My friend Susan, her sister and I took a drive up the coast of Perth to a suburb called Hillarys, in particular to Hillarys Boat Harbour. The boat harbour is a man-made large marina development, built in 1987, and includes the Aquarium of Western Australia, a network of boardwalks, a water park, tonnes of retail stores and restaurants, a swimming beach, and of course, lots of boat moorings. And as you can see - driving up to Hillarys was certainly no hardship!
It was "only" 32 degrees today so I had to convince myself to spend time outside ... NOT! I had a lovely day today, and I'll group my activities into three different 'things' for this post.
The first thing I did today was I went back to the Bell Tower and I specifically went today because the bells would be ringing. Luck was with me though, not only did I hear and see the bells being rung but I actually got to ring one of the bells from St. Martin-in-the Fields! (And I have a certificate to prove it!)
I took another photo of the Bell Tower again today and as you can see, the fencing that was around it in my previous photos was obviously put up to contain Australia Day celebrations and make sure no one fell in the water/fountains at the bottom.
The Bell ringers are all volunteers and all members of the St. Martin's Society of Change Ringers. They practise their art at the Bell Tower, which is the first designated 'ringing centre' outside the United Kingdom. It usually takes around six months to learn the basics of the art of Change Ringing, and most of this time is spent learning to control the bell. The skills required include co-ordination, a sense of rhythm (but not brute strength) and long-term commitment.
Level 6 of the Bell Tower is an observation deck, offering views of the city and the Swan River. There is a major construction project happening in Perth right now - a re-development of the foreshore area in the CBD. The plans sound great - but in the meantime it's pretty much impossible to take a photo from the Bell Tower without the construction site showing. The outlook over the Swan River is beautiful though.
Located in the Bell Tower is the oldest bell in Australia - one of four that rang from the tower of the parish church at Upton Grey in Hampshire, which was its home from approximately 1550 AD. The founder has been identified as John Saunders who was working in Reading from around 1539 until his death in 1559. The bell weighs 459 kg and you can see the old timber headstock bearing the carved date of 1763.
After leaving the Bell Tower I spent some more time walking around the CBD and learning more about some of the historic buildings that are a part of Perth.
Percy Button was a local street entertainer and one of Perth's best known faces from the 1920's to the 1950's. Performing somersaults and handstands Percy entertained people for a few shillings while they waited to see films, newsreels and theatrical performances at nearby theatres. Percy was renown for his grubbiness and in 1929 the local newspaper dressed Percy up in a long-tailed suit and ran a competition asking readers to guess the identity of the cleaned-up man. This sculpture commemorating Percy Button is in the pedestrian mall area.
Built in 1897, the Theatre Royal was the first purpose built theatre in Western Australia. The locals considered the theatre exceptional for its time, with its 'red plush and glitz, and a roof that could slide open on hot nights'. The person who built this theatre then went on to create His Majesty's Theatre less than a decade later.
McNess Royal Arcade (1897) is a great demonstration of the wealth that poured into Perth from the goldfields. The owner of the building (Charles McNess) was a scrap metal trader and ironmonger who made his fortune during the gold boom by purchasing property.
The Savoy Hotel was one of the largest hotels built in Perth in the period up to 1914. Constructed towards the end of the boom period, few buildings rivalled its size for many years.
By the mid-1890s there were so many gold seekers looking for a place to stay that hotels could not be built quickly enough to accommodate everyone. The Palace Hotel was built in 1897 to help with this need. No expense was spared in the construction of the Palace, which upon opening was considered one of the most beautiful and elegant hotels in the country.
I mentioned in my last post that the Western Australian Club was the second men's club to be formed in Perth, well the first was the Weld Club. This house, built in 1892, was completed to house the Weld Club - a place for Perth's powerful and influential men to gather in a social setting, play billiards and discuss current affairs. Fifty foundation members, of whom two-thirds were government employees, made up the original membership of the club, which still operates today.
This was the final destination for the raw product from the goldfields. The Perth Mint formed the prospectors' finds into coins to be used as currency in the rapidly increasing economy. The Perth Mint was one of three branches of the British Royal Mint in Australia. It was constructed in 1899 and was seen as a symbol of Perth's status in the British Empire. By the time of the Perth Mint's construction, income from gold was responsible for nearly ninety percent of the colony's wealth. The Mint operated under British control until 1970 when ownership was transferred to the Western Australian Government. It is one of the oldest mints in the world still operating from its original location.
By 1854, Catholics made up to 18 percent of the colony's population, partly due to the number of Irish convicts sent to Western Australia. The oldest Catholic church in Western Australia, the Pro-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, was built in 1846.
It wasn't long before the Pro-Cathedral was felt to be too modest, and in 1863 work commenced on St. Mary's Cathedral, which was constructed in the Gothic style. The cathedral was never fully completed though until 2006 when an addition was added with a very contemporary design. These two different styles of architecture definitely do make for a very interesting building!
In contrast to many other buildings built during this time period, Benedictine monks provided the main labour for St. Mary's Cathedral. Like the convicts they were a cheap source of labour, walking six miles a day between their quarters and the building site and working every minute of light in the day. However the monks were far more skilled than the convict labour available with a great deal of masonry experience.
At its time of construction in 1901, this fire station was state-of-the-art and was the first purpose built fire station in Australia (replacing the Perth Town Hall). By this time the fire department was in a better financial position and could afford to purchase its own horses, which were kept in unlocked stables and were trained to respond to the sound of the alarm bell. On the sound of the fire alarm the horses would trot into place under the fire equipment harness where the firefighters would harness them up and be under way within 18 seconds.
For the rest of my afternoon I took a cruise along the Swan River. The majority of the metropolitan area of Perth is located on the Swan Coastal Plain, a narrow strip between the Indian ocean and the Darling Scarp, a low coastal escarpment. The first areas settled were on the Swan River, with Perth's CBD and port (Fremantle) both located on the river. It's about 14.5 kms along the river between the CBD and the port - and it's a very picturesque ride.
At some points along the cruise the river is almost 2.5 kms wide, whereas the closer we got to the mouth at the Indian Ocean the narrower the river became. It is not a very deep river - the average depth is only about 4 metres and although tidal, the difference between high and low tide is only about 1 metre. Not surprisingly, the real estate along the river is the most expensive of anywhere in Perth.
This is the home of Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest person. She is the heiress of Hancock Prospecting and the daughter of the late Lang Hancock and Hope Margaret Nicholas. In May 2012 she was named as the world's richest woman.
This mansion is said to be Australia's most expensive property (although I'll have to wait to see what I learn in Sydney). In 2009 this property sold for nearly 58 million dollars.
Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval visits, and operates 24 hours a day.
This is the mouth of the Swan River, opening out into the Indian Ocean.
This is the old Swan Brewery. The buildings that comprise the Old Swan Brewery complex were originally built in 1838 as a mill for timber-cutting as well as flour-grinding. They were later taken over as one of the first convict depot (following the acceptance of convict transportation by the colony in 1850). The buildings were subsequently (between 1859 and 1879) used as a tannery, and at one time contained a restaurant (used by travellers between Perth and Fremantle). In 1877 it was acquired by the Swan Brewery Company. Swan beer is no longer brewed on these premises but the buildings are still a significant landmark in Perth.
Coming back to the Perth CBD again - there's no doubt coming in from the river offers a fantastic view!
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