Wednesday 30th May Coogee Beach

A lovely sunny day today so we did two loads of washing this morning and hung them out on a clothesline we rigged under the awning of the camper.

We then headed off to King's Park for the day. What an amazing spot this is. So very wise of the forefathers to leave this huge area of land in the middle of the city of Perth. 

The Park was officially opened on 10 August 1895.  However, its existence was not always guaranteed.  The Colony's first Surveyor General John Septimus Roe recognised the qualities of the area and tried to protect it, by identifying the land to be set aside for public purposes. But by1835 Roe's protection was overturned and the first shipment of five tonnes of Jarrah was cut on Mt Eliza, becoming the colony's first export.  Logging in the area continued until 1871 when Roe's successor Malcolm Fraser persuaded the then Governor Weld to set aside 175 ha as a public reserve.  This was enlarged in 1890 by 180 ha, and in 1897 the area of the reserve was further increased to 412 ha by Sir John Forrest, the first president of the Board appointed under the Parks and Reserves Act 1895. The area of Kings Park today is 400.6 ha, 11ha smaller than in 1897.  The park was originally called Perth Park and was renamed in 1901 to King's Park – the apostrophe was later dropped.  This was to mark the ascension to the British throne of King Edward VII and the visit to Perth of George, the Duke of Cornwall and Princess Mary.

Today the Park is one of the world’s largest and most beautiful inner city parks. It is rich in Aboriginal and European history, contemporary culture and offers innovative design, displays and services. Kings Park has an international reputation for scientific research, leading horticulture, conservation and public education.

Kings Park is home to the spectacular Western Australian Botanic Garden, which displays over 3,000 species of the State’s unique flora. Two-thirds of the park is protected as bushland and provides a haven for native biological diversity.

We had a bite to eat (gluten-free pizza) then checked out the Botanical Garden So many amazing views down over the city and along the Swan River.   It was great to have names under many of the plants we had been seeing in the South West of the state.

 

 

We even had some red-tailed black cockatoos eating honkey nuts in the Marri Tree in the car park as we were about to leave.

Back to Coogee Beach and an amazing sunset.  We even had the bonus event of a fire twirler on the beach!