Perth was originally founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony, and gained city status in 1856 (currently vested in the smaller City of Perth). The city is named for Perth, Scotland, by influence of Sir George Murray, then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The city's population increased substantially as a result of the Western Australian gold rushes in the late 19th century, largely as a result of emigration from the eastern colonies of Australia. During Australia's involvement in World War II, Fremantle served as a base for submarines operating in the Pacific Theatre. An influx of immigrants following the conclusion of the war was followed by a surge in economic activity as a result of several mining booms in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with Perth becoming the regional headquarters for a number of mining operations located around the state.
As part of Perth's role as the capital of Western Australia, the state's Parliament and Supreme Court are located within the city, as well as Government House, the residence of the Governor of Western Australia. Perth became known worldwide as the "City of Light" when city residents lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962.[9][10] The city repeated the act as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in 1998.[11][12] Perth came 9th in the Economist Intelligence Unit's August 2012 list of the world's most liveable cities,[13] and was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2010 as a world city.[14]
Indigenous history
Before
European colonisation, the area had been inhabited by the Whadjuk
Noongar
people for over 40,000 years, as evidenced by archaeological findings on the
Upper Swan River.[15]
These Aborigines occupied the southwest corner
of Western Australia, living as hunter-gatherers. The wetlands on
the Swan Coastal Plain were particularly important to them, both
spiritually, featuring in local mythology, and as a source of food.
Rottnest,
Carnac
and Garden Islands were also
important to the Noongar. About 5,000 years ago the sea levels were low enough
that they could walk to the limestone outcrops.
The
area where Perth now stands was called Boorloo
by the Aboriginals living there at the time of their first contact with
Europeans in 1827. Boorloo formed part of Mooro, the tribal lands of the Yellagonga. It is one of several
groups based around the Swan River and known collectively as the Whadjuk. The
Whadjuk were part of a larger group of thirteen or more tribes which formed the
south west socio-linguistic block known as the Noongar
(meaning "the people" in their
language), also sometimes called the Bibbulmun.
On
19 September 2006, the Federal Court of Australia brought down a
judgment recognising Noongar native title over the Perth
metropolitan area, in the case of Bennell
v State of Western Australia [2006] FCA 1243.[16]
The judgment was overturned on appeal.[17]
Early European sightings
The
first documented European sighting of the region was made by the Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew on 10 January
1697.[18]
Subsequent sightings between this date and 1829 were made by other Europeans,
but as in the case of the sighting and observations made by Vlamingh, the area
was considered to be inhospitable and unsuitable for the agriculture which
would be needed to sustain a settlement.
Swan River Colony
The Foundation of Perth 1829 by George Pitt Morison is a historically accurate
reconstruction of the official ceremony by which Perth was founded.
Main
article: Swan River Colony
Although
the British Army had established a base at King George Sound (later Albany) on the
south coast of western Australia in 1826 in response to rumours that the area
would be annexed by France, Perth was the first full-scale settlement by
Europeans in the western third of the continent. The British colony would be
officially designated Western Australia in 1832, but was known informally for
many years as the Swan River Colony after the area's major watercourse.
On
4 June 1829, newly arriving British colonists had their first view of the
mainland, and Western Australia's Foundation Day has since been recognised by a
public holiday on the first Monday in June each year. Captain James Stirling,
aboard the Parmelia, said that
Perth was "as beautiful as anything of this kind I had ever
witnessed". On 12 August that year, Helen Dance, wife of the captain of
the second ship, Sulphur, cut
down a tree to mark the founding of the town.
It
is clear that Stirling had already selected the name Perth for the capital well before the town was proclaimed, as
his proclamation of the colony, read in Fremantle on 18 June 1829, ended
"given under my hand and Seal at Perth this 18th Day of June 1829. James
Stirling Lieutenant Governor".[19]
The only contemporary information on the source of the name comes from Fremantle's
diary entry for 12 August, which records that they "named the town Perth
according to the wishes of Sir George Murray".[20]
Murray was born in Perth, Scotland, and was in 1829 Secretary of State for the Colonies
and Member for Perthshire in the British House of Commons. The town was
named after the Scottish Perth,[21][22] in Murray's
honour.[23][24][25]
Beginning
in 1831, hostile encounters between the British settlers and the Noongar
people – both large-scale land users with conflicting land value
systems – increased considerably as the colony grew. This violent phase of
the region's history culminated in a series of events in which the British
overcame the indigenous people, including the execution of the Whadjuk
elder Midgegooroo,
the death of his son Yagan
in 1833, and the Battle of Pinjarra in 1834.
