Proclamation Park: a new landscaped park to be developed around Perth Town Hall

7/12/96

A new landscaped park to be called Proclamation Park will be developed around the Perth Town Hall site within the next few months, Premier Richard Court announced today.

The park will become the focal point for some of the city's famous, but almost forgotten, historic landmarks.

The Premier said the park would open up the Town Hall as a stand-alone building and restore it as the centrepiece of Perth's heritage precinct.

For the past 35 years, the hall, which was built by convicts in 1867, had been obscured and dwarfed by the old R&I Bank. The bank building has just been demolished.

The Central Government Offices in Barrack Street will also be accessible after being closed off for many years.

"The Coalition Government has been working for the restoration of the entire heritage precinct - it is one of the first things we looked at when we came to office," Mr Court said.

"If re-elected we will continue this valuable work.

"We established a Capital City Development Committee in conjunction with the City of Perth and this renovation is one of its most significant achievements so far.

"Ultimately the public will be able to walk from the pedestrian malls through Proclamation Park, Stirling Gardens and all the way down to Perth Water."

Proclamation Park with lawns and gardens, Governor Stirling's statue and a tree to commemorate Mrs Dance's part in the first proclamation ceremony, will be accessible from both Hay and Barrack Streets. A compass will acknowledge Point Zero, the old townsite's original survey marker.

The Premier said the buildings had a rich and colourful history.

The first open markets traded under the arches of the Town Hall, explorer Ernest Giles rested his camels there before his 1875 expedition and the first telegraph was sent from the Hall to Fremantle.

The Government had allocated $300,000 to develop the park site and the City of Perth would reface the Town Hall. The Government would also meet the cost of cleaning up the new exposed facades of the adjacent Central Government Offices.

These offices were built progressively over 30 years from 1874 and represented the work of three architects.

Expressions of interest would be called for their future development and long-term leases would be offered to the successful tenderer.

Media contact: Casey Cahill 222 9475