Editing Perth (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Perth, Western Australia}}

=== Prehistory ===
[[File:Noongar regions map.svg|thumb|left|Perth is located on the traditional land of the [[Whadjuk|Whadjuk people]], one of several groups in south-western Western Australia that make up the [[Noongar]] people.]]

Archaeological evidence attests to human habitation in the Perth area for at least 48,000 years;<ref name="men22">{{cite Q |Q127496561 |mode=cs1 |url-status=live |access-date=2024-05-19 |quote=Archaeologists over the past 40 years have found evidence to push the date of Aboriginal occupancy of the state earlier and earlier, with 50,000 years now widely accepted and 70,000 considered possible.}}</ref>{{rp|9}} according to [[Noongar]] tradition, they have occupied the area since "time immemorial".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Noongar History |url=https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/noongar-history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328182409/https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/noongar-history|archive-date=28 March 2023|access-date=1 January 2024|publisher=[[Government of Western Australia]]|date=21 July 2020 }}</ref> Noongar country encompasses the south-west corner of Western Australia, with particular significance attached to the [[Perth Wetlands|wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain]], both spiritually (featuring in [[Dreamtime|local mythology]]) and as a source of food.<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.archaeology.arts.uwa.edu.au/staff/bowdler__research_interests/the_pleistocene_pacific |title= The Pleistocene Pacific |last= Bowdler |first= Sandra |journal= Published in 'Human Settlement', in D. Denoon (Ed) the Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders. Pp. 41–50. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge |publisher= [[University of Western Australia]] |access-date= 26 February 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080216181223/http://www.archaeology.arts.uwa.edu.au/about/research/bowdler__research_interests/the_pleistocene_pacific |archive-date= 16 February 2008 |jstor= 44080296 |doi= 10.1002/arco.5110 |url-status= dead |url-access= subscription }}</ref>

The current central business district location is within the traditional territory of the [[Mooro]], a Noongar clan, led by [[Yellagonga]] at the time of the British settlement. The Mooro was one of several Noongar clans based around the Swan River, known collectively as the [[Whadjuk]]. The Whadjuk themselves were one of a larger group of fourteen tribes that formed the south-west socio-linguistic block known as the Noongar (meaning 'the people' in [[Noongar language|their language]]), also sometimes called the Bibbulmun.{{Sfn|ps=none|Heritage Council of Western Australia|1998|p=3}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/15517921|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101160600/https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/15517921|access-date=2 January 2024|archive-date=1 January 2024|website=[[AustLit]]|title=First Nations of the South-West Region}}</ref>{{Sfn|ps=none|Government House|2020|p=2}}

On 19 September 2006, the [[Federal Court of Australia]] ruled in the case of ''Bennell v State of Western Australia'' [2006] FCA 1243 that [[Native title in Australia#2005 – Noongar|Noongar native title]] persisted over Perth metropolitan area.<ref name="Bennell">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506060306/http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/1243.html|archive-date=6 May 2015|url= http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/1243.html |title= ''Bennell v State of Western Australia'' [2006] FCA 1243 |access-date= 1 January 2024 |work= [[Federal Court of Australia Decisions]] |publisher= [[Australasia Legal Information Institute]]}}</ref> An appeal was subsequently filed, and in 2008, the Full Court of the Federal Court upheld parts of the appeal by the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nntt.gov.au/News-and-Communications/Newsletters/Native-title-Hot-Spots-archive/Documents/Hot%20Spots%2027/Bodney%20v%20Bennell.pdf |title= Newsletter: Single Noongar appeal—Perth: Bodney v Bennell 2008 |publisher= [[National Native Title Tribunal]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140212034834/http://www.nntt.gov.au/News-and-Communications/Newsletters/Native-title-Hot-Spots-archive/Documents/Hot%20Spots%2027/Bodney%20v%20Bennell.pdf |archive-date= 12 February 2014 |access-date= 15 August 2009 }}</ref> Following this appeal, the [[Government of Western Australia|Western Australian Government]] and the [[South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council]] negotiated the South West Native Title Settlement. This settlement, including the Whadjuk Indigenous Land Use Agreement over the Perth region, was finalised by the Federal Court on 1 December 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South West Native Title Settlement timeline |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108064403/https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-timeline|archive-date=8 January 2023|url=https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-timeline |access-date=7 April 2022 |date=14 September 2023|publisher=[[Government of Western Australia]]}}</ref> As part of this agreement, the ''Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition Act'' was passed in 2016, officially recognising the Noongar people as the [[traditional owners]] of the south-west region of Western Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South West Native Title Settlement – Noongar recognition through an Act of Parliament |url=https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-noongar-recognition-through-act-of-parliament |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316205108/https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/south-west-native-title-settlement-noongar-recognition-through-act-of-parliament|archive-date=16 March 2023|publisher=[[Government of Western Australia]]|date=13 January 2020|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref>

