Perth

Perth is the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth as of 2023. It is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of Perth’s metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which its central business district and port of Fremantle are situated.

Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony. The city is situated on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 45,000 years. Perth was named after the city of Perth in Scotland. Perth was proclaimed as a city by Queen Victoria in 1856, although the City of Perth currently governs only a small area around the central business district. Substantial population growth occurred during the late 19th-century Western Australian gold rushes, and the city has continued to expand, particularly after World War II due to a high net migration rate. Post-war immigrants were predominantly from the British Isles and Southern Europe, while more recent arrivals see a growing population of Asian descent. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a series of mining booms in various regions of Western Australia propelled Perth into the role of the regional headquarters for significant mining operations.

Ranked as one of the world’s most liveable cities, Perth was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a Beta global city in 2020. As of 2021, Perth is divided into 30 local government areas, comprising over 350 suburbs. The metropolitan contours span 115 kilometres (71 mi) from Two Rocks in the north to Singleton in the south, and 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the west coast to Sawyers Valley in the east. Beyond the central business district, predominant urban centres within the metropolitan area include Armadale, Fremantle, Joondalup, Midland, and Rockingham. Most of those were originally established as separate settlements and retained a distinct identity after being subsumed into the wider metropolitan area. Mandurah, Western Australia’s second-largest city, forms a conurbation with Perth along the coastline. Despite this, it is generally regarded as an independent city.