is the capital and largest city of the Australian
state of Western Australia. With a population of
1,650,000 (2009), Perth ranks fourth amongst the
nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently
above the national average.
Perth was founded on 12 June 1829
by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of
the free settler Swan River Colony. It has continued
to serve as the seat of Government for Western
Australia to the present day. Its port, Fremantle is
a city in its own right and slightly older than
Perth.
The metropolitan area is located
in the south west of the continent between the
Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as
the Darling Range. The central business district and
suburbs of Perth are situated on the Swan River.
Perth is ranked 4th on The Economist's 2008 list of
the World's Most Liveable Cities.
Perth became known worldwide as
the "City of Lights" as city residents lit their
houselights and streetlights as American astronaut
John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth
on Friendship 7 in 1962. The city repeated its feat
as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in
1998. Via
Wikipedia.
The
City of Perth, Western Australia 