Bentley is a southern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southeast of Perth's central business district. Its local government areas are the City of Canning and the Town of Victoria Park. Bentley is home to the main campus of Curtin University and Technology Park.

Prior to European settlement, the area was originally home to the Beeloo Nyungar people, whose territory extended from the Canning River to the Darling Scarp. The Beeloo hunted and fished in land close to the river, which was then forested with jarrah and marri trees, as much of the metropolitan area was at the time. In 2001, the ABS reported that about 3% of Bentley's population were Aboriginal.

In 1830, the land – including the future St James – was granted to James McDermott, and changed hands several times over the next five decades before being subdivided in 1885.

The area got its name from John Bentley (1822–1871), a Crimean War veteran, who arrived in Western Australia as a Pensioner Guard, and from 1862 until 1864 supervised convicts building Albany Road, later renamed to Albany Highway. A large camp for the road workers was established in what is now St James, which became known as Bentley Hill, while the surrounding, lower-lying areas became known simply as Bentley.

In the 1880s, a dairy was established at Canningford House near the present-day intersection of Albany Highway and Leach Highway by Fred and Harry Liddelow, and in 1905 a piggery was established opposite.

In the 1940s, the State Housing Commission commenced urban residential development in the area. Housing was also provided by the government to reward former military servicemen for their efforts during the Second World War. Some of these modest war service homes remain today, a few are still occupied by ageing veterans. In 1960–1961, two large retirement housing complexes, Bentley Park (formerly Swan Cottage Homes) and Rowethorpe Homes, were built in the suburb's west and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), later Curtin University, was opened in 1967.

In 1969–1970, the Brownlie Towers precinct was created – the main feature of which were the twin 10-storey Brownlie Towers. Also included in the precinct were a smaller two-storey apartment complex, 104 two-storey townhouses and 20 single detached houses. Complete with a school, community centre, shopping area, swimming pool and sports facilities and linked to public transport, it was initially championed as a triumph of community building and innovative design by the State Housing Commission. However, social problems developed on and around the site, in part due to high vacancy rates and the public accessibility of the main towers. In 2002, the Government added the precinct to its New Living refurbishment program, which commenced at Brownlie Towers in 2004. Ultimately, the towers were demolished in 2019 to make way for the Bentley 360 residential development.

The Western Australian Technology Park was established opposite WAIT in 1985, and expanded in the 1990s. Over 90 companies, government departments and research groups with over 2,500 employees across a range of technological and scientific fields opened offices and research facilities at the park. It claims to contribute, as of September 2005^[update], over A$2 billion, equivalent to A$3.07 billion in 2022, per annum to the Western Australian economy.