Places/perth.html
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Perth
Ewers:
... Stirling had selected and named sites for two towns. One at the mouth of the river he chose as the port of the settlement and named Fremantle in honour of the captain of the Challenger. It was an obvious choice. For the immediate future, at least, all communications with the interior would be by way of the waters of the Swan River, even though the rocky bar at its mouth rendered it difficult of access from the sea to all but small boats. The choice of a site for the centre of administration proved more difficult. The advantages of Point Heathcote, on the south side of the river, near, the junction of the Canning, were weighed against those of a locality to the east of Mt Eliza on the northern bank. The former would provide contact by land as well as by water with the port which was on the southern side of the mouth of the river. The latter would necessitate the subsequent erection of a bridge across the river, but it did have direct access to the superior farming land at Guildford, where it was expected an early concentration of settlement would take place.
The latter consideration prevailed, and on 12 August, the birthday of King George IV, the site of Perth was proclaimed by the ceremony of the chopping down of a tree on the allotment set apart for military barracks. It was named Perth as a compliment to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir George Murray, whose birthplace was Perth, Scotland. (Ewers: 4-5)
Robert Milne gives us two possible Noongar names for Perth, one specifically referring to the spring at the bottom of present-day Spring Street, and the other specifically referring to Point Fraser (opposite Heirisson Island).
Milne:
Boorlo, Perth ; properly, Point Fraser
Byerbrup, the high land, stretching along from Mount Eliza, through the centre of the town of Perth
The camp of Yellowgonga, bearing this name, originally stood beside the springs at the West end of the town, as you descend from Mount Eliza ; and on this very spot did the 63rd pitch their tents, when they came to take possession. So that the head quarters of the king of Mooro are now become the head quarters of the territories of the British King in Western Australia. On this very spot too the king of Mooro, now holds out his hand to beg a crust of bread. Sic transit gloria mundi. Why do you smile ? why should the sword of the Roman be considered more classical than the spear of Derbal's chief ? All nations were once barbarous.
References and Links
Ewers, John K. 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948].
Lyon, Robert Menli [Robert Lyon Milne] 1833, ‘A glance at the manners and language of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Western Australia with a short vocabulary’, in two parts: Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 30 March 1833: 51; and 20 April 1833: 63-4.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 12 July, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/places/perth.html (it was last updated on 17 April, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.