How does it feel to live in ‘Success’? Hold that thought. 

It’s not about how good you are in life. You can only answer if you live in the Perth suburb called Success. 

That small giggle, the little smile on your face, is what happens whenever the City of Cockburn Youth Advisory Member Andie Rubico, tells people he lives in Success. Rubico smiles, “I usually make a joke out of it by saying, ‘I’m living successfully. It’s until I say I live in Success, City of Cockburn, that they find out where it is.”

Success might sound new, but it is one of the oldest names in Western Australia’s colonial history. The suburb’s unusual name comes from a ship, HMS Success, captained by James Stirling. 

She sailed to Western Australia for the first time in 1827 and returned in 1829. Interestingly, there have been three ships named Success: the convict ship Success, the Australian Navy Ship HMAS Success II, and the British Royal Navy ship HMS Success. Just like people have a beginning, these ships also have a history. 

For the suburb’s namesake HMS Success, it all began in 1823 when her keel was laid down in Pembroke Dockyard in England. From this first timber, she slowly took shape and was ready to sail in 1825 with a mission to explore sites for a new colony.  Being the seventh of her kind, Success was an Atholl-class warship, armed with 28 guns and worth about £14,310. She was entered in the Navy list as “6th rate” ship, a term related to her small size and the number of guns she carried.

HMS Success left England with Captain James Stirling in command, money in the form of coins for the colony, and 153 crew but according to records written by Captain Stirling’s clerk, W.C. Glibert, Success’s crew in some “inexplicable manner” grew to 160 men and 11 boys by the time the ship came to anchor off the mouth of the Swan River in 1827.

The extra crew may have come on board in Sydney, as records show that towards the end of 1826, she was anchored in Sydney Harbour. After weeks at sea facing heavy winds, being tossed around like a toy, with brief stops at places like Rottnest Island, she reached the Swan River, marking her name in Western Australian history. 

She returned to WA shores again in late 1829 to begin settlement of the Swan River Colony. This time, she sailed under Captain William Jervoise. However, this visit came with a challenge for her. She ran aground on a sandbank, now named Success Bank in Cockburn Sound. She sat stranded for 12 months under repair, while many wondered what would become of her. She was six years old when an order came to return her to England to be broken up. 

She was only an infant compared to other warships still in service at that time, some having been sailing for 20 to 40 years. But when she got to Portsmouth, Success was fitted as a receiving ship and served as a harbour ship for 16 years, from 1833 to 1849. 

Sadly, on June 5, 1849, she was placed in dock at Portsmouth, and the work of breaking her up commenced. When HMS Success was disassembled, her timbers and floors were found to be in perfect condition (some of them were WA jarrah from her repairs in 1829/30). The value of stores returned amounted to £1647. 

Almost 200 years after HMS Success first sailed into the Swan River, her name still lives on in Success Hill in Bassendean, Success Bank near Carnac Island in Cockburn Sound, and the suburb of Success in the City of Cockburn. But does having the name Success mean it’s successful? 

According to local history, the first owners of the land, where suburb of Success is located, were the Beeliar Nyungar people, meaning “river people”. They called their land Beeliar Boodjar. 

A volunteer at Azelia Ley Homestead Museum Paul McGrath explained that before what we know as Success came to be, the whole area was called the Jandakot Agricultural area. 

Although the area was open for settlement in 1890, it was cleared, and the land was used predominantly for market gardening. Success became a suburb in 1973, but housing development didn’t begin until the 1990s. 

McGrath explained that what we now know as the suburb of Success is bounded by Hammond Road, the Kwinana Freeway, Beeliar Drive, and Russell Road. 

One of the notable places in this suburb is the Gateway Shopping Centre, which has been in existence since 1999. Walking into the shopping centre, the first thing that catches your eye is the beautifully crafted architecture, with lots of people going in and out of the various stores present at the square. You can see and feel the warmth in the air with music playing out of the stereo, and smiling faces at the information desk. 

Other notable places in Success include, Aubin Grove train station and the Success Primary School. The Success Primary School opened its doors in 2009. The school currently caters for about 745 students.

Rubico, who has lived in Success for about 15 years, says he has seen the suburb grow, especially the shopping centre, in other words, it is successful. He said, “I think we are a very multicultural community, and that’s sort of what makes us strong.”

An ABS 2021 Census report shows that the suburb is home to 11,340 people, with 95.7 per cent of the population being non- indigenous. Rubico describes life in the suburb and how multicultural it is, saying, “We have a large population of immigrants as well. We’ve got immigrants from all over the world.” 

The suburb has access to two train stations, one on the south side (Aubin Grove) and the other on the north (Cockburn Central) side, making transportation easy. A report from Microburbs has shown that the suburb is highly liveable, with scores of 78 out of 100 for lifestyle and 83 out of 100 for tranquillity. 

But what’s in a name? For many people, living in Success could mean easy access to trains, shopping and schools. Living in Success doesn’t always mean having riches or, for ships, sailing for a long time and founding colonies. It can mean being surrounded by family, or having inner peace.

What does “living in success” mean to you?

This article is part of a larger project called Where What Why. You can find the whole collection of stories about places and their names here.