By
1843, when Yellagonga died, his people had begun to disintegrate after having
been dispossessed of the land around the main settlement area of Perth. They
retreated to the swamps and lakes north of the settlement area including Third
Swamp, known to them as Boodjamooling. Boodjamooling continued to
be a main camp-site for the remaining Noongar people in the Perth region, and
was also used by travellers, itinerants, and homeless people. By the gold-rush
days of the 1890s they were joined by miners who were en route to the
goldfields.[26]
In
1850, Western Australia was opened to convicts at the
request of farming and business people looking for cheap labour.[27] Queen
Victoria announced the city status of Perth in 1856.[28]
Federation and beyond
After
a referendum in 1900,[29]
Western Australia joined the Federation of Australia in 1901.[28]
It was the last of the Australian colonies to agree to join the Federation, and
did so only after the other colonies had offered several concessions, including
the construction of a transcontinental railway line to Perth (via Kalgoorlie)
from the eastern states.
In
1933, Western Australia voted in a referendum to leave the Australian
Federation, with a majority of two to one in favour of secession.[29]
However, an election held shortly before the referendum had turned out the
incumbent "pro-independence" government, replacing it with a
government which did not support the independence movement. Respecting the
result of the referendum, the new government nonetheless petitioned the Agent General
of the United Kingdom for independence, where the request was simply ignored.[30]
Central business district
Main
article: Perth (suburb)
The
central business district of Perth is bounded by the Swan River to the south
and east, with Kings Park on the western end, while the
railway reserve formed a northern border. A state and federally funded project
named Perth City Link involves the sinking of a
section of the railway line, in addition to the sinking of an existing
above-ground bus terminal as well as riverside development, known as Elizabeth
Quay. St Georges Terrace is the prominent street of
the area with 1.3 million m² of office space in the CBD.[34] Hay Street
and Murray Street have most of the retail and
entertainment facilities. The tallest building in the city is Central Park, which is the seventh tallest building in Australia.[35]
The CBD has recently been the centre of a mining-induced boom, with several
commercial and residential projects due for completion, including a 244 m
(801 ft) office building for Australian/British mining company BHP
Billiton.
Geology and landforms
Perth
is set on the Swan River, named after the native black swans
in 1697 by Willem de Vlamingh, captain of a Dutch
expedition and namer of WA's Rottnest
Island.[36]
Traditionally, this water body has been known by Aboriginal inhabitants as Derbal Yerrigan.[37]
The city centre and most of the suburbs are located on the sandy and relatively
flat Swan Coastal Plain, which lies between the Darling Scarp
and the Indian Ocean. The soils of this area are quite infertile. The
metropolitan area extends to Yanchep in the north and Rockingham to the south, total distance of
approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi). From the coast in the west to Mundaring in the east is a total distance
of approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi). The Perth metropolitan area covers
5,386.4 square kilometres (2,079.7 sq mi).[3]
Satellite
image of Perth
Much
of Perth was originally built on a series of
freshwater wetlands running from Herdsman Lake
in the west through to Claisebrook Cove in the east. It has been
estimated that up to 80% of Perth was built on reclaimed wetlands.[38]
The
coastal suburbs' placement is advantageous due to proximity to Perth's
oceanside location and clean beaches. To the east, the city is bordered by a
low escarpment called the Darling Scarp. Perth is on generally flat, rolling
land – largely due to the high amount of sandy soils and deep bedrock.
The Perth metropolitan area has two major river systems; the first is made up
of the Swan and Canning Rivers. The second
is that of the Serpentine and Murray
Rivers, which discharge into the Peel Estuary at Mandurah.
