| Swan River skyline | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Perth, Western AustraliaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 This article is about the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia. For the local government area, see City of Perth. Perth is the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. A population of 1,507,900[1] (December 2006 estimate) makes Perth by far the largest city in Western Australia and home to three-quarters of the state's residents. The city is also the fourth most populous urban area in Australia, and with a growth rate of 2.1% (2006) is currently the fastest growing major city in Australia (when measured by percentage).[citation needed] It is expected that Perth's population will grow at 2.5% per annum in 2007, due primarily to the booming Western Australian economy. State Final Demand, for instance, is growing at 10.2%, 12 months to March 2007 (ABS). Perth was founded on 11 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. The nearest city to Perth with a population over one million people is Adelaide, which is 2,104 km (1,307 mi) away, making Perth the most isolated city with a population of more than one million in the world. HistoryFounded in 1829 by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of the British free settler Swan River Colony, Perth has continued to serve as the seat of government for Western Australia to the present day. Prehistory 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.[2] 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.[3] Early European sightingsThe first documented European sighting of the region was made by the Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew on 10 January 1697. 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.    The 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, 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"[4] 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."[5] 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.[6][7][8] 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 murder of his son Yagan in 1833, and the one-sided 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.[9] In 1850, Western Australia was opened to convicts at the request of farming and business people looking for cheap labour.[10] Queen Victoria announced the city status of Perth in 1856.[11] Federation and beyondAfter a referendum in 1900, Western Australia joined the Federation of Australia in 1901. 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 union, with a majority of two to one in favour of independence. 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.[12] Respecting the result of the referendum, the new government nonetheless petitioned the United Kingdom for independence, where the request was simply ignored. Perth has prospered by becoming a key service centre for the natural resource industries, being the closest city to huge reserves of gold, iron ore, nickel, alumina, manganese, diamonds, mineral sands, coal, oil, and natural gas.[13] Most of the world's major resource and engineering companies have offices in Perth. Partially as a result of this influx, Perth has become highly ethnically diverse, with over 27% of inhabitants having been born overseas (495,240 persons) and a further 414,000 having an overseas born parent (2001 census). 11% speak a language other than English at home. Two thirds of the Perth population are of the Christian faith, with other major religions including Buddhism and Islam. The proportion of the population that has no religious affiliation has remained consistent since 1991. GeographyPerth 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 and Jakarta, Indonesia, than it is to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It is the antipode of Hamilton, Bermuda. Central Business DistrictThe 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 more than two thirds of the 1.3 million m² of office space in the CBD.[14] 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.[15]  Geology and landforms Perth is set on the Swan River, so named because of the native Black Swans. Traditionally, this water body has been known by local inhabitants as Derbal Yerrigan.[16] A Dutch expedition in 1697 captained by Willem de Vlamingh led to Vlamingh naming the river after the black swans.[17] 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 is quite infertile. The metropolitan area extends to Yanchep in the north, Mandurah in the south, total distance of approximately 125 kilometres (78 mi) by road. From the Coast in the west to Mundaring in the east, a total distance of approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) by road. This means that 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. This abundance of sand has resulted in West Australians' being given the nickname sandgropers by the rest of the country. 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. ClimatePerth's climate is a classic example of a Mediterranean climate and 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. 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 winter rainfall has been declining in recent years. The coldest temperature recorded was -0.7 °C (30.7 °F) on 17 June 2006, and the only temperature ever recorded below the freezing point. 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.
GovernancePerth 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 34 of the Legislative Assembly's 57 seats will be based in Perth at the next state election. Perth is represented by 11 seats in the Federal House of Representatives. 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. Australia's High Court holds regular sittings in Perth, with permanent Federal Court operations. The highest court under Western Australian law, the Supreme Court is based in Perth, along with the District, Family and Magistrates' Courts. The Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) is the legal land plan covering the Perth metropolitan region. It is a large town planning scheme for land use in the Perth metropolitan area. The MRS has been in operation since 1963 and provides the legal basis for planning in the Perth metropolitan region. Demographics
[edit] Ethnic groupsPerth's population is predominantly of European ancestry. The city was founded by British and Irish settlers, and the British Isles remained the city's almost sole source of immigrants up until the mid-20th century. British-born residents constituted 31% of Perth's total population in 1971. By the mid-20th century significant numbers of Italians and Greeks had settled. 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 which included Dutch, Germans, Croats, Serbs, Poles, Czechs, Russians and Macedonians and many others. The names of many of these migrants are listed on the honour board outside the Maritime Museum. Perth also has a vibrant Jewish community — numbering 5,082 in 2006 — who emigrated primarily from eastern Europe and more recently from South Africa. More recently, large-scale immigration to Perth by air from the United Kingdom has continued, giving Perth the highest proportion of British-born residents of any Australian city. According to the 2001 census, 23.5 per cent of residents in the Joondalup North statistical subdivision in the north of the city were born in Britain, closely followed by Rockingham in the south with 19.8 per cent. The proportion of British-born in the Perth metropolitan area as a whole in 2001 was 12.4 per cent, or 164,488 persons. This is significantly higher than the national proportion of 5.5 per cent.[18] By the time of 2006 census, the number of British-born in the Perth metropolitan area had increased to 171,024 — though their proportion of the city's population had dipped slightly to 11.8 per cent[19]. The second largest group of migrants — 32,544 or 2.5 per cent in 2001 — are from New Zealand, due to the fact that New Zealanders, unlike other foreign nationals, are eligible for 'special category' visas, which allow them to live and work in Australia with little restriction. For this reason, the New Zealand-born community in Perth is increasing proportionately faster than any other birthplace group.[20]& |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hits: 961 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Powered by Sigsiu.NET |  |
