that gave free education during the medieval period in Kildare, Ireland.
Glendalough parish priest Fr Doug Harris expects real estate prices to rise with it – a view shared by the Real Estate Institute of WA.
A REIWA spokesman told The Record that “suburb names do have quite an impact on house prices.
“There’s a good chance that Glendalough, which has not had as strong a reputation as Mt Hawthorn, will benefit, as that triangular section that will be absorbed into Mt Hawthorn.
Mt Hawthorn was always a quality area but has become quite prestigious in the past decade.
Glendalough was in the same spot, but a simple name change can definitely have an impact on potential buyers.” A statement released by the Town of Vincent said that over 72 per cent of respondents to a community survey indicated support for the name change.
Town of Vincent Mayor Nick Catania, a local practising Catholic, said: “I hope that the existing Mount Hawthorn community will join with the Town in embracing the new residents.”
Whilst the Town’s municipality boundary runs along Scarborough Beach Road, the renaming does not apply to those properties/lots which are in Osborne Park – these properties remain in that suburb, it is only the properties/lots that were formerly named Glendalough that have changed (see map).
The Town of Vincent statement said that residents and business proprietors in the re-named Glendalough area will need to update their details with those with whom they correspond and amend letterheads, etc to reflect the change.
Mail delivery will continue, but the change when possible should be made to assist Australia Post with the rationalisation of their postal procedures.
The Town will “not be compensating any person or business for expended monies associated with any changes they make to reflect the change in suburb name”.
Fr Harris says the changes will mean more than changing the parish letterhead and diocesan directory details. He says that while there are plenty of single-income families with a couple of kids, these will become the exception rather than the norm “now that we’re Mt Hawthorn”, and that prices are already around $600,000.
He said that as these prices keep going up, people must ensure that, with the double income often needed to support the higher mortgages, their children are not neglected. “We need to ensure that kids are brought up in the faith and are not neglected, and that they still experience that family love,” he said.
Fr Harris said the upside is that as people already have an established income, the people moving into the suburb in might be more mature and potentially more serious about their faith. But chances are they’ll have less children.
“In time, you may not see too many young families here,” he said. “There are a few who have kids but if they do it will only be a couple, as they are paying off a big mortgage.
“They are less likely to have kids because their profession is more important than having children.”