The line was constructed to support the post-World War I Group Settlement Scheme at the Peel Estate in Baldivis but was never fully completed, only reaching as far as Wellard.

[2] Modern sources – such as the Western Australian Heritage Register,[3] or the management plans for the walk trails that follow the former line – refer to the Baldivis Tramway Reserve.

The Peel Estate was a 60,000-acre (24,000 ha) area of land, predominantly located in what is now the Cities of Kwinana and Rockingham, that was purchased by the Western Australian government for £24,230 in February 1920.

The intention was for this land to be settled as part of the Group Settlement Scheme, with each settler to receive 120 acres (49 ha), which was supposed to be a mixture of swamp, forest and scrub.

[4] The management and cost of the Peel Estate Group Settlement Scheme were eventually subject of a Royal Commission, which was appointed in December 1923 and presented its report in March 1924, making five recommendations.

[15] The area around the Peel Main Drain east of the current-day Kwinana railway station has been heritage listed as the 9 Mile Dumps site.

The site, which also takes its name from the distance of the Baldivis Tramway from its northern starting point, is an accumulation of sand dunes that are the result of extensive excavations for the drainage canal.