City history
Founded on Whadjuk Noongar lands along the Swan River, Perth established Western Australia's standard time in 1895 and maintains UTC+8 year-round after repeatedly rejecting daylight saving time.
Chapter one
Indigenous name
"Place of wetlands or big swamp"
Boorloo is the traditional Whadjuk Noongar name for the area comprising modern central Perth and Point Fraser along the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River). The name historically referenced the chain of freshwater wetlands and lakes that occupied the Swan Coastal Plain.
Place of wetlands or big swamp
Traditional Whadjuk Noongar place name for central Perth and Point Fraser along the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River).
Colony along the Swan River
Initial administrative name for the British colonial settlement established in 1829.
Named after Perth, Scotland
Chosen in 1829 to honor Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies and Member of Parliament for Perthshire.
Chapter two
Western Australia enacted the Standard Time Act 1895, establishing standard time based on the 120th meridian east of Greenwich (UTC+8) starting December 1, 1895.
Western Australia briefly introduced daylight saving time during World War I alongside other Australian states under Commonwealth wartime legislation.
Daylight saving was implemented state-wide during World War II as an energy-conservation measure from 1942 to 1944.
Following a summer trial in 1974–1975, Western Australia held its first daylight saving referendum in March 1975, in which voters rejected the measure.
Western Australia initiated a three-year trial of daylight saving time from December 2006 to March 2009, advancing clocks by one hour during summer months.
In a state referendum held in May 2009 following the three-year trial, 54.6% of voters rejected daylight saving, locking in year-round AWST (UTC+8).
Chapter three
Captain James Stirling officially proclaimed the Swan River Colony in June 1829, naming the capital Perth after Sir George Murray's birthplace in Scotland.
Built by convict labor between 1867 and 1870, Perth Town Hall featured a prominent clock tower that became the city's primary public timekeeper.
The foundation stone of Perth Observatory was laid on Mount Eliza in September 1896, creating Western Australia's official timekeeping and meteorological center.
The Fremantle time ball at the Round House dropped for the first time at 1:00 PM on November 12, 1900, triggered electrically by signals from Perth Observatory.
Perth's Tudor-style London Court arcade opened with two famous animated mechanical clocks, featuring St. George and the dragon and jousting knights.