It was still very warm on Wednesday (that 39 for Perth is Celsius and equals 100 °F !).
My brother and I made a jaunt into downtown Perth with the Transperth* train on Wednesday. Downtown is a mix of old and new buildings, with the tallest ones belonging to the giant multinational mining companies such as Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton. (Iron ore is the country’s largest export earner, and lost 43 per cent in market price this year as low-cost miners such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton pressed ahead with production to defend their market share).
*Part of the Perth public transportation network of trains, buses and ferries.
Our north-bound train is arriving at Bullcreek Station, on the way tp Perth downtown.The Queen’s Building on Murray Street is right by the downtown train station exit. It was constructed just before 1900.This is the Perth General Post Office building in the central business district. Construction commenced in 1914, and was finally completed in 1923. This is the precise location where distances from Perth are measured on maps and road signs.This is still downtown. We’re making our way to the Western Australia Museum and the cultural center. I still have to go and check out the modern buildings visible at the far end of this street (one is a cobalt blue).The Western Australia Museum is getting an expansion and renovation, with the ‘new’ museum slated to open in 2020.Time for a ‘selfie’ in a reflecting metal outdoor work of art outside the museum.A view of the Swan River on the train ride back (it forms a lake of sorts before it reaches the ocean). For nearly 40,000 years the area on which Perth now stands was occupied by groups of the Nyoongar people and their ancestors; this had been verified by the discovery of ancient stone implements near the Swan River which have been carbon dated at 38,000 years old. In December, 1696, three ships in the fleet commanded by de Vlamingh anchored off Rottnest Island and on 5th January, 1697, a well-armed party landed near the present-day Cottesloe Beach, marching eastward to the Swan River near Freshwater Bay. They tried to contact some of the Nyoongar to enquire about the fate of survivors of the Ridderschap van Hollant, lost in 1694, but were unsuccessful. Following this encounter, they sailed north, but not before de Vlamingh had bestowed the name Swan on the river because of the black swans he saw swimming there. Just over 100 years later, in 1829, Captain James Stirling founded Perth as part of the Swan River Colony.
