Perth Town Hall
Said to be the only convict-built capital city town hall in Australia, the Town Hall was built between 1867 and 1870. It was designed by Richard Roach Jewell and James Manning in the Victorian Free Gothic style to reflect its important role in the administration of the colony. A fine example of the Victorian Free Gothic style, it is located at the highest point of the City, at the corner of Hay and Barrack Streets.
The foundation stone for Perth Town Hall was laid on 24 May 1867 by Governor Hampton in a ceremony involving a lot of pomp and parade on what was the highest point in the town. It was also somewhere near the spot where Mrs Dance chopped down a tree, and formally declared Perth a townsite on the 12th August, 1829. In spite of torrential downpours, the ceremony included an official procession from Government House and a mock battle performed by the Volunteer Regiments, Enrolled Forces of Pensioners, and the WA Country Regiment.
The hall was built by convicts and free men between 1868 and 1870. Its decorations contain a number of convict motifs, including windows in the shape of the broad arrow, and decorations in the shape of a hangman's rope.
In 1929, the Centenary of Western Australia one of the events in the city of Perth was the placing of a commemorative plaque in the north west corner of the building by the Governor Sir William Campion.
For many decades in the 20th century, shops were built into the sides of the ground floor, and the public lavatories accessible from Barrack Street were the only ones available for some distance. The shops included pharmacies, and lunch bars. All these businesses and the attendant structures were removed prior to the renovation of the hall. At the time of its centenary in 1970, the ground floor was still full of commercial businesses. Major restoration was completed in 2005.
A statue of Captain Stirling who oversaw the founding of Perth on 12th August 1829 near where the Town Hall now stands
