Plentiful in natural resources, the area now known as Armadale was long occupied by Aboriginal people prior to the founding of the Swan River Colony.

Interest in settlement at Kelmscott waned soon after the township was established, the district's inaccessibility (no road from Perth having yet been formed) and a general shortage of labour being factors militating against farming in that area.

[10] It was at the junction of the roads to Albany and Pinjarra that the township of Armadale was born when an enterprising settler saw opportunity to establish a wayside inn there, some time around 1853.

The property was sold to Thomas Saw in 1856, and together with his father-in-law, Henry Gibbs, in 1856 he applied for a wayside licence to sell liquor.

For many years the district was known as Neerigin or Narrogin, and a hotel bearing this name still stands on the site of the original wayside inn.

[11] In 1889, the northern section of the South Western Railway was constructed from Perth to what is now Armadale,[12] and in 1897 a station was built at this location to service the sparsely scattered population of this district.

[22] On 26 September 2019, Michelle Roberts announced the construction on a new Armadale Court House and Police Complex.

[25][26] Armadale, being an urban centre and transport hub for the surrounding districts, contains a variety of educational institutions.

The district's population increased steadily in the first half of the 20th century, and additional classrooms were added to the school as the need presented.

Following WW2, the population growth was more rapid and the State saw fit to establish a regional high school in Armadale.

[29] From 1951, a community of Dutch migrants who were members of the Free Reformed Church settled in the district and they opened a parent run school on Robinhood Avenue in December 1957.

As Armadale's population increased, new State-run primary schools opened: Kingsley (1969), Neerigen Brook (1970), Challis (1974),[31] and Gwynne Park (1978).

Other State and private schools have been established in neighbouring population centres of Westfield, Kelmscott, Roleystone and Byford.

Bus routes serving Fourth Road, William Street and South Western Highway: