See Perth with DIY Car Hire

Perth Fast Facts

Getting to Perth and Where to Stay

Perth is the capital city of the state of Western Australia. Perth is one of the most isolated metropolitan areas on Earth. The nearest city to Perth with a population over 1 million is Adelaide in South Australia, which is 2,104 kilometres (1,307 mi) away. Perth is geographically closer to East Timor and Jakarta, Indonesia, than it is to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

Getting to Perth is easy, with international flights direct from Europe, Asia and Africa as well as domestic Australian air services. Car hire at Perth Airport is available through www.diycarhire.com.au partners, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty at the International and Domestic terminals. Car rentals are also available in Perth city from these companies.

Hotel accommodation is plentiful and there is something for every budget. An excellent range of facilities, at discount prices, can be booked through DIY Hotels.

Perth History

Founded in 1829 by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of the British free settler Swan River Colony, Perth has continued to serve as the seat of government for Western Australia to the present day.

The first documented European sighting of the region was made by the Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew on 10 January 1697. Subsequent sightings between this date and 1829 were made by other Europeans, but as in the case of the sighting and observations made by Vlamingh, the area was considered to be inhospitable and unsuitable for the agriculture which would be needed to sustain a settlement.

Although the British Army had established a base at King George Sound (later Albany) on the south coast of Western Australia in 1826 in response to rumours that the area would be annexed by France, Perth was the first full scale settlement by Europeans in the western third of the continent. The British colony would be officially designated Western Australia in 1832, but was known informally for many years as the Swan River Colony after the area's major watercourse.

In 1850, Western Australia was opened to convicts at the request of farming and business people looking for cheap labour. Queen Victoria announced the city status of Perth in 1856

After a referendum in 1900, Western Australia joined the Federation of Australia in 1901. It was the last of the Australian colonies to agree to join the Federation, and did so only after the other colonies had offered several concessions, including the construction of a transcontinental railway line to Perth (via Kalgoorlie) from the eastern states.

In 1933, Western Australia voted in a referendum to leave the Australian union, with a majority of two to one in favour of independence. However, an election held shortly before the referendum had turned out the incumbent "pro-independence" government, replacing it with a government which did not support the independence movement. Respecting the result of the referendum, the new government nonetheless petitioned the Agent General of United Kingdom for independence, where the request was simply ignored.

Perth has prospered by becoming a key service centre for the natural resource industries, being the closest city to huge reserves of gold, iron ore, nickel, alumina, manganese, diamonds, mineral sands, coal, oil, and natural gas. Most of the world's major resource and engineering companies have offices in Perth. Partially as a result of this influx, Perth has become highly ethnically diverse, with over 27% of inhabitants having been born overseas (495,240 persons) and a further 414,000 having an overseas born parent (2001 census). 11% speak a language other than English at home. Two thirds of the Perth population are of the Christian faith, with other major religions including Buddhism and Islam. The proportion of the population that has no religious affiliation has remained consistent since 1991.

Perth Geography and Climate

Perth is set on the Swan River, named after the native black swans in 1697 by Willem de Vlamingh, captain of a Dutch expedition.[22] Traditionally, this water body has been known by local inhabitants as Derbal Yerrigan. The city centre and most of the suburbs are located on the sandy and relatively flat Swan Coastal Plain, which lies between the Darling Scarp and the Indian Ocean. The soils of this area are quite infertile. The metropolitan area extends to Yanchep in the north, Mandurah in the south, total distance of approximately 125 kilometres (78 mi) by road. From the Coast in the west to Mundaring in the east, a total distance of approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) by road. This means that the area of Perth is over 1.5 million acres (6,100 km²).

The coastal suburbs take advantage of Perth's oceanside location and clean beaches. To the east, the city is bordered by a low escarpment called the Darling Scarp. Perth is on generally flat, rolling land - largely due to the high amount of sandy soils and deep bedrock. This abundance of sand has resulted in West Australians' being given the nickname 'sandgropers' by the rest of the country. The Perth metropolitan area has two major river systems; the first is made up of the Swan and Canning Rivers. The second is that of the Serpentine and Murray Rivers, which discharge into the Peel Estuary at Mandurah.

Perth receives moderate though highly seasonal rainfall. Summers are generally hot and dry, lasting from late December to late March, with February generally being the hottest month of the year, making Perth a classic example of a Mediterranean climate. Summer is not completely devoid of rain with sporadic rainfall in the form of short-lived thunderstorms, weak cold fronts and on very rare occasions decaying tropical cyclones which can bring significant falls. The hottest ever recorded temperature in Perth was 46.2 °C (115 °F) on 23 February 1991. Winters are relatively cool and rather moist, though the once reliable winter rainfall has been declining steadily in recent years. The coldest temperature recorded was -0.7 °C (30.7 °F) on 17 June 2006, and the only temperature ever recorded below the freezing point. Even in mid-winter, maximum daytime temperatures only occasionally fall below 16 °C (60 °F). Though most rainfall occurs during winter, the wettest day ever was unusually on 9 February 1992 when 121 millimetres (4.75 in) fell. On most summer afternoons a sea breeze, also known as "The Fremantle Doctor", blows from the south-west, cooling the city by up to 15°C

Perth Demographics

Perth is Australia's fourth largest city, having overtaken Adelaide's population in the early 1980s. At the 2006 Census 1,445,079 persons resident in the Perth statistical area were enumerated

Perth's population is notable for the high proportion of British-born residents. At the 2006 Census 142,424 British-born Perth residents were counted[1], narrowly behind Sydney (145,261), despite having just 35% of the overall population of Sydney.

