Jarrahdale - endangered species? Perth has the strangest development pattern. Leave the city and the coast, and settlements become very small and scattered with very little connection between them. Despite being the largest state and covering one third of the Australia, the total population of 2,010,113 (in 2006) is less than the city of Melbourne and 80% of it lives in Perth. It is almost as if Western Australia gave up building towns and settlements after 1870, once the good agricultural land had been exploited and the gold rushes began. The gold rushes brought twice as many people to Australia in 1852 as the convict system had and by the 1870's the population had quadrupled. Although no more convicts were brought into WA after 1868, those that were already there, continued to serve out their sentences and were responsible for the construction of many fine buildings and public works. This peaceful clearing in the woods is all that remains of Hoffman's Mill which once ...
Practising Geographer - nature culture places people