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An Initial Peek at Perth (5/31/2023)

We started our first full day in Perth with separate activities. I worked out in the hotel’s impressive gym, and Bob went walking down by the waterfront (the Swan River) to see what he could see in the dark.

Looking back into town from the waterfront.
Red arches over a pedestrian bridge, which we’ll cross tomorrow when we’ll circle part of the Swan River on a 10.5 km loop.
An art piece titled Spanda down by the waterfront.

We enjoyed a great (and free!) hot and cold spread for breakfast before venturing out for mostly indoor activities due to the forecasted rain. We walked through Murray Street Mall to get to Perth Station, the main train/tram station for the city center. Yesterday, we took the tram from the airport into the city and got off at Mciver station. Bob wanted to see this station as we could catch our tram here back to the airport on Friday. We were assisted by a rail official who had lots of helpful information. We have been very impressed with the customer service here.

A pic of Murray Street Mall.
A beautiful building between the mall and Perth Station housing an H&M in the former General Post Office Building.
A cool green sculpture (The Big Cactus) across the street from Perth Station.
The main entrance to the Perth Station.

Next, it was on to the Perth Cultural Centre. The Centre is composed of six institutions, 1) the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia (WA), 2) Art Gallery of WA, 3) WA Museum of Boola Badip, 4) State Library of WA, 5) The Blue Room Theatre, and 6) Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. We focused on the library and art gallery.

Entering the Perth Cultural Centre from the walkway from the tram station
Situated around the Cultural Centre were statues of animals
with information to help educate you about them.
The outside of the WA Museum Boola Bardip,
which tells the stories of Western Australia. The building appears to be a modern build but incorporating an older structure.

The WA State Library was a bit of disappointment. Architecturally, it wasn’t very interesting, and it only had a small exhibit called Stuff that showed the range of items that the library collects, seemingly a bit of everything. The library did have a good film playing that talked about their work as well.

The outside of the state library.
We learned inside that the striped sculptures out front
are part of the library’s collection.
The inside ground floor of the state library.
Part of the Stuff exhibit

The Art Gallery of WA was a popular place today. There must have been at least 5 school groups there while we were there. We were most impressed with the current exhibit, that featured a number of big heads, the exhibit by Year 12 high school students, and the views from the top of the building.

The main hall of the art Gallery of WA.
The traveling exhibit was by Yoshitomo Nara.
Bob counted 8 Big Head Sculptures in his work.
This is a painting by Ricard Bell called One More Hour of Daylight.
I read the complete description that accompanied this painting,
and it haunted me. Not worth a bullet — see below.
We need to stop othering people.
Not worth a bullet?!
One of the Year 12 student exhibits.
We were impressed not only by the artwork but the message behind them.
The walkway from the train station to the cultural centre,
as seen from the middle of the art gallery.
A view of the Perth Station from the art gallery.
The art gallery had a rooftop sculpture walk and bar
(though not open until Spring).
Another view from the rooftop.

3 replies on “An Initial Peek at Perth (5/31/2023)”

I only visited Perth once and I was very impressed – it was a business visit to the State Library and I especially remember two things: seeing the black swans on the Swan River and being introduced to Houghtons White Burgundy which I thought was the most delicious white wine I’d ever tasted. When I got back home I found it was sold in the UK as HWB as it couldn’t be called ‘burgundy’ because of EU regulations! Thanks for the pics 😊

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