=== European exploration ===
[[Image:Vlamingh ships at the Swan River, Keulen 1796.jpg|thumb|[[Willem de Vlamingh]]'s ships and [[black swan]]s at the entrance to the Swan River, 1697]]
On 10 January 1697, Dutch Captain [[Willem de Vlamingh]] conducted the first documented exploration of the present-day Perth region. His crew initially explored the area on foot, leading them to what is now central Perth.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600361h.html#ch-12 | title = Early Voyages to Terra Australis, now called Australia | access-date = 26 February 2008 | last = Major | first = Richard Henry | year = 1859 | work = [[Project Gutenberg]] of Australia | archive-date = 20 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120120145040/http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600361h.html#ch-12 | url-status = live }}</ref> Vlamingh's expedition also ventured far up the Swan River, in search of native inhabitants.<ref name=HeritageInName>{{Cite web |last=Fraser |first=Gina |date=November 2015 |title=A HERITAGE IN NAMES – the Origin and Meaning of Street and Place Names in the City of South Perth |url=https://southperth.wa.gov.au/docs/default-source/4-develop/planning/heritage/heritage-in-names.pdf |access-date=26 September 2022 |website=[[City of South Perth]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128141024/https://southperth.wa.gov.au/docs/default-source/4-develop/planning/heritage/heritage-in-names.pdf|archive-date=28 November 2023}}</ref> They named the river ''[[Swan River (Western Australia)|Swarte Swaene-Revier]]'', a reference to the [[black swan]]s prevalent in the region.<ref name=HeritageInName/> After Vlamingh's expedition, other Europeans conducted further voyages of exploration in the period between 1697 and 1829. However, as with Vlamingh's assessments, they judged the area inhospitable and unsuitable for the agriculture necessary to sustain a European-style settlement.{{Sfn|ps=none|Appleyard|Manford|1979|pp=10–19}}

=== Swan River Colony ===
{{Main|Swan River Colony}}
Despite the [[Colony of New South Wales]] establishing a convict-supported settlement at [[King George's Sound]] (called ''Frederick Town'', renamed to ''[[Albany, Western Australia|Albany]]'' upon becoming part of Western Australia) on the south coast of the continent in 1826, responding to rumours of potential [[Kingdom of France (1814-1830)|French]] annexation, Perth marked the first comprehensive European settlement in the western portion of the continent in 1829. Officially designated as ''Western Australia'' in 1832, the colony retained the informal moniker "Swan River Colony" for many years, after the area's major watercourse.<ref name=srnsw>{{cite web |url=http://search.records.nsw.gov.au/agencies/2517 |title=King George's Sound Settlement |work=State Records |publisher=[[State Records Authority of New South Wales]] |access-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140624194804/http://search.records.nsw.gov.au/agencies/2517 |archive-date=24 June 2014 }}</ref>

