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Hamersley is a residential suburb north northwest of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and six kilometres (4 mi) from the Indian Ocean. The suburb adjoins two major arterial roads—Mitchell Freeway to the west and Reid Highway to the south—and is within the City of Stirling local government area. It was built during the late 1960s and 1970s as part of the Government of Western Australia's response to rapidly increasing land prices across the metropolitan area. Hamersley was one of the first Perth suburbs to be guided by the principles of cul de sac design. Hamersley covers and averages above sea level, although portions of the loop formed by Rannoch Circle in the eastern portion are above sea level. A real estate magazine remarked in 1994 that "homes around the Rannoch circle enjoy some spectacular views to the city and the hills", and that "a few lucky householders could even catch ocean glimpses, despite being more than six kilometres from the water." The restricted access bushland reserve surrounding the ABC radio tower in the suburb's southeast covers 14.4% of its area, while parks and areas of natural bushland are spread throughout. The largest of these are Aintree Eglinton Reserve, a grassed reserve next to the community centre complex, and Rannoch Tay Earn Reserve, a reserve containing large areas of native bushland interspersed with grassed and paved walkways. A biodiversity site north of the community centre is recognised by the City of Stirling's Green Plan 2. Streets in western Hamersley are generally named after English towns, while eastern Hamersley uses the names of Scottish Highland and Perthshire towns and lochs. There are exceptions – the origins of Vickers Street precinct street names are unknown, while streets in the south western corner are named after the "Bentley Boys", a group of British racing drivers from the 1920s and 1930s, and their car designer Walter Owen Bentley.

Hamersley's soil is an infertile yellow brown sand composed of fine to coarse quartz grains, with Tamala Limestone beneath. Locally known as Karrakatta Sand, it is almost certainly the leached remnants of coastal sand deposited by eolian processes in the late Pleistocene period, between 11,000 and 100,000 years ago. Below the sand are Paleozoic rocks of the Perth Basin. The sand contains an unconfined aquifer with large supplies of low salinity potable groundwater which is recharged by rainfall. As with other infertile areas of the Swan Coastal Plain, Hamersley would have supported open forests of Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah) with Corymbia calophylla (marri) or Eucalyptus gomphocephala (tuart), and an understorey of Banksia attenuata (candlestick banksia), B. menziesii (firewood banksia), B. grandis (bull banksia), Allocasuarina fraseriana (western sheoak) and Agonis flexuosa (Swan River peppermint). The main shrub species would have been Jacksonia sternbergiana (Stinkwood), J. furcellata (Grey Stinkwood), Acacia cyclops (Coastal Wattle), Acacia saligna (orange wattle), Hibbertia species, Allocasuarina humilis (dwarf sheoak), Calothamnus quadrifidus (one sided bottlebrush) and Grevillea thelemanniana (spider net grevillea).

Hamersley was named after the Hamersley family who arrived in the colony of Western Australia in 1837 and established themselves at Guildford. There is no evidence they ever visited modern Hamersley, but in 1869 they built a summer home in what is now North Beach, to the west, and bought considerable holdings in the area over the following years. The name first came into use to describe the north western section of the Perth Road District in 1906. Hamersley Ward was a large area of land covering what is now Hamersley, Carine, Watermans Bay, North Beach, Gwelup and parts of Balcatta, Karrinyup and Trigg. The Hamersley townsite, consisting of Hamersley Ward, was gazetted in 1945. As a result, many facilities in North Beach, including a primary school, a golf course, several sporting clubs and residents' and seniors' associations, were called Hamersley. After the Hamersley Development Scheme started in 1968, confusion as to exactly what Hamersley referred to led to conflict between established organisations in North Beach and emerging ones in Hamersley – the Hamersley Gazette noted in 1973 that "North Beach people have the prior claim but ours is more officially accepted". The suburb was gazetted as a locality by the City of Stirling on 24 October 1975, although it had existed as a postal locality since 1971.

