Early 1900s – Subdivision marketing in Perth's suburbs
Peet & Company Limited was incorporated in 1905 and has traded as a company continuously since that date, making it the longest established property company in Western Australia, and one of the oldest in Australia.
From around 1903 to 1921, Peet produced a series of large, colourful real estate posters to market its subdivisions. The earliest such poster found is for Roleystone Estate (1903), and the district still bears road names connected with the Peet family (Urch Rd, Hall Rd, Raeburn Rd, Holden Rd).
The company introduced land sales on terms of a one-pound deposit and repayments of 10 shillings per month, interest-free.
In Dalkeith in 1915, lots were as cheap as 25 pounds. At that time, Dalkeith was mostly bush with only surveyors pegs identifying lots. Innovative marketing was part of the company's success and JT Peet used his De Dion Bouton touring car, a novelty at the time, to take prospective clients from the Royal Show (Claremont) to the Dalkeith subdivision.
By the mid-century, Peet was handling 83 estates including parts of Scarborough, North Perth, Mount Hawthorn, Inglewood, Bayswater, Osborne Park, Westminster, Mirrabooka, Malaga, Bassendean, High Wycombe, Kalamunda, Gooseberry Hill, Cottesloe, Peppermint Grove, Redcliffe (now Perth Airport), Rivervale, Victoria Park, Lathlain, Cannington, Canning Vale and Dalkeith.
