As the capital city of one of the world’s most significant mining regions, Perth is rapidly growing in both population and economic prosperity.

 
The strength of our economy, especially our capabilities in the resource sector, ensures that both the city and the state are competitively placed for future investment and growth.

Perth's close proximity to Asia opens great potential for investors in energy, minerals, tourism and hospitality, education and agriculture and food.

Perth is in the midst of an exciting period of expansion and new developments. The large-scale capital works projects throughout the city and surrounding areas means Perth will change dramatically over the next ten years, better reflecting the growing global importance of the city.

These developments provide great opportunities for investors and will drive further economic growth, creating more jobs and stimulating commerce in all industries.

While the state of Western Australia is fortunate to have world-class reserves of natural mineral and energy resources, the city has become home to an equally impressive resource - a highly educated, skilled and productive workforce – gathered here by the strength of our tertiary institutions, economic climate and world-class lifestyle opportunities, making Perth the state's leading destination for creative innovation and cultural diversity.

For more information on Perth’s greatest strengths as an investment destination visit the Economic Development section.

No matter who you are, everyone is welcome to join the Library. Plus, membership is FREE!

Joining is super-easy, and to do so you’ll just need to bring in a few items:

Current proof of your name and address
The name, phone number and address of an alternative contact who doesn’t live at your address
If you’re a kid under 16, you’ll need mum, dad or your guardian to sign your membership application.

Now refurbished, the old station characterises both past and present emergency services’ through displays dedicated to the history of Western Australian (WA) fire services and a natural hazards and disasters education gallery.

HISTORY AND TOURS OF THE MUSEUM OF PERFORMING ARTS

Throughout its colourful and exciting history, His Majesty's Theatre has hosted a myriad of performance genres - from ballet to contemporary dance, opera to musical theatre, vaudeville to stand-up comedy, Shakespearean drama to pantomime and more.

Performers who have graced the stage at 'The Maj' include: Dame Nellie Melba, Anna Pavlova, Gladys Moncrieff, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Sir Robert Helpmann, as well as Academy Award winners Katharine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Sir John Gielgud, Claudette Colbert, Rex Harrison and Geoffrey Rush.


These performers, and thousands more who have performed at His Majesty's Theatre since 1904, have all contributed to the cultural and social livelihood of Western Australia. In a fitting celebration of this, in February 2001, His Majesty's Theatre opened the Museum of Performing Arts.

The Museum of Performing Arts is curated by Theatre Historian Ivan King and Friends of His Majesty's Theatre are only too happy to assist with enquiries.

Read the biography of Theatre Historian Ivan King.

The Museum of Performing Arts houses more than 40,000 catalogued items of theatre memorabilia collected by the theatre's historian. Items such as glamorous costumes, photographs, press clippings, scripts, scores and other historic pieces are publicly exhibited at the Museum, DownStairs at the Maj, with a new exhibition to view every six to eight weeks. The oldest item in the Museum collection dates back to 1854 - a beautiful silk programme from a Perth performance of amateur theatricals.

Find out about our various theatre tours including: Grand Historical, Behind the Scenes, School Education and Technical.

To access the extensive collection of archival production photographs, visit the Museum of Performing Arts website at www.mopa.com.au 

This exhibition gallery serves as a meeting place of ideas and stories, a retail space, micro-cinema and a cultural hub in a part of the city that is in flux. 

The Museum is an initiative of the Perth History Association Inc, a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2015. 

The museum's objective is to promote understanding of the law, legal issues and the legal profession in Western Australia’s community and to preserve the history of the law and the legal profession in this state. The museum is a community service managed by the Law Society of Western Australia and is sponsored by the Public Purposes Trust and the Department of the Attorney General.

Early Days
The Old Court House is Perth’s oldest remaining public building and was the most prominent building in the early days of the Swan River Colony. For the first six years of the Colony, court was held in the Anglican Church of St James: a small building with rush walls and thatched roof.

In 1836 Governor Stirling called for tenders for the construction of a new court and accepted the lowest bid of £698. The building was designed by the Colony’s Civil Engineer, Henry William Reveley. When it opened in 1837 it also served as a church for all denominations and a schoolroom.