[[File:The Foundation of Perth.jpg|thumb|left|''[[The Foundation of Perth 1829]]'' by [[George Pitt Morison]] is a historical reconstruction of the official ceremony by which Perth was founded, although not everyone depicted may have actually been present.]]
On 4 June 1829, newly arriving British colonists had their first view of the mainland.{{Contradictory inline |article=Western Australia Day |section=Background |reason=Was it 1 June or 4 June? |date=June 2024}} Captain James Stirling, aboard {{ship||Parmelia|barque|2}}, noted that the site was "as beautiful as anything of this kind I had ever witnessed".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/@brookeschaefer/a-day-in-perth-australia-48486796e208|title=A Day in Perth, Australia|website=[[Medium (website)|Medium]]|first=Brooke|last=Schaefer|date=1 May 2015|access-date=2 January 2023|archive-date=1 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101174548/https://medium.com/@brookeschaefer/a-day-in-perth-australia-48486796e208}}</ref> On 12 August that year, Helen Dance, wife of the captain of the second ship, ''Sulphur'', felled a tree to commemorate the town's founding.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.johncareymla.com.au/about/about-perth/|title=About the Perth electorate|first=John|last=Carey|publisher=[[Western Australian Labor Party]]|authorlink=John Carey (Australian politician)|date=2023|access-date=2 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217043820/https://www.johncareymla.com.au/about/about-perth/|archive-date=17 December 2023}}</ref> From 1831 onward, confrontations between British settlers and the Noongar people escalated due to conflicting land-value systems and increased land use as the colony expanded. These confrontations resulted in multiple events, including the murder of settlers (such as [[Thomas Peel]]'s servant Hugh Nesbitt{{Sfn|ps=none|Goldsmith|1951|p=346}}), the execution without trial of Whadjuk elder [[Midgegooroo]],{{sfn|Fforde|2002|p=230}} the killing of his son [[Yagan]] in 1833,{{sfn|Fforde|2002|p=231}} and the [[Pinjarra massacre]] in 1834.<ref name="men22"/>{{rp|114}}<ref name="inherit3957">{{cite web |url=http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Admin/api/file/a32f1bff-4af9-564a-68ce-8409d0c9f3cc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603073630/http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Admin/api/file/a32f1bff-4af9-564a-68ce-8409d0c9f3cc|archive-date=3 June 2023|title=Register of Heritage Places – Assessment Documentation, Pinjarra Massacre Site 1 |date=18 December 2007 |website=Heritage Council of Western Australia |access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref>

The strained relations between the Noongar people and the Europeans arose due to these events. Agricultural development on the land restricted the traditional [[hunter-gatherer]] practices of the native Whadjuk Noongar, compelling them to camp in designated areas, including swamps and lakes north of the European settlement. [[Hyde Park (Western Australia)|Third Swamp]], known to them as ''Boodjamooling'', remained a primary campsite for the remaining Noongar people in the Perth region, also accommodating travellers, itinerants, and homeless individuals. During the gold rush in the 1890s, miners on their way to the goldfields joined this community.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/2/145/1/history.pm |title = Town of Vincent&nbsp;– History |work= Adapted from 'History of the Town of Vincent', from Town of Vincent 2001 Annual Report, p.52 (possibly based on J. Gentili and others) |publisher= [[Town of Vincent]] |access-date = 26 February 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080726013622/http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/2/145/1/history.pm |archive-date= 26 July 2008}}</ref>

