Perth: the good, the notable, and the ugly

Central Park, not far from the Perth Underground train station. One of the most beautiful parts of the inner city. Perhaps that is not saying a lot, much of the inner city is simple, unimaginative, boxy towers lacking in any architectural merit. Photo iPhone 7, 3.99mm focal length, near midday 2018/04/03

Relics, the old beauties among the beasts This is typical of all that is left of some of the beautiful old buildings in Perth. A bit of history at the foot of tall box-buildings. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens 4.25mm fl, early morning 2024/01/18 There are some beautiful old buildings remaining as more than just a relic or a facade - His Majesty's Theatre Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens 1.54mm fl, early morning 2023/03/19. I had to use the wide angle lens to avoid nearby clutter. Home Top Index Perth General Post Office, on Forrest Place A relic of a time when major buildings were expected to have architectural merit; and this one certainly does have. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens 4.25mm fl, early morning 2023/01/10 Hay Street Just the columned Greek style facade of a old building backed and surrounded by modern boxes. Half-hearted partial 'preservation' of just the face of an old building like this, with the remainder removed, seems to me almost worse than complete destruction. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens 4.25mm fl, late afternoon 2023/12/19 Churches More relics, but beautiful relics As in so many Australian cities, Perth's churches are some of the most beautiful architecture to be seen. (St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney is another building of note.) It is ironical that some of the best architecture is devoted to a delusional belief in a God for the existence of whom there is simply no credible evidence. I have written elsewhere on these pages about the absurdity of religion. St Mary's Catholic Cathedral Officially the building is the "Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary". (Atheists like myself should try to refrain from laughing at this. Whatever it is called it is an impressive edifice.)   Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 4.25mm focal length, 2022/04/21 A small part of the interior of the Cathedral. Note the pipe organ left of centre. There are two pipe organs in this church. Home Top Index The original cathedral was completed in 1865. Plans to extend the building were drawn up in the 1920 but work was interrupted by the Great Depression. After being incomplete for many years it was closing for construction in 2006 and reopened in its present form in 2009. See Wikipedia for more details. The present structure, while it is a hybrid of styles, seems to me to have worked successfully from the aesthetic point of view.   Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens, 1.54mm focal length, 2022/04/21 Another small part of the interior of the Cathedral. The bishop's throne is on the left. I learned in a course on geology at the university of Tasmania that the word 'Cathedral' comes from the latin for the 'seat' or 'throne' of a bishop. The term 'ex cathedra' means 'from the throne'; an ex cathedra statement is one that is meant to be accepted because of its source: a statement from the throne. Interesting in the context of religion as against science. Urban infill: replacing attractive open spaces with glass, concrete and steel monstrosities A view in Elizabeth Quay. This area was, not so long ago, mostly open park lands. The bell tower (peaking through a gap on the right) about ten years ago was the tallest structure in the area. I suppose we should be grateful that the loopy art work breaks the monotony of the dull, ordinary, cliff-faced, commercial buildings has been added; a small grant to aesthetics. The crescent Moon can be seen in the upper left, to remind us that nature is still out there - somewhere. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens 4.25mm fl, early morning 2023/03/19 Good architecture Not all the modern architecture in Perth is maximal floor-space for minimal cost. In addition to some of the outstanding older buildings there are a few modern building that are admirable. University of Western Australia Home Top Index As well as Uni WA I have visited Murdoch University and Curtin University. Neither of those seem to be comparable to Uni WA in the beauty of their grounds or buildings. Those in charge of Murdoch University have made one creditable effort at imaginative and creative architecture in the last couple of years. Winthrop Hall

Winthrop Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings in Perth (perhaps in Australia), was completed in 1932. The arched court area, in the second photo below, can be seen just right of centre in this image. Winthrop Hall reminds me of the similarly beautiful Bonython Hall (opened 1936) in the University of Adelaide and the interior of the Mortlock Wing (opened in 1884) in the South Australian Library, also in Adelaide. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens, 1.54mm fl, 2023/11/07

