|
|
Article: Perth: City of lights.
- Article from:
- Mining Journal
- Article date:
- August 31, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Mining Journal Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Perth residents used to tell visitors to Western Australia (WA), with a sort of desperate pride, that their city was the most isolated capital in the world. It was also, they claimed, close to being the windiest. Today's residents are more likely to assail newcomers with illustrations of the city's phenomenal growth as a political, economic, educational, cultural and sporting centre. And, if their knowledge of history is sharp enough, they will point out that this growth has been almost directly due to mining.
The Dutch navigator Willem de Vlamingh became the first European to make landfall at the present site of Perth, in 1697, but the area remained uninhabited ...