=== Convict era and gold rushes ===
[[File:FremantlePrisonYard.jpg|alt=|thumb|Built by convicts in the early 1850s, [[Fremantle Prison]] is a UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]].]]
[[File:2023-10-11-Perth-Mint-01.jpg|thumb|[[Perth Mint]], built in 1899 to refine gold from the gold rushes]]
In 1850, at a time when [[penal transportation]] to Australia's eastern colonies had ceased, Western Australia was [[Convict era of Western Australia|opened to convicts]] at the request of farming and business people due to a shortage of labour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.regionalwa.com.au/WAinfo/PerthHistory.htm |title = :: REGIONAL WA:: Western Australia: History |date = 23 December 2003 |access-date =26 February 2008 |publisher=Regional Web Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411021319/http://www.regionalwa.com.au/WAinfo/PerthHistory.htm|archive-date=11 April 2013}}</ref> Over the next eighteen years, 9,721 convicts arrived in Western Australia aboard [[List of convict ship voyages to Western Australia|43 ships]],{{Sfn|ps=none|Wood|2016|p=9}}{{Sfn|ps=none|Edwards|2010|p=79}} outnumbering the approximately 7,300 free settlers.<ref name="nma23">{{cite web |title=Founding of Perth |date=2023-05-04 |website=National Museum of Australia, Government of Australia |url=https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/founding-of-perth |access-date=2024-06-16 |quote=Between 1850 and 1868 around 10,000 British convicts arrived at the colony. By 1868 the total population was 17,000, with convicts outnumbering settlers, 9700 to 7300. }}</ref>

The designation of Perth as a city was formally announced by [[Queen Victoria]] in 1856. However, despite this recognition, Perth remained a tranquil town. A description from 1870 by a Melbourne journalist depicted it as:<ref name="historyofCOP">{{cite web |url = http://www.cityofperth.wa.gov.au/documentdb/63.pdf |title = History of the City of Perth |access-date = 26 February 2008 |date = 23 March 2005 |publisher = [[City of Perth]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080228075541/http://www.cityofperth.wa.gov.au/documentdb/63.pdf |archive-date = 28 February 2008 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>'Western Australia. (From the Argyle's Special Correspondent) IV-Perth' (1870, March 18). The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times, p. 3.</ref>
{{blockquote |text=a quiet little town of some 3000 inhabitants spread out in straggling allotments down to the water's edge, intermingled with gardens and shrubberies and half rural in its aspect ... The main streets are macadamised, but the outlying ones and most of the footpaths retain their native state from the loose sand—the all pervading element of Western Australia—productive of intense glare or much dust in the summer and dissolving into slush during the rainy season.}}

With the [[Western Australian gold rushes|discovery of gold]] at [[Kalgoorlie]] and [[Coolgardie]] in the late 19th century, Western Australia experienced a mining boom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.constitutionalcentre.wa.gov.au/ResearchAndSeminarPapers/LaunchingTheShip/Pages/TheGoldrush.aspx|title=The Goldrush|website=The Constitutional Centre of Western Australia|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140909031011/http://www.constitutionalcentre.wa.gov.au/ResearchAndSeminarPapers/LaunchingTheShip/Pages/TheGoldrush.aspx|archive-date=9 September 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Perth became a key hub for supplying the goldfields, and the newfound prosperity helped finance the construction of important public buildings, roads and railways. Perth's population grew from approximately 8,500 in 1881 to 61,000 in 1901.<ref>Abjorensen, Norman; Docherty, James C. ''Historical Dictionary of Australia''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. {{ISBN|9781442245020}}, p. 292.</ref>

=== Federation and beyond ===
[[File:St Georges Terrace Perth.jpg|thumb|left|Like many of Perth's colonial-era buildings, Moir Chambers (left) on [[St George's Terrace, Perth|St George's Terrace]] was demolished during a period of substantial modernisation in the 1960s-70s.]]
After a referendum in 1900,<ref name="naaCiP">{{cite web |url=http://www.naa.gov.au/naaresources/Publications/research_guides/guides/perth/chapter04.htm |title = Collections in Perth: 4. Colonial Administration |access-date =26 February 2008 |date = 23 August 2007 |work=Collections in Perth |publisher=[[National Archives of Australia]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080714174908/http://www.naa.gov.au/naaresources/Publications/research_guides/guides/perth/chapter04.htm |archive-date=14 July 2008 }}</ref> Western Australia joined the [[Federation of Australia]] in 1901,<ref name="historyofCOP"/> and "became a founding state of Australia".<ref name="men22"/> It was the last of the Australian colonies to agree to join the Federation, and it did so only after the other colonies had offered several concessions, including the construction of a [[Trans-Australian Railway|transcontinental railway line]] from [[Port Augusta]] in [[South Australia]] to [[Kalgoorlie]] to link Perth with the eastern states.<ref>{{cite book |last= Howell |first= Peter |title=South Australia and Federation |year=2002 |publisher= [[Wakefield Press (Australia)|Wakefield Press]]|location=Adelaide |isbn= 1-86254-549-9 |page=288}}</ref>

