the name gosnells dates back to 1862 when charles gosnell who was the owner of london cosmetic company john gosnell & co., bought canning location 16 from the davis family who were the original grantees in 1829. while the purchase of the land was a personal investment by charles gosnell, when the land was sold to developers in 1903 the developers used the association to the well known cosmetic company, claiming it had bought the land because of its fertile soil to grow flowers for the manufacture of its perfume range. the abundance of the arum lily ("zantedeschia aethiopica") in the area and the marketing by the developers contributed to the myth about the gosnell company, being so successful that the gosnells railway station was constructed on the armadale line in 1903.