Before European settlement, Hamersley was part of a larger area of land that was occupied by the Mooro people, an Indigenous Australian people who traversed the lakes and wetlands running parallel to the coast between what is now Perth and Yanchep. Soon after the establishment of the Swan River Colony, colonial authorities divided up the land into grants which were given to settlers who had brought capital into the new settlement. Southern Hamersley became part of Location K, a strip of land extending west from Caversham on the Swan River to Big Carine Swamp, which was granted to Robert Ansell Partridge in September 1829. The western part of this, first surveyed by P. L. S. Chauncy in 1843, By the late 1930s, portions in the far west and south east of the suburb had been cleared for small scale agriculture such as market gardening, and in 1939 the Department of the Interior constructed a tower and other facilities for ABC AM and shortwave radio broadcasts on Wanneroo Road. after being surveyed by Crossland & Co. in 1892, and by N. Lymburner in 1894. It appears that no development occurred in northern Hamersley, other than the construction of Beach and Carine Roads in 1900, and the State Housing Commission resumed the land in November 1950. In 1962, a lucerne grower with a property on Duffy Road, Carine applied to use the northern half of the suburb as a sheep run. The Shire President, Herbert R. Robinson, refused to grant permission, saying that "land might soon be needed for housing". The West Australian reported in 1967 that the area was still "virtually untouched bushland". On 13 December 1967, the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority decided to rezone as urban all land bounded by Hepburn Avenue, Marmion Avenue, North Perimeter Highway and Wanneroo Road, on the condition that subdivision would be approved when "Town Planning (Development) Scheme(s) have been approved with the general object of serving the best possible development at the least cost to the community". The shires of Perth and Wanneroo combined to prepare Town Planning Scheme No.26 (Hamersley Development Scheme), and by early March 1968, the scheme, which included provisions for water supply, sewerage, drainage, road construction and undergrounding of power mains, was presented to both councils for consideration. A time limit of 3 1/2 years for developers to construct homes on released land was built into the scheme in an effort to prevent land speculation, which the inter departmental committee believed was a key factor in spiralling prices in Perth. By July, however, negotiations between the councils broke down, and the Shire of Perth (now City of Stirling) decided to administer its own part of the scheme independently. The scheme was divided into nine sections, with what is now the suburb of Hamersley being the first stage. In April 1968 the R&I Bank, a government owned bank, was granted permission to subdivide a small area in northern Ardleigh Crescent in the suburb's west. The first auction of 80 lots on Saturday, 14 December 1968 was anticipated on the front page of The West Australian, with Premier Brand advising intending buyers to be cautious about their bids. At the auction, 76 lots were sold at an average price of $4,784, compared to $6,700 at a recent R&I Bank sale in the nearby suburb of Karrinyup, with newspapers agreeing that the Premier's warning had been heeded by bidders. The western portion of Hamersley grew steadily over the following months and years, with segments being released, auctioned and developed by the R&I Bank, T&S Plunkett Homes and Parkland Housing. The Hamersley Development Scheme, however, was doomed almost before it started. Disagreements over issues such as undergrounding of power and the time limit clauses between the Town Planning Board and the Shire of Perth had caused delays in the scheme's approval. In July 1970, the Shire Planner reported that "there is little point in proceeding with the Scheme, especially in view of the large areas already subdivided", and recommended the council agree "that for all practical purposes, Town Planning Scheme No. 26. is defunct". By the February 1971 state election, over 1,000 eligible voters lived in the district.

In June 1970, the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority released land in the southwestern corner of Hamersley, which had previously been held in reserve under the Metropolitan Region Scheme for a large freeway interchange between the future Mitchell Freeway (then known as Stephenson Freeway) and Reid Highway (North Perimeter Freeway). The result of these changes was to allow the construction of Walter Way, Dutton Crescent and connecting streets, which were named after racing drivers from the 1920s and 1930s. A July 1973 article, for example, lamented that "work on Erindale Road appears to have come to a standstill great piles of dirt and unmade road surfaces bear testimony to the fact that something is going on, or should be going on, but this one is taking a very long time." However, there were also celebrations – the paper reported in detail on the annual Glendale Spring Fair, held between 1973 and 1976 by the Glendale P&C Association on the second Saturday in November. It included activities for children, marching bands provided by The Salvation Army and the Australian 10th Light Horse Regiment, and a parade along Glendale Avenue and Beach Road at 10:30 am. Intended originally as a fundraiser for the school, the Gazette reported that it was "a sort of glorified féte that rapidly outgrew its origins", with live coverage of the parade on ABC radio and on television station TVW 7 and personalities such as Jeff Newman in attendance. The fair, however, became the victim of a dispute over naming rights between the Glendale P&C, community groups and commercial sponsors. Other events included the grand opening of Warwick Grove Shopping Centre on 13 November 1974, the greening of Aintree Eglinton Reserve and the activities of the Hamersley Progress Association. The paper was acquired in February 1977 by Bill Marwick of the Wanneroo Times, and evolved into the Stirling Times in 1980. Meanwhile, work was only starting in eastern Hamersley. In 1973 Project Homes acquired a poultry farm and agricultural holding, and completed the construction of Vickers Street and adjoining roads, with Don Place becoming a display village. In 1974 the City of Stirling agreed, after complex negotiations, to sell of land comprising Carine Road and Allen Street to the State Housing Commission and to War Service Homes in order to "facilitate a satisfactory subdivisional design of adjoining land held by the State Housing Commission" in the eastern portion of the suburb. All that remains of these two early roads are paved pathways within the Rannoch Tay Earn Reserve, which was gazetted in 1976. By July 1975, 200 defence service homes were under construction on land immediately to the east of Erindale Road, to be made available to veterans from March 1976. The rest of eastern Hamersley was built over the next few years, and by 1981 development was essentially complete. The community hall was redeveloped into a full fledged community centre, which officially opened in 1990. Despite Hamersley's stability in the years since 1981 and its relatively low crime rate, it has periodically drawn the attention of the Perth media. In July 2000, a man bludgeoned his former girlfriend, mother of two Deborah Boyd, to death in a rented home in Brabant Way. He was subsequently sentenced to strict security life imprisonment. On 23 January 2006, a large scrub fire caused the closure of Reid Highway and delays in rail line services during the afternoon rush hour.