Climate
Perth
receives moderate though highly seasonal rainfall, making it the fourth wettest
Australian capital city after Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane. Summers are
generally hot and dry, lasting from December to late March, with February
generally being the hottest month of the year, while winters are relatively
cool and wet, making Perth a classic example of a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa).[39][40] Summer is not
completely devoid of rain with sporadic rainfall in the form of short-lived
thunderstorms, weak cold fronts and on very rare occasions decaying
tropical
cyclones from Western Australia's north-west which can bring
significant falls. The highest ever recorded temperature in Perth was 46.2 °C
(115.2 °F) on 23 February 1991, although Perth Airport
recorded 46.7 °C (116.1 °F) on the same day.[41][42]
On most summer afternoons a sea breeze, also known as "The Fremantle
Doctor", blows from the south-west, providing relief from the
hot north-easterly winds. Temperatures often fall below 30 °C (86 °F) a
few hours after the arrival of the wind change.[43]
Perth is a particularly sunny city for a Mediterranean climate, with an average
of 8.8 hours of sunshine per day, which equates to around 3200 hours of annual
sunshine.[42]
Winters
are relatively cool and wet, with most of Perth's annual rainfall falling
between May and September. The lowest temperature recorded in Perth was −0.7 °C
(30.7 °F) on 17 June 2006.[41]
The lowest temperature within the Perth metropolitan area was −3.4 °C
(25.9 °F) on the same day at Jandakot
Airport.[44]
The
rainfall pattern has changed in Perth and Southwest Western Australia
since the mid-1970s. A significant reduction in winter rainfall has been
observed with a greater number of extreme rainfall events in the summer months,[45] such as
slow-moving storms on 8 February 1992 which brought 120.6 millimetres
(4.75 in) of rain, the highest recorded in Perth,[41][43]
and a severe thunderstorm on 22
March 2010, which brought 40.2 millimetres (1.58 in) of rain and caused
significant damage in the metropolitan area.[46] Perth
experienced its longest dry spell, of 84 days, on 12 February 2010.[47]
Governance
Government
House, Western Australia
Parliament
House, Perth
Perth houses the Parliament of Western Australia
and the Governor of Western Australia. At present,
42 of the Legislative Assembly's 59
seats and 18 of the Legislative Council's 36
seats are based in Perth's metropolitan area as of the 2008 state election.
Perth is represented by 9 full seats and significant parts of three others in
the Federal House of Representatives, with the seats of Canning, Pearce and
Brand including some areas outside the metropolitan area. The metropolitan area
is divided into over 30 local government bodies, including the City of Perth
which administers Perth's central business district.The state's highest court, the Supreme Court, is located in Perth,[62] along with the District[63] and Family[64] Courts. The Magistrates' Court has six metropolitan locations.[65] The Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates' Courts occupy the Commonwealth Law Courts building on Victoria Avenue, Perth,[66] which is the also the location for annual Perth sittings of Australia's High Court.[67]
The Metropolitan Region Scheme is the statutory town planning scheme for land use in the Perth metropolitan area, and has been in operation since 1963.[68]
Economy
See
also: Economy of Western Australia
By virtue of its
population and role as the administrative centre for business and government,
Perth dominates the Western Australian economy, despite the major mining,
petroleum, and agricultural export industries located elsewhere in the state.[69]
Perth’s function as the State’s capital city, its economic base and population
size have also created development opportunities for many other businesses
oriented to local or more diversified markets.Perth’s economy has been changing in favour of the service industries since the 1950s. Although one of the major sets of services it provides are related to the resources industry and, to a lesser extent, agriculture, most people in Perth are not connected to either; they have jobs that provide services to other people in Perth.[70]
As a result of Perth's relative geographical isolation, it has never had the necessary conditions to develop significant manufacturing industries other than those serving the immediate needs of its residents, mining and agriculture and some specialised areas, such as, in recent times, niche ship building and maintenance. It was simply cheaper to import all the needed manufactured goods from either the eastern states or overseas.
Industrial employment influenced the economic geography of Perth. After WWII, Perth experienced suburban expansion aided by high levels of car ownership. Workforce decentralisation and transport improvements made it possible for the establishment of small-scale manufacturing in the suburbs. Many firms took advantage of relatively cheap land to build spacious, single-storey plants in suburban locations where parking, access and traffic congestion were minimal. "The former close ties of manufacturing with near-central and/or rail-side locations were loosened."[69]
Industrial estates such as Kwinana, Welshpool and Kewdale were post-war additions contributing to the growth of manufacturing south of the river. The establishment of the Kwinana industrial area was supported by standardisation of the east-west rail gauge linking Perth with eastern Australia. Since the 1950s, heavy industry has dominated the location including an oil refinery, steel-rolling mill with a blast furnace, alumina refinery, power station and a nickel refinery. Another development, also linked with rail standardisation, was in 1968 when the Kewdale Freight Terminal was developed adjacent to the Welshpool industrial area, replacing the former Perth railway yards.[69]
With significant population growth post-WWII,[71] employment growth occurred not in manufacturing but in retail and wholesale trade, business services, health, education, community and personal services and in public administration. Increasingly it was these services sectors, concentrated around the Perth metropolitan area, that provided jobs.[69]
Education
See
also: Education in Western Australia
The University
of Western Australia is located at Crawley.
