WE ARE HESPERIANS

I didn't know that once upon a time, people in the Swan River Colony where going to be called Hesperians. Hesperia was the "golden west" for Aeneas, who fled Troy after the Greeks conquered the city. In other words, Italy, where myth tells us he founded Rome. Western Australia is a world where the sun sinks glowing gold into the ocean so one can see the appeal of Hesperia but luckily, some would say, the city was named Perth instead. A tad dull, perhaps, but somewhat less pretentious?

Perth was the home town of Sir George Murray who was Secretary of State for the Colonies in the 1820s. In his brief control at the Colonial Office, the colony of Western Australia was founded in 1829. And according to the biographical note that I found "by his lavish patronage of relations and friends in Perthshire, the Australian colonies gained some third-rate public servants and many first-rate settlers with capital."

For those of you who don't have any knowledge of the founding of WA, it happened late in the piece compared to the rest of the country and it wasn't a shining success at the beginning. The harsh conditions of the land around Perth and the natural resistance of the indigenous people meant that the colony nearly failed and it was only when it became a penal colony in the 1850s that there was enough labour and capital to become self-sustaining. The 1880s gold rush put the rich icing on the cake.

Susan and I were reminded about this history thanks to the Boorloo Heritage Festival which is being held this month. It's a great combination of walks and talks, exhibitions and shows, exploring the indigenous and colonist history of the city. We're been out on an adventure almost every day thanks to the Festival, relearning our heritage and learning new aspects of the city we've returned to. The 1960s and 70s were brutal in terms of the demolition of many of Perth's hsitoric buildings but there are still some of the convict built buildings using wonderful Flemish bond brickwork such as the Perth Town Hall.



You could call us Perthites now but we prefer to be Hesperians. We can claim that title because we spent our early growing years in 3 Hesperia Ave, City Beach.



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