Perth, Western Australia

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Perth Western Australia
The Perth skyline viewed from the Swan River
Population:	1,554,769 (June 2007)[1] (4th)
• Density:	289/km² (748.5/sq mi) (2006)
Established:	1829
Area:	5386 km² (2,079.5 sq mi)
Time zone:  • Summer (DST)	AWST (UTC+8) AWDT (UTC+9)
Location:	2724 km (1,693 mi) from Adelaide 4045 km (2,513 mi) from Darwin 3452 km (2,145 mi) from Melbourne 4144 km (2,575 mi) from Sydney
State District:	Perth (and 41 others)
Federal Division:	Perth (and 10 others)
Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Annual Rainfall 23.3 °C 74 °F 13.3 °C 56 °F 869.4 mm 34.2 in

Location of Perth within Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,554,769 (2007), Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average.^[1]

Perth was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of the free settler Swan River Colony. It has continued to serve as the seat of Government for Western Australia to the present day.

The metropolitan area is located in the south west of the continent between the Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as the Darling Range. The central business district and suburbs of Perth are situated on the Swan River. Perth is ranked 4th on The Economist's 2008 list of the World's Most Livable Cities.^[2]

Perth became known worldwide as the "City of Light," as city residents lit their houselights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962.^[3] The city repeated its feat as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in 1998.^[4][5]

[edit] History

Main article: History of Perth, Western Australia

[edit] Prehistory

Rottnest, Carnac and Garden Islands

Before European settlement 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.^[6] These Aborigines occupied the southwest corner of Western Australia, living as hunter-gatherers. The lakes on the coastal plain were particularly important to them, providing both spiritual and physical sustenance.

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, 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 (The People), 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.^[7]

[edit] Early European sightings

Government House, Western Australia

The first documented European sighting of the region was made by the Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew on 10 January 1697.^[8] 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

[edit] The Swan River Colony

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.

The Foundation of Perth 1829 by George Pitt Morison is an historically accurate reconstruction of the official ceremony by which Perth was founded.

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, Mrs. 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, ended "[g]iven under my hand and Seal at Perth this 18th Day of June 1829. James Stirling Lieutenant Governor"^[9] The only 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."^[10] 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. It is therefore often asserted that the name was given in Murray's honour.^[11][12][13]

The Round House built in 1830 is the oldest remaining building on mainland Western Australia

Beginning in 1831, hostile encounters between the British settlers and Aborigines of the local Noongar tribe – 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 Whadjuk tribal chief Midgegooroo, the death of his son Yagan in 1833, and the Battle of Pinjarra in 1834.

By 1843, when the tribal chief Yellagonga died, his tribe 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 campsite 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.^[14]

In 1850, Western Australia was opened to convicts at the request of farming and business people looking for cheap labour.^[15] Queen Victoria announced the city status of Perth in 1856.^[16]

[edit] Federation and beyond

St Georges Terrace in Perth, 1968

Early sunrise over the city and Kings Park War Memorial

After a referendum in 1900,^[17] Western Australia joined the Federation of Australia in 1901.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18]

Perth's growth and relative prosperity, especially since the mid-1960s,^[19] has resulted from its role as the main service centre for the state's resource industries, which produce gold, iron ore, nickel, alumina, diamonds, mineral sands, coal, oil, and natural gas.^[20] Whilst most mineral and petroleum production takes place elsewhere in the state, the non-base services provide most of the employment and income to the people of Perth.^[21]

[edit] Geography

Perth is one of the most isolated metropolitan areas on Earth. The nearest city to Perth with a population over 1 million is Adelaide in South Australia, which is 2,104 kilometres (1,307 mi) away. Perth is geographically closer to East Timor, Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia, than it is to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It is the antipode of Hamilton, Bermuda.

[edit] Central business district

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 lines form a northern border. St Georges Terrace is the prominent street of the area with 1.3 million m² of office space in the CBD.^[22] 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 sixth tallest building in Australia,^[23] although it is to be surpassed by the BHP Tower in 2012.^[24] With the current resources-based boom the skyline will change dramatically with at least eleven 100 m+ buildings either being currently or soon to be built.^[25]

Panorama of the Perth foreshore from Kings Park taken in the afternoon.

[edit] Geology and landforms

Satellite image of Perth

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.^[26] Traditionally, this water body has been known by local inhabitants as Derbal Yerrigan.^[27] 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 Mandurah in the south, total distance of approximately 125 kilometres (78 mi). From the coast in the west to Mundaring in the east is a total distance of approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) resulting the area of Perth is over 1.5 million acres (6,100 km²).

The coastal suburbs take advantage of 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.

