Butler is the far end of Perth’s northern corridor, and for a certain kind of British family it is close to ideal. It is also the suburb people dismiss on a map because of the distance, which is a mistake.
Around 13,500 people live there, largely across the Brighton estate. Roughly one in six residents was born in England, one of the highest concentrations anywhere in Australia, and that is not an accident.
The One Thing People Get Right Here, For Once
Butler has a train station, and it is good.
Butler station is the northern terminus of the Joondalup line. Trains reach Perth Underground in about 38 minutes, every ten minutes at peak and every fifteen off peak. That is a genuine turn up and go service of the kind you are used to, and it is the strongest argument for the northern corridor over the southern one if somebody in the household commutes.
Compare that with Baldivis, where the equivalent journey starts with a bus and can take over an hour. Much the same distance from the city on a map, completely different daily life.
The Beach
Under two kilometres. Brighton Beach is the local one and you can be on it in a few minutes. For families coming from the UK this is usually the part that takes longest to believe, and it is the reason a lot of people who came to Butler intending to stay two years are still here.
Schools And Shopping
Butler College is the local independent public high school, with primary schools through the estate. For shopping there is Butler Central, plus Brighton and Merriwa Plaza nearby, and the much larger Ocean Keys at Clarkson is a short drive south.
The Australian school year starts in late January and finishes in December. It does not run September to July. If you are arriving mid year your children will be joining part way through, and if you are timing your move around schooling you are aiming at January rather than September.
Being Honest About The Distance
Forty one kilometres is a long way out, and Butler is at the end of the line rather than in the middle of things. If your work is in Fremantle or the southern suburbs this is the wrong side of the city, and it is better to say so now than to discover it in February.
What you get for that distance is newer housing, more space, the beach, and a community that already contains a lot of people who made the same journey.
The Questions We Cannot Answer Here
Mortgages, visas, insurance and shipping come up constantly, and we are not licensed to advise on any of them. What we can do is point you at the firms in our directory who are, and who deal with British and Irish arrivals every week.
Ask Somebody Who Lives There
40,000+ British and Irish people in Perth are in our community, across the group, page and Instagram, and a good number of them live in Butler. If you want to know whether it suits your family, ask them. It is free to join, and somebody will answer within the hour, usually several somebodies with strong opinions.