But does anybody actually know where that
is or anything about the place ?
I suspect that the answers to that
question are, Possibly - Maybe - Not Sure - No, and Not Very Much. So let me
share a bit of information about where we live.
The Land Down Under .. the Sunburnt
Country .. the Lucky Country .. Australia ..
Let's start with the big picture and make
no assumptions, because you know what happens when we assume? Yes, that's
right I spend an hour explaining everything and you still think I live next
door to the Opera House [which by the way is in New South Wales, on the
right hand side, not in WA on the left hand side].
This is a map of Australia showing the
various States and Territories. I stopped short of including a world map. If
in doubt as to where Australia is - please Google it.
Note: For those
people that I sent the maps to a couple of years ago, sorry but Australia is
not really in the Northern hemisphere,
neither is it larger than Russia.
To give you some perspective on the size
and distance. Perth to Sydney [left to right] takes about 5 hours to fly
there and, I kid you not, as much as 45 minutes longer to fly home because
of trade winds.
What Does it Look Like ?
Perth is a very picturesque, modern city, built along the
banks of the Swan River and you can still see our native black swans from
time to time. It is a relatively small city in comparison with Sydney and
Melbourne, the capitals of New South Wales and Victoria respectively, but it
is still the fourth largest city in Australia and a great place to show to
visiting friends.
Perth's
tallest building, Central Park, is by some measures the sixth tallest
building in Australia [which means that by some measures it isn't].
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, diamonds, mineral sands, coal, oil and
natural gas. Most of the world's major resource and engineering companies
have offices in Perth.
What's the Weather Like ?
Ok I admit it. I used to be English and I still have this
desire to discuss the weather from time to time. It's genetic, I'm sure, but
we have great weather.
Perth summers are hot and dry, summer lasts from late
December to late February, with February generally being the hottest month
of the year. The hottest ever recorded temperature in Perth was 46.2C
(115F).
Winters are cool and moist, though winter rainfall has been
declining in recent years. The coldest temperature recorded was -0.7C
(30.7F) and the only temperature ever recorded below freezing point and that
happened in 2006.
Even in mid-winter, maximum daytime temperatures only
occasionally fall below 16C (60F). On most summer afternoons a sea breeze,
also known as "The Fremantle Doctor", blows from the south-west cooling the
city.
A Potted History of the Colony ..
The first documented European sighting of the land region
which now bears the city of Perth was made by the Flemish sea captain Willem
de Vlamingh when he was cruising past on January 10, 1697 [I'm thinking
Thompson rather that Seabourn]. Subsequent sightings between this date and
1829 took place by other European cruise fleets [think MSC or Costa], but
much like the sighting and observation by Vlamingh himself, the region was
considered to be inhospitable and unsuitable for agriculture that would be
needed to sustain a settlement.
The name Perth was chosen in 1829 by James Stirling.
Stirling, a Scot, implemented the wish of Sir George Murray, Secretary of
State for War and the Colonies, that the Swan River Colony settlement be
named after Perthshire, which was his birthplace as well as his
parliamentary seat in the British House of Commons.
On 1 June 1829, the colonists had their first view of the
mainland and Western Australian's Foundation Day has since been recognised
by a public holiday on the first Monday in June each year. James said that
Perth was "as beautiful as anything of this kind I had ever witnessed."
On August 12 that year, Mrs Helen Dance, wife of the Captain
of the ship Sulphur, cut down a tree [to be used to construct the first
building, although it sounds like eco terrorism] to mark the day of the
founding of the town. Queen Victoria announced the city status of Perth in
1856.
After a referendum in 1900, Western Australia joined the
Federation of Australia in 1901. WA was the last of the Australian colonies
to agree to join, and did so only after the other colonies offered several
concessions, including the construction of a rail line to Perth (via
Kalgoorlie) from the Eastern States.
In 1933 Western Australia voted in a referendum to leave the
Commonwealth with a majority of two to one in favor of independence however
when the WA Government petitioned the United Kingdom they refused.
And so to this day WA remains shackled to the Australian
Government and part of the Commonwealth. Although I believe that in my
lifetime Australia will become a Republic and we might just take that
opportunity to separate from the other states.