[edit] Climate

Perth receives moderate though highly seasonal rainfall. Summers are generally hot and dry, lasting from late December to late March, with February generally being the hottest month of the year, making Perth a classic example of a Mediterranean climate. 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 which can bring significant falls. The hottest ever recorded temperature in Perth was 46.2 °C (115 °F) on 23 February 1991. Winters are relatively cool and rather moist, though the once reliable winter rainfall has been declining steadily in recent years. The coldest temperature recorded in the Perth metropolitan area was -3.4 degrees Celsius on 17 June 2006 at Jandakot airport.^[28] Even in mid-winter, maximum daytime temperatures only occasionally fall below 16 °C (60 °F). Though most rainfall occurs during winter, the wettest day ever was unusually on 9 February 1992 when 121 millimetres (4.75 in) fell. On most summer afternoons a sea breeze, also known as "The Fremantle Doctor", blows from the south-west, cooling the city by up to 15°C.

[edit] Governance

Parliament House, Perth.

Perth houses the Parliament of Western Australia and the Governor of Western Australia. Under the new one-vote, one-value laws seats in city and country areas will be roughly of equal population size, which will mean that 42 of the Legislative Assembly's 59 seats will be based in Perth at the next state election. Perth is represented by 11 seats in the Federal House of Representatives, although some seats extend outside the Metropolitan area. The metropolitan area is divided into over 30 local government bodies. The City of Perth is the local government authority responsible for the Perth Central business district, however this covers a very small section of the Perth urban area.

The state's highest court, the Supreme Court, is located in Perth,^[29] along with the District^[30] and Family^[31] Courts. The Magistrates' Court has six metropolitan locations.^[32] The Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates' Courts occupy the Commonwealth Law Courts building on Victoria Avenue, Perth,^[33] which is the also the location for annual Perth sittings of Australia's High Court.^[34]

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.^[35]

[edit] Demographics

Area of the Perth Metropolitan Region Scheme

Perth is Australia's fourth largest city, having overtaken Adelaide's population in the early 1980s. At the 2006 Census 1,445,079 persons resident in the Perth statistical area were enumerated.

[edit] Ethnic groups

One dot represents 100 persons born in the UK (dark blue), China (red), Italy (light green), Malaysia (dark green), South Africa (brown), Singapore (purple) and Vietnam (yellow), based on 2006 Census

Significant overseas born populations[36]
Country of Birth	Population (2006)
United Kingdom	171,024
New Zealand	34,661
Malaysia	18,993
South Africa	18,828
Italy	18,814
India	14,094
Singapore	11,237
Vietnam	10,078
Ireland	7,813
Netherlands	7,715
China	7,684
Germany	7,684
Indonesia	7,404
United States	5,558
Philippines	5,222

In 2006, the largest ancestry groups in the Perth metropolitan areas were: English (534,555 or 28.6 per cent), "Australian" (479,174 or 25.6 per cent), Irish (115,384 or 6.2 per cent), Scottish (113,846 or 6.1 per cent), Italian (84,331 or 4.5 per cent) and Chinese (53,390 or 2.9 per cent). There were 3,101 Aboriginals in the city (0.2 per cent).^[27]

Perth's population is notable for the high proportion of British-born residents. At the 2006 Census 142,424 British-born Perth residents were counted,^[37] narrowly behind Sydney (145,261),^[38] despite having just 35% of the overall population of Sydney.

The ethnic make-up of Perth changed in the middle of the twentieth century, when significant numbers of European immigrants arrived in the city. Prior to this, Perth's population had been almost completely Anglo-Celtic in ethnic origin. As Fremantle was the first landfall in Australia for many migrant ships coming from Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, Perth started to experience a diverse influx of people, which included Italians, Greeks, Dutch, Germans, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs, Poles, Czechs, Russians, Ukrainians, and Macedonians and many others. The Italian influence in the Perth and Fremantle area has been substantial, evident in places like the "Cappuccino strip" in Fremantle featuring many Italian eateries and shops. In Fremantle the traditional Italian blessing of the fleet festival is held every year at the start of the fishing season. In Northbridge every December is the San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) Festival, which involves a pageant followed by a concert, predominantly in Italian. Suburbs surrounding the Fremantle area such as Spearwood and Hamilton Hill also contain high concentrations of Italians, Croatians and Portuguese. Perth also has a vibrant Jewish community — numbering 20,106 in 2006 — who emigrated primarily from eastern Europe and more recently from South Africa.

Another more recent wave of arrivals include European minorities from Southern Africa. The South Africa-born overtook those born in Italy to become the fourth largest birthplace group after 2001. By 2006, there were 18,825 South Africa-born in Perth, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the city's people.^[37] Many Afrikaners and Anglo-Africans from South Africa and Zimbabwe emigrated to Perth during the 1980s and 1990s, to the extent that the city has been described as "the Australian capital of South Africans in exile".^[39] The phrase "Packing for Perth" has become associated with South Africans who choose to emigrate abroad, sometimes regardless of the destination.

