PERTH-CRISSCROSSING AUSTRALIA

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(Excerpted from my book, OUR SUMMER IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, AMAZON.COM)

We finally made it to Perth! Crossed Australia from Sydney in a week. Now to upgrade and revel in the delights of this big city of 1.3 million. Ah,the Hyatt Regency, Club Floor for three nights. We arrived at 7pm and were being served complimentary cocktails fifteen minutes later, with enough canapés that dining out wasn’t even an option. “Winfield,draw our bath please.”

Saturday morning in Perth, Western Australia. Beautiful winter day,clear skies and mid-day temperature about 19c, or 67f, with occasional showers lasting about ten minutes. Boats are out early on the Swan River that runs from Perth to its neighboring port city Fremantle, just 20 minutes away by car, or 45 by ferry. Perth was founded by the British in 1829, and has all the outward skyline appearance of a modern city, while in its heart George IV and Queen Victoria still reign in many of its streets and buildings, especially Fremantle. Like other Australian State Capitals, Perth is oriented towards the ocean and contains 1.3 million of the state’s 1.8 million population. This is a BIG State! Western Australia is a third of the continent, an area of one million square miles, and because of its west coast situation, more oriented towards Africa and Asia than the remainder of Australia. It takes less time to fly from Perth to Singapore than to Sydney. At one time, during the depression of the 1930s, Western Australia even voted for secession, but WWII changed that attitude.

Fremantle, or "Freo" in 'Strain, was a major Indian Ocean port for US naval forces during WWII, with submarines taking advantage of its’ proximity.to Japanese shipping throughout the former Dutch East Indies, as well as a home base for US supply and transport ships. Tough duty for WWII! Here is a WWII sailor talking with his son. “Daddy, where were you during the ‘WAR’”. He answers, “Son, I was in the Pacific, in remote Western Australia. Nasty business, WWII, I’d rather not go into detail.”

While on the subject of Fremantle, it became what it is one of Australia’s major ports,with closer proximity to Asian markets than Sydney because of C.Y. O’Connor, the same genius who brought the water to Kalgoorlie. Mr. O’Connor built a breakwater and wharf right into the Indian Ocean, where the Swan River empties, thereby creating the port and harbor out of nothing. Today, thanks to C.Y.’s vision, it is one of Australia’s major ports, loading large container ships with Western Australian products on a daily basis. C.Y. was quite a guy, (even if he did take his own life) and a life size statue of the man himself looks out over his creation. Oh yes, in his spare time he designed and oversaw the building of Western Australia’s railroads.

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Photos

PANORAMIC VIEW OF PERTH
Taken from Victoria Heights and looking at the Swan River.

FREMANTLE'S VICTORIAN BUILDINGS
There are numerous such buildings throughout Perth and Fremantle.