Concert Hall
The Old Court House was important in the early musical life of the colonists and was the scene of the first public concert. In 1846, Dom Salvado, a Spanish Benedictine Monk, gave a piano recital in the courtroom to raise funds to develop a mission. Salvado walked more than 100 kilometres to Perth from near New Norcia and gave a Bellini recital to a packed audience in the ragged clothes he arrived in.


Trial of John Gaven
The trial of John Gaven, the first European executed in the Colony, took place in the Old Court House in 1844. Gaven, a petty thief, was 15 years old when he was transported from Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight and apprenticed to the Pollard family in the South West. Within a few months of his arrival, he was accused of the murder of 18 year old George Pollard. He was found guilty in the Old Court House and was hanged three days later outside the Roundhouse in Fremantle on Easter Saturday.


Convicts
In February 1849 a meeting of State importance was held in the Old Court House. In response to a labour shortage, farmers and merchants called a meeting at which a motion was passed in favour of a full penal colony. The following year convicts began to arrive.


Representative Government
The Old Court House was the venue for a public meeting to demand Representative Government. The demands were unsuccessful until 1870.

Arbitration Court
From 1905 to 1964 the State Industrial Arbitration Court proceedings were held in the Old Court House.

Law Society of Western Australia
From 1965 -1987 the Old Court House served as the office of the Law Society of Western Australia.

In 1987 the building was refurbished and opened to the public as the Francis Burt Law Education Centre and Museum - one of the few law museums worldwide.

In 1992 the Court House was listed by the National Trust as a Heritage Site.  

Today the Old Court House Law Museum houses exhibition galleries and court room.  It is  home to the Francis Burt Law Education Programme.

As the site of one of the first farms in the colony and the earliest residence still standing in the metropolitan area, Peninsula Farm offers a unique opportunity to explore the first years of European settlement in Western Australia.

The Perth Mint opened in 1899 in response to the discovery of rich gold deposits in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. It was Australia's third branch of Britain's Royal Mint - the others being the Sydney Mint and the Melbourne Mint (both closed). Diggers, who flocked to the then colony of Western Australia in huge numbers from other parts of Australia and from around the world, deposited their raw gold with us where it was refined and minted into gold coins. Gold refining continually took place at our original Hay Street premises until April 1990, when the operation was moved to a modern facility in Perth’s eastern suburbs. Between 1899 and 1931, we struck more than 106 million gold sovereigns and nearly 735,000 half sovereigns for use as currency in Australia and throughout the British Empire. The visionary leader Sir John Forrest, the first Premier of Western Australia, is regarded as our founding father. 'Big John' foresaw the importance of gold in the development of Western Australia's economy, and successfully lobbied the British Government to establish a branch of the Royal Mint in Perth. Forrest laid our foundation stone in 1896. Designed by George Temple Poole, our heritage building is one of Perth most impressive colonial-era monuments. In recognition of the quality of the architect's work, we possess the highest classification from the National Trust and are one of the first buildings entered on the State's heritage register.

This is just one of six Museums operated by the Western Australian Museum, the State’s premier cultural organisation, housing WA's scientific and cultural collection.

Boola Bardip means many stories in Whadjuk Nyoongar; the Country on which the Museum sits. WA Museum Boola Bardip is a place to share Western Australia’s many stories. Our people, our places and our role in the world.

Across its five levels, the new Museum features eight permanent galleries, each with its own distinct theme and content, which has been developed in consultation with around 54,000 from across WA.

WA Museum Boola Bardip also has a 1,000sqm special exhibition gallery, five revitalised heritage buildings, retail and café spaces – and of course, thousands of items from the State's collections displayed in new and innovative ways.

Open weekdays except for match days. Tours of the ground are also available.

The museum occupies the heritage-listed Harvey House, which became Perth's first maternity hospital in 1916. Admission is only $5 for adults and $2 for children, or a family rate of $12. 

Some of the other exhibitions include: iron lung and polio display, early hospital artefacts and equipment, hands-on electronic equipment, King Edward Memorial Hospital's original X-ray department, pathology and physiotherapy, the Royal Flying Doctor, nursing during Wartime, general practitioner's surgery, ophthalmology display, early pharmaceuticals, test for colour blindness and Chloe, their oldest exhibit.

Come in for a visit!