Perth

Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony. The city is situated on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 45,000 years. Perth was named after the city of Perth in Scotland. Perth was proclaimed as a city by Queen Victoria in 1856, although the City of Perth currently governs only a small area around the central business district. Substantial population growth occurred during the late 19th-century Western Australian gold rushes, and the city has continued to expand, particularly after World War II due to a high net migration rate. Post-war immigrants were predominantly from the British Isles and Southern Europe, while more recent arrivals see a growing population of Asian descent. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a series of mining booms in various regions of Western Australia propelled Perth into the role of the regional headquarters for significant mining operations.


Ranked as one of the world's most liveable cities, Perth was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a Beta global city in 2020. As of 2021, Perth is divided into 30 local government areas, comprising over 350 suburbs. The metropolitan contours span 115 kilometres (71 mi) from Two Rocks in the north to Singleton in the south, and 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the west coast to Sawyers Valley in the east. Beyond the central business district, predominant urban centres within the metropolitan area include Armadale, Fremantle, Joondalup, Midland, and Rockingham. Most of those were originally established as separate settlements and retained a distinct identity after being subsumed into the wider metropolitan area. Mandurah, Western Australia's second-largest city, forms a conurbation with Perth along the coastline. Despite this, it is generally regarded as an independent city for practical purposes.


Perth features several important public buildings, as well as cultural and heritage sites. The city has various notable government buildings, including the Parliament House, Government House, the Supreme Court Buildings and the Perth Mint. The city is served by Fremantle Harbour and Perth Airport. It was a naval base for the Allies during World War II and today, the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Base West is located on Garden Island. All five of Western Australia's universities are based in Perth.

Toponymy[edit]

The name of the city is taken from Perth, Scotland in honour of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and Member for Perthshire in the British House of Commons, Sir George Murray.^[6][7] Murray's association with the city was included in Stirling's proclamation of the colony, read in Fremantle on 18 June 1829, which concluded with the statement, "Given under my hand and Seal at Perth this 18th Day of June 1829. James Stirling Lieutenant Governor".^[8] The only contemporary information on the source of the name comes from Charles Fremantle's diary entry for 12 August 1829, which records that they "named the town Perth according to the wishes of Sir George Murray".^[9][10]


Since 2019, the Noongar name Boorloo has been recognised as denoting the central business district,^[11][12] the local government area,^[13] or the capital city in general.^[14][15][16] The name Boorloo was initially recorded by Robert Menli Lyon as Boorlo in 1833, which was interpreted as "Perth, properly Point Fraser" (a location in East Perth). He also gave the name Byerbrup for "the highland stretching along from Mount Eliza through the centre of the town of Perth".^[17] In 1947, Ludwig Glauert posited that Lyon may have misunderstood his sources and that "boorloo" or "belo" (now transcribed as "bilya") is simply the Noongar word for "river". Another source has interpreted Boorloo to mean "big swamp", describing the chain of lakes where the central business district and Northbridge are situated.^[18][19]