Swan River colony capital named for a Scottish shire
Perth—Nyungar Boorloo—is Western Australia's capital and Australia's fourth-most-populous city with over two million people. Captain James Stirling founded it in 1829 as the Swan River Colony's administrative center on Whadjuk Noongar land. A Beta global city in 2020, it ranks among highly liveable metros.
People have lived around the Swan River for at least 48,000 years. The city centre lies in the country of the Mooro clan, led by Yellagonga when the British arrived, one of several Whadjuk Noongar groups whose wetlands on the coastal plain carried both spiritual meaning and food. Robert Lyon recorded the Noongar name as Boorlo in 1833, applied to Point Fraser, and Boorloo is now used by tourism bodies and the arts. In 2006 the Federal Court ruled that Noongar native title persisted over the metropolitan area, though parts of that ruling were overturned on appeal in 2008.
Europeans came early. In 1619 Frederick de Houtman sighted the coast and called it Dedelsland, and some 54 European ships passed before 1770. Willem de Vlamingh explored on foot in January 1697 and named the river after its black swans. Stirling's colonists first saw the mainland on 4 June 1829, his proclamation was read at Fremantle on 18 June, and on 12 August Helen Dance felled a tree to mark the founding. The name honoured George Murray, colonial secretary and member for Perthshire.
Settlement pushed Noongar people off hunting grounds into camps around northern swamps, and from 1927 until 1954 Aboriginal people were barred from much of the city on pain of jail. A labour shortage led the colony to request convicts in 1850, and 9,721 arrived on 43 ships over eighteen years, outnumbering free settlers. Queen Victoria declared Perth a city in 1856, yet an 1870 visitor found a sandy town of about 3,000. Gold at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie changed that, lifting the population from about 8,500 in 1881 to 61,000 in 1901, the year Western Australia reluctantly joined the federation.
More than 2.2 million people now live there, spread across 30 councils and over 350 suburbs stretching 125 kilometres. Kings Park, one of the largest inner-city parks anywhere, Cottesloe Beach, Rottnest Island and the World Heritage-listed Fremantle Prison draw visitors.
Source: Perth
