[2] Wembley was originally inhabited by the Mooro people of the Noongar Aboriginal clan for at least 40,000 years before European settlement.

[8] The Spearwood Dunes stretch across the Swan Coastal Plain varying in 3 to 15 km in width and consists of Tamala Limestone under its surface.

[11] With the growth of Perth, some discussion occurred regarding the outcome of Lake Monger, including the potential for drainage or agricultural use.

[10] The Indigenous people of the land are the Mooro, a subgroup of the Whadjuk, of the Noongar Aboriginal clan inhabiting the upper west region of the Swan River for at least 40,000 years.

[12] They moved towards the lakes during summer, as the wetlands served as an important source of water, food, vegetation, and shelter material.

[4] With the arrival of European settlers, the Mooro, led by the Indigenous leader Yellagonga at the time, retreated to Lake Monger.

[4][12] One such conflict in the Wembley area occurred in 1830, when the Mooro and European soldiers and settlers engaged in a battle, ending in what is now thought to be Lake Monger.

[14] Lake Monger was used as a food depot in 1833 for the local Aboriginal people as more land in the area was being granted to early settlers.

[13] In January 1846, John Brady, the first Bishop of Perth, seven Sisters of Mercy and two Spanish Benedictine Monks, Joseph Benedict Serra and Rosendo Salvado arrived at Fremantle.

[4] In the late 1850s, a monastery was established at New Subiaco, where current day MercyCare Residential Aged Care is located, by the Benedictine Monks.

[13] The area where the monastery was located came to be known as Emerald Hill, a reference to Ireland, in the 1890s due to its strong Irish Catholic presence.

[3] With the completion of the Perth-Fremantle railway in 1881,[3] Subiaco station opened in 1883 nearby, close to Salvado Road (Bizzaca, 2014).

[13] Playgrounds, jetties, a bandstand and bathing sheds were built on Lake Monger, with boating, yacht races and fishing being a form of leisure for residents.

[13] In 1909, the Municipality of Leederville, the Roman Catholic Church and John Nanson, then the owner of the Perthshire Estate,[3] began talks on subdivision of their lands around the Wembley area.

[13] A tram station was built in Wembley in 1927, reaching up to Nanson Street, and allowed greater access to western Perth.

[13] The western end of Cambridge Street also featured a dairy till 1941, and several businesses opened around the Wembley Hotel[13] which was established earlier in 1932.

[18] Nearby, the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in the suburb of Floreat with the construction of the Perry Lakes Stadium.

[13] In this period, Wembley was seen as part of the inner suburbs and saw an increase in housing densities as more younger families started to move in.