Perth city history: Boorloo, 1829 and the buildings that survive

The city centre is where Western Australia’s story as a colony began, and it still holds some of the oldest buildings in the state.

How Perth got its name

Captain James Stirling named the town in 1829 after Perth in Scotland, the birthplace and parliamentary seat of Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Boorloo

The City of Perth uses the Noongar name Boorloo for the city, beside the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River). inHerit records that the site of the Town Hall was known as Koorari and was an important meeting place for Whadjuk Noongar people.

How it grew

Perth was founded on 12 August 1829. It became a city in 1856. Convicts arrived between 1850 and 1868 and built many of the public works of the period, and the gold rushes of the 1890s brought a wave of rebuilding.

In the 1960s the Kwinana Freeway and Narrows interchange reshaped the western edge of the city, and in 2013 the railway was put underground to reconnect the city with Northbridge.

Places that tell the story

The Old Court House, designed by Henry Reveley, opened in 1837 and is described as the oldest building in the city.

Perth Town Hall was built between 1867 and 1870. Its foundations were laid by free tradesmen and the rest was built by convict labour. The clock was made in London in 1868.

The Barracks Arch is all that remains of the barracks built in 1863. The rest was demolished in the 1960s for the freeway interchange.

Living in the city

Today the city centre combines Perth’s oldest buildings with its newest apartment towers, a short walk from the river and Kings Park.

More about Perth

For what Perth is like to live in now, read our Perth suburb profile. If you own a property in Perth and are thinking about selling, start with buyers for your property.

Sources

• Visit Perth: our history
• City of Perth: discover the history of Boorloo (archived copy)
• inHerit: Perth Town Hall
• Law Society of WA: the Old Court House (archived copy)
• inHerit: Barracks Arch

Top image: Perth Town Hall. Photo: JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Dates and names are drawn from the sources above. Where sources differ, we have said so or given an approximate date.

By Key Performance Real Estate, 338 Beaufort Street, Perth