Perth is a city of much beauty

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 30

Perth is a city of much beauty

Wrapped around the beautiful reaches of the Swan River, and expanding inland from the crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean, Perth, Western Australia, is an unspoiled jewel of the Southern Hemisphere.

' Perth has profited handsomely from its relative youth. Its founding fathers and subsequent guiding hands were quick to benefit from the experience of others in putting Perth’s pieces together over a mere 156 years, and the result is the best of all worlds.

Sprawling residential areas make the most of river and ocean frontages and an escarpment that rises to the east, all pleasingly Integrated with carefully planned industrial areas.

In the city centre, highrise office buildings provide breathtaking river views for thousands of workers who commute comfortably from outlying suburbs, rarely experiencing delays in backed-up traffic.

Blessed with a Mediterranean climate, with summer temperatures averaging in the high 20s, mild, but wet, winters, and no smog, Perth offers its million-plus Inhabitants a life something akin to one long holiday. The home of the America’s Cup is the inscription on motor vehicle registration plates in Western Australia since 1983 and the territory is literally bubbling with entrepreneurial enthusiasm. Over the last 15 years or so, especially with the effects of a mining boom at the end of the 19605, Perth has grown rapidly, in population and wealth. Traditionally Western Australia has derived its wealth from agriculture and minerals.

Wheat, wool and meat form the basis of its rural economy, but gold, discovered in significant quantities in the 1890 s, iron ore, nickel and other minerals handsomely boost the area’s income.

Oil has been produced in commercial quantities for years, but the recent discovery of a huge natural gas field off the coast has resulted in Australia’s biggest single resource development.

With the defence of the America’s Cup the big attraction, experts are forcasting that a million

domestic and international visitors will arrive in Perth to enjoy the sporting extravaganza that will take place throughout the 1986-87 summer. Perth is one of the most remote cities in the world. It is 3400 km by air from Australia’s largest city, Sydney, 14,500 km from the United Kingdom and even further (15,300 km from the United States. But, aware of its potential, the Australian and Western Australian Governments, plus individuals, have committed more than two billion dollars this year to projects related to tourism and the America’s Cup.

An hour’s drive down the banks of the Swan River, past the. Royal Perth Yacht Club, and some magnificent mansions, the Port of Fremantle is frantically redecorating for the influx of visitors during the Cup period. Much of the history of this first landfall by British settlers remains intact.

While tatty old parts of Fremantle are giving way to the new, the unique style and character of the

Port is carefully retained. Meanwhile, in nearby marinas and boat harbours, the challenge and defence syndicates go about their daily preparations for the Cup races.

To the north and south of Fremantle stretch glistening white beaches that attract board and body surfers by the thousands each summer week-end.

Eighteen kilometres to the west of the port, and protecting the triangular America’s Cup course from notorious southwesterly swells that come in during the summer months, is Rottnest Island, a popular holiday resort.

On the land side is the expanse of the State of Western Australia, three times the size of Texas and as big as all of Western Europe.

The geography varies dramatically from arid desert areas inland, to cattle stations in unforgiving lands to the remote north, through rolling farms to huge timber forests to the south, and excellent wine producing regions in the south-west.