In 1927, [[Indigenous Australians|Indigenous people]] were [[Perth Prohibited Area|prohibited from entering large swathes of Perth]] under penalty of imprisonment, a ban that lasted until 1954.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-29/when-perth-banned-aboriginal-people-from-the-city/11818540|title=The forbidden city: When Indigenous people were banned from Perth|last=Carmody|first=Rebecca|date=29 December 2019|website=ABC News|language=en-AU|access-date=1 January 2020|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231200327/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-29/when-perth-banned-aboriginal-people-from-the-city/11818540|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1933, two-thirds of Western Australians [[1933 Western Australian secession referendum|voted in a referendum]] to [[secessionism in Western Australia|secede from]] the rest of Australia. However, the state general election held at the same time as the referendum had voted out the pro-independence government, replacing it with a government that did not support the independence movement. Respecting the result of the referendum, the new government nonetheless petitioned the Imperial Parliament at Westminster. The [[United Kingdom House of Commons|House of Commons]] established a [[Parliamentary select committees of the United Kingdom|select committee]] to consider the issue but after 18 months of negotiations and lobbying, finally refused to consider the matter, declaring that it could not legally grant secession.<ref name="naaCiP"/><ref>{{cite web |url = http://john.curtin.edu.au/mccallum/deputy.html |title = Deputy Premier 2nd Collier Government 1933–1935 |access-date = 26 February 2008 |date = 11 May 2005 |publisher = John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |archive-date = 1 April 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200401161931/http://john.curtin.edu.au/mccallum/deputy.html |url-status = live }}</ref>

Perth entered the post-war period with a population of approximately 280,000 and an economy that had not experienced sustained growth since the 1920s. Successive state governments, beginning with the [[John Willcock|Willcock]] Labor Government (1936–1945), determined to change this. Planning for post-war economic development was initially driven by [[Russell Dumas]], who as Director of Public Works (1941–1953) drew up plans for Western Australia's major post-war public-works projects, including the raising of the [[Mundaring Weir|Mundaring]] and [[Wellington Dam Hydro Power Station|Wellington]] dams, the development of the new Perth Airport, and the development of a new industrial zone centred on Kwinana. The advent of the [[McLarty–Watts Ministry|McLarty]] Liberal Government (1947–1953) saw the emergence of something of a consensus on the need for continuing economic development. Economic growth was fuelled by large-scale public works, the post-war immigration program, and the success that various state governments had in attracting substantial foreign investment into the state, beginning with the construction of the [[Kwinana Oil Refinery|Anglo-Iranian Oil Refinery]] at [[Kwinana Beach|Kwinana]] in 1951–52.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 1952 |title=Agreement On Oil |work=West Australian |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49018574 |access-date=20 April 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Perth WA c1955 EW Digby-14.jpg|thumb|Looking across [[Perth railway station]] {{circa|1955}}]]
[[File:Perth (AU), Elizabeth Quay Bridge -- 2019 -- 0375-9.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth Quay Bridge]]
The result of this economic activity was the rapid growth of the population of Perth and a marked change in its urban design. Commencing in the 1950s, Perth began to expand along an extensive highway network laid out in the [[Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle|Stephenson-Hepburn Report]], which noted that Perth was beginning to resemble a pattern of development less in line with the British experience and more in line with North America.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Gordon |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-745050840/view?partId=nla.obj-745051291 |title=Plan for the Metropolitan Region, Perth and Fremantle |last2=Hepburn |first2=J. A. |publisher=Government of Western Australia |year=1955 |location=Western Australia |archive-date=26 July 2022 |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726024212/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-745050840/view?partId=nla.obj-745051291 |url-status=live }}</ref> This was encouraged by the opening of the [[Narrows Bridge (Perth)|Narrows Bridge]] and the gradual closure of the [[Trams in Perth|Perth]] and [[Trams in Fremantle|Fremantle]] tram systems. The mining-pastoral boom of the 1960s only accelerated the pace of urban growth in Perth.

