Our Association was formed in October 1992 at a public meeting held in the Maylands Library. We were then declared the Maylands Historical Society by the Mayor of the City of Stirling. At that time we met at the old Peninsular Hotel built in 1906. On the 5th June 2003, we changed our name to the Maylands Historical and Peninsula Association Inc. to reflect the work we help with at the Old Peninsula Hotel in Maylands, in addition to our other historical work.
In 2012 the City of Bayswater provided the association with a lease of the Old Police Station (pictured above). On Friday 19th October of that we commenced operations from that building.
General meetings are still held at the Peninsular Hotel on the third Monday of the month between March and December at 7:30pm. Our 41 paid up members enjoy our guest speakers who are recorded and DVD’s are made for future use at meeting or events. We finish the year in December with a celebratory meal. Only once in the last 18 years have we had to cancel a meeting owing to inclement weather. Committee meetings are held at the Old Maylands Police station 196 Guildford Road where we also hold an open day every Wednesday between 9:30am and 3:30pm. A team of members sort articles, photos and show visitors around our collection. Although we are not a museum we have collected a lot of photographs, that are being assessed, and we have also conducted and recorded oral interviews with elderly people in the district.
Maylands has a number of historic buildings with which we are involved – Tranby house on the Peninsula, the Albany Bell castle, the old Peninsula Hotel DOME and the old Royal institute for the blind. There is also the Old Maylands Aerodrome (1924-1963) and our earliest success as an Association was our application in about 1993 to the West Australian Heritage Council to have the Old Maylands Aerodrome (1924-1963) placed on the West Australian List of Heritage Places. This Aerodrome was built to support West Australian Airways Ltd. flying the first commercial air service in Australia (before Qantas). We are currently designing a Commemorative Park to be built at the entrance of the old Aerodrome, in memory of the aerodrome activities.