Another view of Winthrop Hall - with ducks Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 4.25mm fl, 2023/11/07 Home Top Index On giving the matter more thought, Winthrop Hall is more beautiful than Bonython Hall. The interior of Winthrop Hall An exam had just been completed. The hall was not open to the public. I was asked, very politely, to leave soon after I took this photo. Why the hall appears to be asymmetrical in this image I do not know. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 4.25mm fl, 2023/11/07 More University of WA architecture This arched court area is adjacent to the main entrance of Winthrop Hall Home Top Index The rear of another building in the Uni WA grounds. The creeper adds to the impression of the university being long-standing. It is the first university in WA. This is adjacent to Winthrop Hall, on the western side. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, telephoto lens, 6mm fl, 2023/11/07 Good architecture: Murdoch University Boola Katitjin, building number 360 Murdoch University calls this new building 'An award-winning learning experience'. It was under construction when I attended a renewable energy conference in December 2022. I was impressed then with what seemed to me to be some very unusual features. This photo was taken using an iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 4.25mm focal length in 2024/02/05. Murdoch University say about it: "The building’s architects, Lyons with Silver Thomas Hanley, The Fulcrum Agency, Officer Woods Architects (WA), and Aspect Studios, received both the Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture and the National Award for Sustainable Architecture." "Sustainability was front and centre of the design of the largest mass-engineered timber building in Western Australia, earning it 6-Star Green Star certification, and earlier this year the top architectural honour, George Temple Poole Award, at the WA Architecture Awards." Home Top Index Murdoch University and Lyons both have pages on the building. Photos from other angles are below...

Boola Katitjin from four angles. All except the first have high-definition versions - click on the image to view them. Photos iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 4.25mm focal length, 2024/02/05

Good architecture: Library of Western Australia This is one of more recent public buildings of Perth that has been beautifully and imaginatively designed. It was completed in 1985. The state museum and art gallery nearby are, similarly, very attractively designed. (As I've remarked elsewhere, I have been very disappointed with the 'art' in the Art Gallery of WA. In my own experience far better art is to be seen in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and even in several of the regional cities of Victoria: Warrnambool, Ballarat and Bendigo. While it is not outstanding the art gallery in Bunbury could compete with the Perth Gallery.) One of the upper floors of the Library of WA. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 2023/03/18 A view of a part of the interior of the State Library of Western Australia Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens, fl 1.54mm, 2023/03/18 Home Top Index

The view over the city centre from the upper level of the library Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens, fl 1.54mm, 2023/03/18

Good architecture: Western Australian Museum Also see the museum's own Web site. Other sites run by the same authority are: WA Maritime Museum and WA Shipwrecks Museum, both at Fremantle; Museum of the Great Southern, Albany; Museum of Geraldton and the Museum of the Goldfields, Kalgoorlie.

The rear courtyard of the WA Museum. The new parts of the Museum (opened in late November 2020) in the distance centre and on the right, some parts of the old museum are on the left. Home Top Index Previous to the reopening, the people of Perth had to get along without a main museum for about three years while the rebuilding was going on. A very long time for such an isolated city (and state) to not have a main museum. Photo iPhone 7, 2020/12/30

In the warmer weather there are misters in the front courtyard of the museum. They provide a welcome slight cooling effect. The interior and exterior design of the museum are aesthetically very pleasing. It could be argued that the space could have been more efficiently used to increase the area available for display. There must be a compromise between excellent architectural aesthetics and efficient use of space. Doing justice to the materials on display in the museum is well beyond the scope of this page. Inside the museum, looking down in the main escalator shaft. Home Top Index Two small boats can be seen, suspended from wires. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens, 2022/04/24 The entry area to one of the exhibit divisions. Perhaps overdone? Could the space be better used by exhibits of what the museum is in existence to exhibit. To each his own opinion. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens, 2022/04/24 One of the more impressive of the great many impressive specimens. This is a slab of jasper from the 'rusting of the oceans' period. I will make no attempt to provide photos of even a small proportion of the outstanding exhibits. I would have to say that while three years was a very long time for WA to go without a general state museum, the end result was well worth waiting for. Photo iPhone 7, 2020/12/30 Home Top Index Good architecture: Perth Children's Hospital This building was announced in 2008, construction started in 2012 and it was officially opened in 2018. This hospital shows beautiful and imaginative architecture both exterior and interior. Wikipedia gives more information. The Children's Hospital is a part of the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre (QEIIMC).