In 1962, Perth received global media attention when city residents lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut [[John Glenn]] passed overhead while orbiting the Earth on ''[[Friendship 7]]''. This led to its being nicknamed the "City of Light".{{efn
|The city most commonly referred to as the "City of Light" is [[Paris]]. However, over 30 [[City of Light (disambiguation)|other cities]] also carry the label in various forms.}}<ref>(1970) ''Perth&nbsp;– a city of light'' Perth, W.A. Brian Williams Productions for the Government of WA, 1970 (Video recording) The social and recreational life of Perth. Begins with a 'mock-up' of the lights of Perth as seen by astronaut John Glenn in February 1962</ref><ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=Jenny |last=Gregory |author-link=Jenny Gregory |title=Sir Henry Rudolph (Harry) Howard (1890–1970) |volume=''Supplementary Volume'' |year=2005 |id2=howard-sir-henry-rudolph-harry-12992 |access-date=2025-03-10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/city-lights|title=City of light – 50 years in Space|publisher=Western Australian Museum|access-date=13 August 2019|archive-date=1 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201033900/http://museum.wa.gov.au/city-lights|url-status=live}}</ref> The city repeated the act as Glenn passed overhead on the [[Space Shuttle]] in 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/canwehelp/txt/s2160601.htm|title=Moment in Time&nbsp;– Episode 1|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=15 February 2008|access-date=14 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821085131/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/canwehelp/txt/s2160601.htm|archive-date=21 August 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/digitallife/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/1998/11/05/ecnglen05.xml |title=Grandfather Glenn's blast from the past |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=5 November 1998 |access-date=14 July 2008 |location=London |first=Charles |last=Moore }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Perth's development and relative prosperity, especially since the mid-1960s,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/0c312955726b99d4ca256f2a000ffa34!OpenDocument|title=WA Statistical Indicators June 2002|publisher=[[Australian Bureau of Statistics]]|date=11 July 2002|access-date=5 October 2008|archive-date=9 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009110334/https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/0c312955726b99d4ca256f2a000ffa34!OpenDocument|url-status=live}}</ref> has resulted from its role as the main service centre for the state's resource industries, which extract gold, iron ore, nickel, alumina, diamonds, mineral sands, coal, oil and natural gas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/pdf/RR0112.pdf|title = Australia's identified mineral resources, 2002|access-date=26 February 2008|date=31 October 2002|publisher=[[Geoscience Australia]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040331135431/http://www.ga.gov.au/pdf/RR0112.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2004 }}</ref> Whilst most mineral and petroleum production takes place elsewhere in the state, the non-base services provide most of the employment and income to the people of Perth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/dialogue_GPdp3.pdf|title=Discussion Paper: Greater Perth Economy And Employment|publisher=[[Department for Planning & Infrastructure]]|date=25 August 2003|access-date=5 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031134821/http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/dialogue_GPdp3.pdf|archive-date=31 October 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Perth experienced a period of recovery in 1990. In July 1994, the state government separated the city's CBD from its suburban districts, creating the [[City of Perth]] and three other local government areas.{{cn|date=September 2024}} Perth saw significant population growth in the 2000s, as well as the commencement of several major urban infrastructure projects, bolstered in part by the state's mining boom. These include the [[Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre]] (2004) and the redevelopment of the city's waterfront, giving rise to the mixed-use [[Elizabeth Quay]] precinct.