Lost Perth

Take a stroll down memory lane through the old photos of iconic Perth, with many pics contributed by the public.

In 1901 Federation transformed Western Australia from an independent colony to a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Perth gained the status of capital city. Originally funded by agriculture, the discovery of gold gave it the finances to transform itself from a modest country town to a prosperous commercial city with great civic buildings to match. From its settlement in 1829, Perth gradually took shape as a modest town. In the early years its development suffered from a severe shortage of investment and labour to build anything above modest buildings. Change came slowly, and each round of building was, in general, an improvement on existing living conditions. As the economic situation improved, the early, almost temporary, structures gave way to larger and better buildings. The first gold boom of the 1890s gave Perth the financial impetus to transform the city from a sleepy country town into an elegant and stylish city, with successive mineral booms thereafter contributing to an attitude of 'out with the old and in with the new'. Taking the losses in chronological order, Richard Offen (author of the best-selling Perth Then and Now) catalogues the beloved buildings and Perth institutions that time and progress have swept aside. Lost Perth includes: Josie's Cottage, First Government House, Padbury Building, Boans Department Store, Ambassadors Cinema, Mitchell Building, trams, market gardens, Esplanade Hotel, Emu Brewery, Dalkeith Hot Pool, the Christian Brothers School and Perth Flower Day.

This book presents methodological approaches that can help explore the ways in which people develop emotional attachments to historic urban places. With a focus on the powerful relations that form between people and places, this book uses people-centred methodologies to examine the ways in which emotional attachments can be accessed, researched, interpreted and documented as part of heritage scholarship and management. It demonstrates how a range of different research methods drawn primarily from disciplines across the arts, humanities and social sciences can be used to better understand the cultural values of heritage places. In so doing, the chapters bring together a series of diverse case studies from both established and early-career scholars in Australia, China, Europe, North America and Central America. These case studies outline methods that have been successfully employed to consider attachments between people and historic places in different contexts. This book advocates a need to shift to a more nuanced understanding of people’s relations to historic places by situating emotional attachments at the core of urban heritage thinking and practice. It offers a practical guide for both academics and industry professionals towards people-centred methodologies for urban heritage conservation.

Where do you find a city's soul? Where is its pulse, its personality? When we walk across the skin of a city, do we listen for its laugh? Terri-ann White draws together an eclectic group of Perth people in this collection to share their insights on a rapidly evolving city. From an architect's perspective on heritage to a historian's ruminations on Perth's swampy origins; from a walk down streets that don't exist to Noongar place names; from the union movement to public art to criminal Perth to conversational Perth, this book encourages new encounters with the city. Perth: a guide for the curious traverses social, cultural and political spaces as the reader traverses the streets, kindling a sense of curiosity about a city by unearthing buried treasure. This is not a book of nostalgia. It doesn't posit a golden age or list a series of laments. This is a book about continuities and unfolding narratives. Perth situates the present in the past and illuminates possible futures. Perth: a guide for the curious is meant to be thumbed through in cafes, stuffed into satchels and walked around the city like a tireless companion. Perth promises to delight and inspire both visitor and local alike. *** "Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation, 'Perth: A Guide for the Curious' is unreservedly recommended for another living in and/or anticipating visiting the ever-evolving city of Perth, Australia." -- Midwest Book Review, Wisconsin Bookwatch: August 2016, The Travel Shelf [Subject: Travel, Australia]

Of all the Australians who fought in the Second World War, none saw more action nor endured so much of its hardship and horror as the crew of the cruiser HMAS Perth. Most were young--many were still teenagers--from cities and towns, villages and farms across the nation. In three tumultuous years they did battle with the forces of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Vichy French, and, finally, the Imperial Japanese Navy. They were nearly lost in a hurricane in the Atlantic. In the Mediterranean in 1941 they were bombed by the Luftwaffe and the Italian Air Force for months on end until, ultimately, during the disastrous evacuation of the Australian army from Crete, their ship took a direct hit and thirteen men were killed. After the fall of Singapore in 1942, HMAS Perth was hurled into the forlorn campaign to stem the Japanese advance towards Australia. Off the coast of Java in March that year she met an overwhelming enemy naval force. Firing until her ammunition literally ran out, she was sunk with the loss of 353 of her crew, including her much-loved captain and the Royal Australian Navy's finest fighting sailor, 'Hardover' Hec Waller. Another 328 men were taken into Japanese captivity, most to become slave labourers in the infinite hell of the Burma-Thai railway. Many died there, victims of unspeakable atrocity. Only 218 men, less than a third of her crew, survived to return home at war's end. Cruiser, by journalist and broadcaster Mike Carlton, is their story. And the story of those who loved them and waited for them.

This heartwarming story of a truly remarkable dog, who changed the lives of her owners forever, will move and delight dog lovers everywhere. From the moment Peter and Cindy Martin spotted her as a puppy in a kennel she came streaking toward them and staring with her intense gaze, they knew she was the one. Almost immediately, she became a central part of their household. Alwayas left to run free, she became indefatigable explorer, gone for hours, sometimes entire days, but her infallible compass always brought her home. From her exploits in upstate New York to the story of her incredible survival in the Vermont wilderness and her later adventures in the English countryside, Perth displayed the same pluck, intelligence, devotion, unshakable trust, and unstinting love. Anyone who has ever owned or grown up with or wanted a dog will be captivated by this extraordinary, beautifully written homage to a very special creature.

As one of Scotland's most historically significant cities, Perth has played an important role in the nation's story. Not surprisingly for a place that has seen continuous human settlement for thousands of years, much has come and gone over the centuries. The followers of Knox and Cromwell, and later the slum clearers, planners and developers, each had their own reasons for taking a pickaxe to Perth, but the cumulative effect of their actions has been to convert most of the ancient city to rubble and road infill. This is the first book to consider just how much of Perth has been lost over the centuries and why. As well as looking at the ancient monasteries and chapels, and other great buildings such as Gowrie House, Cromwell's hated citadel and the first City Hall, Jeremy Duncan uncovers the vanished streets, waterways and open spaces, the once-cherished industries, beloved sporting venues and many other topics, ranging from schools and shops to post offices and prisons. Superbly illustrated with over 100 old photos and engravings, this book, written by a son of Perth and a keen student of its history, makes lost Perth visible again to new generations.