Perth Children's Hospital on the left, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on the right and a part of the Kid's Bridge in the foreground. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle camera, focal length 1.54mm, 2024/02/23

A view of a part of the atrium in the Perth Children's Hospital Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard camera, focal length 4.25mm, 2024/02/23 The Kid's Bridge, also named Koolangka Bridge. The bridge crosses over Winthrop Avenue and connects the hospital complex with Kings Park. Perth Children's hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital are in the background of this image. Quoting from Wikipedia: "The bridge was proposed in 2012, as part of the Perth Children's Hospital, but deferred to give priority to completion of the hospital. Construction commenced in January 2021, with the bridge opening on 4 August 2021." Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle camera, focal length 1.54mm, 2024/02/23 Home Top Index Engineering Pedestrian bridge at Elizabeth Quay The pedestrian/cyclist bridge at Elisabeth Quay The buildings in the background, which took the place of previous attractive lawned open spaces, were still under construction. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, wide angle lens 1.54mm, morning 2023/01/10 There are interesting things to be found A stone ball with a big story to tell There are still scattered, attractive, open spaces to be found in Perth; this is Forrest Place (named for the first Premier of WA). More on the stone sphere in the foreground below... Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens 4.25mm fl, morning 2022/04/21 Home Top Index   Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens 4.25mm fl, morning 2022/04/21 This is a near photo of the stone sphere of the above image. What a story this stone has to tell a petrologist (a scientist who studies stones)! I'm just a has-been worker in hydrogeology with a long standing interest in geology and mineralogy (that developed while I was dairy farming), but even I can see a lot in this stone. The circular mostly black objects (spheres in section) would probably be the oldest part of this. I at first thought that they would have grown from the centre out, but maybe not (see the text box below). The cloudy white mineral would be one of the feldspar group of minerals. The clear light coloured mineral would be quartz (silicon dioxide, silica, SiO2). I'm guessing that the black minerals would belong to the pyroxine or amphibole groups, and some of the black pieces could be tourmaline. I'd be pretty sure that there would be some biotite mica in there too.   Could the spheres have grown from the outside inward? In a crystallising (solidifying) magma the more basic minerals crystallise out (in this case the pyroxenes and amphiboles) before the more acidic minerals (feldspars and quartz). This suggests that the black minerals would have crystallised around the outside of the spheres with the light coloured minerals filling in the centres of the spheres later. See Intrusive Igneous Rocks: Crystallisation of Magma Interpretation The amount that can be interpreted just by looking at a rock is somehow impressive. How much of what I interpreted here is correct is another matter. What would have induced the spheres to grow the way they have I wouldn't even dare to guess. The spheres would have been concreted into a solid rock by the feldspar and quartz crystallising around them. By this time the percentage of silica in the crystallising melt must have increased and the percentage of elements such as iron and magnesium decreased; hence the lesser proportion of the mafic (dark coloured) minerals. Then there's the light coloured band running from top left to lower right, made up of much the same minerals the cementing minerals between the spheres. It is apparent that at some point the older rock (composed of the spheres and cementing minerals between them) was fractured. The crack opened up and was then filled with more crystallising feldspar and quartz. How could anyone not find geology fascinating? Interesting things: Standing out from the crowd This one limb of (I think) a lemon-scented gum (Corymbia citriodora) in Kings Park decided it wanted to go any direction but upward. It didn't want to do the normal, accepted, standard, ordinary, thing. Home Top Index I can identify with that. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 2024/01/18 While the photo above recorded a limb that wanted to do its own thing, here, in the grounds of the University of Western Australia, is a whole tree with a mind of its own. Again, I think it's a lemon scented gum. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 2024/01/03 Parks and gardens Of course one can't mention parks and gardens on the same page as Perth without referring to Kings Park. Perhaps I will add a section on Kings Park to this page, but for the present a link to a section on another page will have to sufice. And then there is Araluen to the east of Perth in the hills. Elevated garden, Perth Conference Centre These trees are on the upper level of the Conference Centre and Bus Port. They are paperbark (Melaleuca) trees. I thought it a pretty impressive piece of engineering/design/architecture. I wonder if there have been any problems with water seeping through into the level below. Home Top Index We saw a lot of this in Singapore, but it is very unusual in Australia in my experience. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, Standard lens, 4.25mm fl, early morning 2024/01/18 John Oldham Park John Oldham Park is between Elizabeth Quay train station and Kings Park. I can recommend the walk through the park between the two. It is one of the few attractive parks in the vicinity of the central Perth area and is itself overlooked by Kings Park. You can go via the Convention Centre and the Bus Station then continue to the west, or you can go south from the train station to William Street and then due west. Either way you'll have to cross a number of roads before you get to John Oldham Park. The photo shows one of the more attractive features of the park. From the park, if you like, you can continue around the base of Kings Park to the Kokoda Track and use it to climb up to Kings Park public areas. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lense, 4.25mm fl, 2023/08/22 John Oldham Park in the early evening, Perth city in the distance. Photo iPhone 7, 2022/03/12 19:31 Parks and gardens: University of WA grounds A magnificent Morton Bay fig tree in the grounds of Uni WA and two Asian girls.

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