The History

The Darlington Village is located in the Perth Hills at the edge of the Darling Ranges, some 20km east of and overlooking the City of Perth. A picturesque suburb with a natural landscape of hills and valleys, it is surrounded by excellent natural bushland, which provide a wonderful display of wildflowers.

For some 50,000 years, indigenous people inhabited and nurtured this land. The name “BEENONG” road on which the cafe is located is a nod to this indigenous heritage. Beenong means early morning in the indigenous tongue.

During the 1880s and 1890s, the building of the Eastern Railway attracted early settlers who started to farm the land. Since then, Darlington has gradually changed its character, becoming an attractive residential suburb with an artistic soul and a magnet for those looking to connect with nature.

At the heart of the village is an area known locally as the Pines…with playgrounds, oval, tennis courts, bike tracks and the local community hall and of course….The Hive…our cafe which overlooks the village common.

But it wasn’t always a cafe…the site was originally part of a vineyard established in the 1880s. It wasn’t until 1926 that the first building was constructed where the cafe now stands: a butcher shop.

The first cafe appeared nearly 30 years later, when a dutch family (the Van Kootens), established a team room known at The Wooden Shoe.

The years that followed saw the shop grown in size…with the cafe extended, verandas added and a managers residence built. 

Over those years, the shop changed shape and character, alternating between cafe, supermarket and bakery. Often selling a bit of everything from gourmet meals, household essentials, firewood, dry cleaning and even insurance.

In it’s latest form…a cafe once more was reinstalled in 2013. Although it serves the tastiest delicacies one might hope to find in a cafe…it also displays its proud history of the village, a history that has seeped into the walls, the floorboards and the atmosphere of The Hive.

Throughout the years and all the various forms that the building has taken, one constant remains…it has always stood in the heart of the Darlington Village, serving the local community, nature lovers and day trippers alike. As one long standing resident reminds us, no one ever owns the building…it belongs to the Village and the community that its a part of.