Overview

From its settlement in 1829, Perth gradually took shape as a modest town. In the early years its development suffered from a severe shortage of investment and labour to build anything above modest buildings. Change came slowly, and each round of building was, in general, an improvement on existing living conditions. As the economic situation improved, the early, almost temporary, structures gave way to larger and better buildings. The first gold boom of the 1890s gave Perth the financial impetus to transform the city from a sleepy country town into an elegant and stylish city, with successive mineral booms thereafter contributing to an attitude of ‘out with the old and in with the new’. Taking the losses in chronological order, Richard Offen (author of the best-selling Perth Then and Now) catalogues the beloved buildings and Perth institutions that time and progress have swept aside. Lost Perth includes: Josie's Cottage, First Government House, Padbury Building, Boans Department Store, Ambassadors Cinema, Mitchell Building, trams, market gardens, Esplanade Hotel, Emu Brewery, Dalkeith Hot Pool, the Christian Brothers School and Perth Flower Day.

Full Product Details

9781911595601

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Richard Offen began his writing career whilst working for the UK National Trust. Whilst with the Trust, Richard was co-author of Coast, Countryside and The Living Coast, and author of Coastline UK. Richard was appointed as inaugural Executive Director of Heritage Perth in 2005. In this role he was able to activate his interest in people and places of the State to become a popular lecturer, and a broadcaster on radio and television. Richard left Heritage Perth in 2017 to focus on writing, lecturing and gardening. He is the author of A Perth Camera, and Australian bestsellers Perth Then and Now and Lost Perth. His history of St Mary's Anglican Girls' School A Place to Grow was commissioned to celebrate their centenary in 2021. When not in his study/library, Richard is an active parishioner and Churchwarden of Christ Church, Claremont, sits on the Heritage Council of Western Australia, is Chairman of the Swan Bells Foundation and is President of both the Friends of the Battye Library and the Royal Western Australian Historical Society.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available