The make-up of Perth changed in the middle of the twentieth century, when significant numbers of Italians and Greeks settled. As Fremantle was the first landfall in Australia for many migrant ships coming from Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, Perth started to experience a diverse influx which included Dutch, Germans, Croats, Serbs, Poles, Czechs, Russians and Macedonians and many others. The Italian influence in the Perth and Fremantle area has been substantial, evident in places like the "Cappuccino strip" in Fremantle featuring many Italian eateries and shops. In Fremantle the traditional Italian blessing of the fleet festival is held every year at the start of the fishing season. Suburbs surrounding the Fremantle area such as Spearwood and Hamilton Hill also contain high concentrations of Italians, Croatians and Portuguese. Perth also has a vibrant Jewish community — numbering 5,082 in 2006 — who emigrated primarily from eastern Europe and more recently from South Africa.

Another more recent wave of arrivals include European minorities from Southern Africa. The South Africa-born overtook those born in Italy to become the fourth largest birthplace group after 2001. By 2006, there were 18,825 South Africa-born in Perth, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the city's people. Many Afrikaners and Anglo-Africans from South Africa and Zimbabwe emigrated to Perth during the 1980s and 1990s, to the extent that the city has been described as "the Australian capital of South Africans in exile". The phrase "Packing for Perth" has become associated with South Africans who choose to emigrate abroad, sometimes regardless of the destination.

Perth Economy

Perth has a booming economy, primarily due to the rising demands for raw minerals from emerging economies in particular, China. This has lead to a mining boom, which is having a great impact not only for Perth, but for the swan state with mining accounting for 25% of the states total output and 50% of the state's exports. In addition, Perth is so important to mining and energy projects that it controls about 80% or at least $A 11.7 B worth of Australia's total projects. As such, 25% of the world's largest mining companies have bases in Perth with Rio Tinto, Woodside and BHP Billiton just to name a few. The economic growth rate in 2006 was more than that of China's which is already at a staggering 10%.

Having highly-skilled workers, bustling retail services and state of the art infrastructure, economic growth is expected to remain at the current rates for a while, or at least until China and other emerging economies are fully developed.

Perth being the heart of Western Australia in culture, business, tourism and retail services has consistent unemployment levels of less than 4%. As such, the city is drawing thousands of jobs providing accommodation for the many who flock back to the city centre.

As for tourists, more than 2 million interstate and international visitors inject millions into the local economy through hotel and retail services as many world cities are increasingly becoming Service economies.

Perth Landmarks

Popular areas for tourists in the city include Kings Park, Subiaco and the nearby beaches - Fremantle, Cottesloe, etc, and of course the beautiful Swan River. Major shopping precincts exist throughout the CBD, in the Hay Street Mall and in Northbridge.

Perth Water Supply

Reduced rainfall in the region in recent years has lowered inflow to reservoirs by two-thirds over the last 30 years, and affected groundwater levels. Coupled with the city's relatively high growth rate, this had led to concerns that Perth could run out of water in the near future.[35] The Western Australian State Government has responded by introducing mandatory household sprinkler restrictions in the city. In November 2006, a sea water desalination plant was opened in Kwinana, able to supply over 45 gigalitres (10 billions imperial or 12 billions U.S. gallons) of potable water per year; its power requirements were met by the construction of the Emu Downs Wind Farm near Cervantes. Consideration was given to piping water from the Kimberley region, but the idea was rejected in May 2006 due primarily to its high cost. Other proposals under consideration included the controversial extraction of an extra 45 gigalitres of water a year from the Yarragadee aquifer in the south-west of the state. However, in May 2007, the state government announced that a second desalination plant will be built at Binningup, on the coast between Mandurah and Bunbury

Close to Perth

Lancelin - is a major fishing, sailboarding and surfing spot a couple of hours drive north of Perth.

Mandurah - a major centre just south of Perth, with beaches, parks and estuaries.

Kalamunda - a picturesque village in the Perth Hills, known for it's art and fresh produce.

Bunbury - a beautiful coastal city about 3 hours south of Perth, famed for its beaches, cafes, fishing and watersports.

Margaret River - world famous for it's wineries, fresh produce and beautiful scenery, Margaret River is an easy 3 hour drive south of Perth.