The University of Western Australia, which was founded in 1911,[72] is renowned as one of Australia's leading research institutions. The university's monumental neo-classical architecture, most of which is carved from white limestone, is a notable tourist destination in the city. It is the only university in the state to be a member of the Group of Eight, as well as the Sandstone universities. It is also the only university in Western Australia to have produced a Nobel Laureate,[citation needed] in Barry Marshall who graduated MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Science) in 1975 and was awarded a joint Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 2005, together with Robin Warren.
Curtin University (known as Curtin University of Technology until 2010) is Western Australia's largest university by student population, and was known from its founding in 1966 until 1986 as the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) and had amalgamated with Western Australian School of Mines and the Muresk Institute. It has a rapidly growing research reputation and is the only Western Australian university to produce PhD recipients of the AINSE gold medal, the highest possible recognition for PhD level science and engineering research excellence in Australia and New Zealand.[73]
Murdoch University was established in the 1970s, and is Australia's largest campus in geographical area (2.27 square kilometres), necessary to accommodate Western Australia's only veterinary school.
Edith Cowan University was established in the early 1990s from the existing Western Australian College of Advanced Education (WACAE) which itself was formed in the 1970s from the existing Teachers Colleges at Claremont, Churchlands, and Mount Lawley. It incorporates the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
The University of Notre Dame Australia was established in 1990. Notre Dame was established as a Catholic university with its lead campus in Fremantle and a large campus in Sydney. Its campus is set in the west end of Fremantle, utilising historic port buildings built in the 1890s, giving Notre Dame a distinct European university atmosphere. Though Notre Dame shares its name with the University of Notre Dame in Indiana USA, it is a separate institution, claiming only "strong ties" with its American namesake.[citation needed]
Colleges of TAFE provide trade and vocational training, including certificate- and diploma-level courses. TAFE began as a system of technical colleges and schools under the Education Department, from which they were separated in the 1980s and ultimately formed into regional colleges. Four exist in the Perth metropolitan area: Central Institute of Technology (formerly Central TAFE); West Coast Institute of Training (northern suburbs); Polytechnic West (eastern and south-eastern suburbs; formerly Swan TAFE); and Challenger Institute of Technology (Fremantle/Peel).
Media
Like the other mainland Australian state capital cities, Perth is served by five analogue free to air stations: ABC (now branded as ABC1), Seven, Nine (now relaunched with WIN Television), Ten and SBS, (branded as SBS One). These channels are also broadcast in digital transmission format. Additional digital-only channels available include ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS Two, TV4ME, Gold, local versions of One HD, 7TWO, 7mate and GEM, national channels Eleven and GO!. Community station, Access 31, closed in August 2008. In April 2010 a new community station, West TV, began transmission (in digital format only).Foxtel provides a subscription-based satellite and cable television service. Perth has its own local newsreaders on ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten. Seven's weekly presenters are Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr; presenter for Nine is Greg Pearce, and the presenters for Ten are Craig Smart and Narelda Jacobs. The ABC news anchor is James McHale.
Television shows produced in Perth include local editions of the current affair program Today Tonight, and other types of programming such as The Force. An annual telethon has been broadcast since 1968 to raise funds for charities including Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. The 24 hour Perth Telethon claims to be "the most successful fundraising event per capita in the world"[74] and raised more than A$7.5 million in 2008.
The main newspapers for Perth are The West Australian and The Sunday Times. Localised free community papers cater for each local government area. There are also many advertising newspapers, such as The Quokka. The local business paper is Western Australian Business News.
Radio stations are on AM, FM and DAB+ frequencies. ABC stations include News Radio (585AM), 720 ABC Perth, Radio National (810AM), Classic FM (97.7FM) and Triple J (99.3FM). The 6 local commercial stations are: 92.9, Nova 93.7, Mix 94.5, 96fm, on FM and 882 6PR and 1080 6IX on AM. DAB+ has mostly the same as both FM and AM plus national stations from the ABC/SBS, Radar Radio and Novanation, along with local stations My Perth Digital and HotCountry Perth. Major community radio stations include RTRFM (92.1FM), Sonshine FM (98.5FM),[75] SportFM (91.3FM)[76] and Curtin FM (100.1FM).[77]
Culture
The
distinctive WA Maritime Museum building on Victoria Quay
Perth Cultural Centre is both an area of
central Perth and the collective name for the main buildings of the Art Gallery of Western Australia,
Western Australian Museum, Alexander Library, State Records Office and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
(PICA).The Perth International Arts Festival is a cultural festival which has been held annually since 1953.