In the last three decades, South East Asia has become an increasingly important source of migrants, with communities from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and India all now well-established. There were 53,390 persons of Chinese descent in Perth in 2006 — 2.9 per cent of the city's population.^[40]

The Indian community includes a substantial number of Parsees who emigrated from Bombay — Perth being the closest Australian city to India — and the India-born population of the city at the time of the 2006 census was 14,094 or 0.8 per cent.^[41] Perth is also home to the largest population of Anglo-Burmese in the world; many settled here following the Independence of Burma in 1948 and the city is now the cultural hub for Anglo-Burmese worldwide. There is also a substantial Anglo-Indian population in Perth, who also settled in the city following the Independence of India.

[edit] 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.^[42] 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 1950's. 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.^[43]

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."^[42]

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.^[42]

With significant population growth post-WWII ^[44], 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.^[42]

[edit] Education

See also: Education in Western Australia for information on education in Western Australia

Perth is home to four public universities: the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University. There is also one private university, the University of Notre Dame.

The University of Western Australia is located at Crawley

Curtin University in Bentley

The University of Western Australia, which was founded in 1911,^[45] 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.

Curtin University of Technology 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.^[46]

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. It is the only Western Australian University with a campus in another major Australian city. Its campus in Fremantle is set in the west end of Fremantle within 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 school, claiming only "strong ties" with its American namesake. It is also the fastest growing University in Australia.

Colleges of TAFE provide trade and vocational training, including Diploma level courses. TAFE was formed in the 1970s to provide technical courses previously offered by WACAE.

[edit] Media

Like the other mainland Australian state capital cities, Perth is served by five free to air stations: ABC, Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS (like all other states of Australia). A community station, Access 31, closed in August 2008. 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; presenters for Nine are Dixie Marshall and Greg Pearce, and the presenter for Ten is Narelda Jacobs. The ABC news anchor is Karina Carvalho.

Television shows produced in Perth include local editions of current affairs programs, Today Tonight and the Stateline, and other types of programming such as The Force (documentary), Can We Help (viewer request), and The Western Front (sport). 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"^[47] and raised more than A$7.5 million in 2008.

The main newspapers for Perth are The West Australian and The Sunday Times. The local Community paper has different issues for each local government area. There are also many advertising newspapers, such as The Quokka.

Radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies. ABC stations include News Radio (585AM), 720 ABC Perth, Radio National (810AM), Classic FM (97.7FM) and Triple J (99.3FM). The 6 commercial stations are: FM- 92.9, Nova 93.7, Mix 94.5, 96fm, and AM- 882 6PR and 1080 6IX. Major community radio stations include RTRFM (92.1FM), Sonshine FM (98.5FM) and Curtin FM (100.1FM).

[edit] Culture

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.

[edit] Museums

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.

[edit] Art galleries

The West Australian Art Gallery houses the state's premier art collection 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.

[edit] Sport

Main article: Sport in Western Australia

The most popular sports are Australian football, cricket and netball^{[citation needed]}. The climate of Perth allows for extensive outdoor sport activity, and this is reflected in the wide variety of sports available to citizens of the city. Perth was host to the 1962 Commonwealth Games and the 1987 America's Cup defence (based at Fremantle). Australian football is the most popular spectator sport in Perth — some 1,030,000 people attended WAFL or AFL matches in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Perth is home to several professional sporting teams participating in various national competitions:

• Australian football: West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers
• Basketball: Perth Wildcats
• Cricket: Western Warriors
• Association football (soccer): Perth Glory
• Rugby union: Western Force
• Netball: West Coast Fever (Formally Perth Orioles)
• Hockey: Smokefree WA Thundersticks

Perth has hosted numerous state and international sporting events. On going international events include the Hopman Cup during the first week of January at the Burswood Dome and the final leg of the Red Bull Air Race held on a stretch of the Swan River called Perth Water, using Langley Park as a temporary air field. In addition to these Perth has hosted international Rugby Union games, including qualifying matches for 2003 Rugby World Cup. The 1991 and 1998 FINA World Championships were held in Perth.^[48] Several motorsport facilities exist in Perth including Perth Motorplex, catering to drag racing and speedway, and Barbagallo Raceway for circuit racing and drifting.

[edit] Music and performing arts

Main article: Music of Perth

See also: List of musical acts from Western Australia

Perth Concert Hall is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre, ballet, opera and orchestral performances. Other theatres 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, leading some to dub Perth the "new Seattle".^[49]

Original AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott was from the Fremantle area.

Perth has been a hotbed of local rock music producing such nationally and internationally respected acts as Pendulum, John Butler Trio, Eskimo Joe, End of Fashion, Little Birdy, Jebediah, The Sleepy Jackson, The Panics, The Bank Holidays, Snowman and Birds of Tokyo. Whilst the Hip-Hop and R&B scene has seen rise to artists such as Che'Nelle and