Hamersley had a population of 5,209 at the 2021 census. This was an increase on the 4,982 recorded at the 2016 and 2011 censuses, and the 4,965 recorded at the 2006 census, but a decrease on the 5,233 recorded at the 2001 census. At the 2021 census, 49.8% of residents were male and 50.2% were female. The median age was 39, above the state and national average of 38. 1.1% of residents identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, below the state and national averages of 3.3% and 3.2% respectively. Within the reserve is the Hamersley Community Recreation Centre, first built in the 1970s as a community hall and opened in its present form on 22 April 1990. Near the centre are the 1st Hamersley Scout Group, a child health centre and the Holy Cross Anglican Church, a colonial style building built in 1974 and consecrated on 14 December 1980 to serve the newly formed Balcatta Hamersley Parish. Numerous small parks are throughout all parts of Hamersley, usually joining the ends of several cul de sacs. The southeastern corner contains the ABC 50 kW radio tower which transmits ABC AM radio in Perth, including ABC Local Radio (6WF), Radio National and ABC NewsRadio. Several other towers, including a 20 kW and 10 kW tower, are also at the site. Some residents argue that electromagnetic interference from the towers is adversely affecting their television and telephone reception, with the issue taken up in Federal parliament by local MPs. An inquiry was held by ACMA in November 2010 into the situation, which found that apart from some disturbance to ABC2 signals, TV and radio signals in the area were of acceptable strength and quality.

Hamersley contains two state primary schools, each of which includes facilities for pre primary students, and a teaching resource centre. Hamersley is within the catchment area for Warwick Senior High School for students from Years 8 to 12. Public transport usage was highest (16.8%) in the section of Hamersley closest to the train station, and lowest (8.3%) in the Vickers Street section to the southeast, where many residents live more than 10 minutes' walk from the nearest bus stop. Currently, the only service in the suburb is the 387 daytime service between Warwick and Perth via Balcatta Road, which travels along Eglinton Crescent. Eastern Hamersley does not have a direct service, other than those along Erindale and Wanneroo Roads. However, service along Wanneroo Road is very limited outside standard weekday hours. Originally, Hamersley was served by a shuttle service to Wanneroo Road, Nollamara, to connect with other routes to the Perth CBD. In September 1973, the Metropolitan Transport Trust introduced the 358 and 359 services, which linked Greenwood to Perth via Eglinton Crescent and Glendale Avenue/Aintree Street respectively, travelling along Blissett Way, then becoming limited stops Wanneroo Road services. An after hours service, the 369, was also introduced. In 1987, following the construction of the Warwick Transfer Station and the Mitchell Freeway, services along Glendale Avenue and through East Hamersley ceased, with two new routes – the 347 and the Freeway bound 387 – being created to serve Eglinton Crescent. On 21 March 1993, the Joondalup railway line came into operation as part of the Northern Suburbs Transit System, resulting in the creation of the 449 and 457 services to replace the 387 service. The 449 operated only during the morning and evening rush hour, while the 457 operated after hours and at weekends. These services operated virtually unchanged until 6 November 2011, when the 347 was replaced with the present day 387, and the 457 and weekday evening services were withdrawn. On 31 January 2016, the 449 was also withdrawn, leaving Hamersley without weekend bus services.