Бедфорд: от колониальных надежд к трагедии современности.

When Europeans founded the Swan River Colony in 1829, they did not recognise the indigenous ownership of the land. Land along the Swan River was surveyed by John Septimus Roe, the colony's Surveyor General. The survey resulted in the land being divided into long, narrow rectangular strips extending from the river. As the river was the only method of transportation in the early years of the colony, each piece of land had to have river frontage. The long, narrow strips were called "ribbon grants", however the term "grant" was misleading, as the grantees had a requirement that they make improvements to the land granted to them within 10 years, or be forced to forfeit the land. In 1830, the colonists travelled up the river to the land allotted to them. The colonists were disappointed to discover that most of the area inland was unsuitable for European agriculture, being sand dunes interspersed with swampland. Most of these colonists either died or left the area soon after, and none of them settled in the present day Bedford, far away from the Swan River. During World War II, the tram was extended to Grand Promenade, as one of the final extensions to Perth's tramway system. Following World War II, there was a severe shortage of housing in Perth. The State Housing Commission bought large areas of land in Bedford. The first public housing estate built in Bedford was between Walter Road and Craven Street.</blockquote>

By 1948, the population in the northern side of Bedford Park was large enough for shops to be needed. The State Housing Commission was initially unsure of whether its job was to provide shops or whether it was appropriate. It was decided that the housing commission did need to build shops, and so the shops along Grand Promenade are the first in Perth to be built using taxpayer money. In 1961, Bedford Park was renamed Bedford. This change happened alongside the renaming of Morley Park to Morley.

In September 2018, 24 year old Anthony Robert Harvey was arrested for the murder of his family of five in a house on Coode Street. Harvey was charged with murdering his three daughters, all under the age of four, his wife, and his mother in law. Harvey murdered his children and wife on 3 September 2018. The next morning, he murdered his mother in law. Police found that no firearms were used; instead "blunt objects" and knives were used. Harvey's case came before Justice Stephen Hall in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, where he became the first Western Australian in history to be sentenced to life in prison with no option for release. ABC News reported this event to be the "third mass murder" for a domestic household of 2018, claiming that Bedford and metropolitan Perth were in a "domestic violence crisis". The house was demolished in May 2021.

Bedford is located north east of the central business district (CBD) of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, east of the Indian Ocean, and covers an area of
Bedford is zoned as "urban" in the Metropolitan Region Scheme, and consists predominantly of single family detached homes, with clusters of commercial buildings along Beaufort Street, Grand Promenade and Walter Road. The streets in the suburb follow a grid pattern, a remnant of the old ribbon grants.

Bedford's population at the 2016 Australian census was 5,438. This is an increase on the 4,944 recorded at the 2011 census, 4,575 recorded at the 2006 census, and 4,240 recorded at the 2001 census. 48.8% of residents are male and 51.2% are female. The median age is 37 years, just above the Western Australian average of 36. Out of the suburb's 2,224 dwellings, 2,016 were occupied and 208 were unoccupied. Out of the occupied dwellings, 1,749 were detached houses, 257 were semi detached and 10 were apartments or flats. 564 were owned outright, 791 were owned with a mortgage, 593 were rented and 67 were other or not stated. Bedford's tenure statistics closely aligns with the state averages. Grand Promenade Reserve is a park used for various sports. The oval is used for soccer and cricket, using an artificial pitch. The park also has cricket nets, courts for basketball and netball, and a playground. Next to it is a lawn bowls club and a community hall leased to the Filipino Australian Multicultural Association. RA Cook Reserve is a sports reserve on Coode Street, used for cricket, Australian rules football, hurling, and softball. It has a turf pitch and two artificial cricket pitches, as well as cricket nets, and two Australian rules football ovals in winter. It is used by various sports clubs, and has a community hall for hire. Other minor parks are spread throughout the suburb, including Alan Lehmann Reserve, Birkett Street Reserve, Browns Lake Reserve, Gummery Reserve and Remembrance Park. The portion of Bedford used as public open space is less than the 10% recommended by the state government's liveable neighbourhoods policy. The school first opened in 1941, occupying a single house. The school moved down the street to its current site in 1942. Expansions occurred in the 1950s, and in 1957, a secondary school for girls named St Thomas Aquinas College opened on the same site. The two schools would undergo significant improvements and renovations over the decades that followed. Meanwhile, St Mark’s College, a secondary school for boys, was established on Beaufort Street in Bedford. In 1989, St Thomas Aquinas College and St Mark's College merged to form Chisholm Catholic College. St Thomas Aquinas became the campus for lower school students, and St Mark's became the campus for senior school students. In 2003, the school was consolidated on the Beaufort Street site, and the Wood Street site became solely for St Peter's Primary School. Today, Chisholm Catholic College has 1,700 students from Year 7 to 12. There are no public primary schools in Bedford, but parts of the suburb are in the intake areas of Hillcrest Primary School, Inglewood Primary School and Morley Primary School. There are also no public secondary schools in Bedford, but the suburb is in the intake area for John Forrest Secondary College.

Bedford is in the City of Bayswater local government area. It lies fully within the City's west ward. which is a strong seat for the centre left Labor Party, who have held it since 1968. Mayland's current member is Lisa Baker. In the Western Australian Legislative Council, this district is part of the East Metropolitan electoral region. The results below combine the results of the polling places in Bedford.

Bedford is within the Division of Perth in the Australian Federal Government. It is a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party, and has been held by a Labor member since 1983. Its current member is Patrick Gorman. The results below are the results for the Bedford polling place, at Beaufort Park Hall.

Cars are the most popular mode of transport in Bedford. The 2016 Australian census said that 61.0% of residents travelled to work in a car. However, bus usage is significantly above the state average. 10.0% of Bedford residents said they take the bus to work compared to 3.9% of Western Australians. Route 980 runs along Walter Road between Morley bus station and Elizabeth Quay bus station.