Parks and recreation
Kings Park, located in central Perth between the CBD and the University of Western Australia, is the largest inner-city park in the world,[78] at 4.06 square kilometres.Perth Zoo, located in South Perth, houses a variety of Australian and exotic animals from around the globe. The zoo is home to highly successful breeding programs for orangutans and giraffes, and participates in captive breeding and reintroduction efforts for a number of Western Australian species, including the numbat, the dibbler, the chuditch, and the western swamp tortoise.[79]
Museums and galleries
The Western Australian Museum holds an extensive display of Aboriginal artefacts as well as numerous zoological and social exhibits.The new (2002) Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle displays maritime objects from all eras and includes a former Royal Australian Navy submarine. It also houses Australia II, the yacht that won the Americas Cup in 1983.
The Art Gallery of Western Australia houses the State Art Collection. It curates and hosts numerous impressive visiting exhibitions, like the 2006 Norman Lindsay exhibition. Additional exhibits occur at PICA and many other smaller venues on a regular basis across Perth.
Music and performing arts
Crown Perth,
where the Resort, Dome, Theatre and Casino venues are located
The Swan Bells
near Barrack Square
Main
article: Music of Perth
Perth is home to the
West Australian Ballet, the West Australian Opera and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra,
all of which present regular programmes. The Western Australian Youth Orchestras[80]
provide young musicians with performance opportunities in orchestral and other
musical ensembles, including the WA Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, WA Youth
Symphonic Band and WA Youth Chorale.The Perth Concert Hall is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre, ballet, opera and orchestral performances. The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, which was officially opened on 27 January 2011, is home to the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Perth Theatre Company. This complex is located in Northbridge, and contains three performance spaces: the main 575-seat Heath Ledger Theatre, the Studio Underground and The Courtyard.
Perth Arena is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia. It is located on Wellington Street, near the site of the former Perth Entertainment Centre, and was officially opened on 10 November 2012.
Perth
Arena
Other theatres in
Perth include an auditorium within the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre
(completed in 2005), the historic His Majesty's Theatre and Burswood Dome,
which hosts music concerts. Outdoor concerts are held in Kings Park, Subiaco Oval
and Members Equity Stadium and the Convention
Centre on the foreshore replaces the Burswood Dome until a more satisfactory
building is established.Because of Perth's relative isolation from other Australian cities, overseas artists often exclude it from their Australian tour schedules. This isolation, however, has developed a strong local music scene. Music groups include The Triffids, The Stems, The Scientists, John Butler Trio, Eskimo Joe, End of Fashion, Little Birdy, Jebediah, The Sleepy Jackson, The Panics, Tame Impala, Karnivool, Drapht, Pond, San Cisco and Birds of Tokyo. Rock concerts held in Perth include the Big Day Out and Soundwave. The city is referenced in a Pavement song, I Love Perth.
Hip-Hop and R&B are presented by Che'Nelle, and Samantha Jade. The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts provides courses in jazz,[81] which have contributed to development of local performers such as Graham Wood, Troy Roberts and Tom O'Halloran. The WAMI Awards have been acknowledging local music since 1985. Folk music is represented by bands such as The Settlers and the earlier-established Mucky Duck Bush Band, which has regular bush dances in Whiteman Park. The Hayloft in West Perth was the home of WA folk music in the 1970s, succeeded by the Peninsula Hotel in Maylands.
Celebrity musical performers from Perth have included the late AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, and veteran performer and artist Rolf Harris (also known as "The Boy From Bassendean").
Film and television
Famous actors and media personalities hailing from Perth include: Gemma Ward, Heath Ledger, Judy Davis, Melissa George, Jessica Gomes, Sara Groen, Rolf Harris, Rove McManus, Tim Minchin, Russell Napier, Alan Seymour, Sam Worthington, Isla Fisher, Gerard Kennedy, Terry Willesee, Mike Willesee, Roland Rocchiccioli, Liz Harris, Simon Reeve, Lisa McCune,Perth boasts the internationally regarded Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University, from which many successful actors and broadcasters have launched their careers, including Hugh Jackman, Frances O'Connor, Marcus Graham and William McInnes.
Feature films which feature Perth include Last Train to Freo, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Two Fists, One Heart, Thunderstruck, Bran Nue Dae, and Japanese Story.
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