Le Chic En Rose

The other weekend we went along to a Family Fun Day organised by the local Perth community radio station, RTRfm. Our daughter, Mlle, is now working for them as a development and marketing manager so we were supporting her and taking the opportunity for a day out with the family.

The event was held in Hyde Park (not the London one!). Situated only a couple of kilometres north east of the inner city area, it is a tranquil spot, which seems far removed from the bustle of the city centre so close by.

With canopies of trees, ducks swimming along the lake and the green space surrounded by Edwardian-style terraced homes and cottages it was the perfect venue. Our granddaughters had a ball with the organised activities and the grown-ups could relax on the grass and sample some of the food and beverages whilst listening to live music.

Having not not been to Hyde Park before, despite calling Perth home for over 30 years (apart from a 7 years hiatus in Melbourne), I duly did some research about its origins. The environment was a swampy area that comprised a series of wetlands stretching north of the river. The local Noongar people called this area ” Boodjamooling” but after the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829, the recently-arrived settlers gave it the unfortunate name of Third Swamp. When it was made a public park in 1897, it received the new name of Hyde Park. The other wetlands stretched from what is now Claisebrook Cove near East Perth up to Herdsman Lake and Lake Monger further north. Only a small portion of the original wetlands remains. However walking along beside the lake in Hyde Park watching the ducks wandering happily in the reeds and grasslands by the water, you get a feel for the original wetland area.

I think people often think of Perth as being in the middle of the desert and indeed we are separated from the eastern states by the endless dry flat plain of the Nullarbor Desert. The Nullarbor (Latin for ‘no trees’) is a limestone plain, which is over 1000 kms long and spans Western Australia and South Australia. The Western Australian section starts in Norseman, which is a two hour drive south of Kalgoorlie in the Eastern Goldfields. It takes nearly 8 hours to drive from Norseman up to Perth (it’s over 700 kms away) so we are in fact quite a distance from the actual desert! If you ever feel like making the long drive (which for many is a rite of passage) you can find more information here. Our elder daughter crossed the Nullarbor with friends over 10 years ago when they drove from Perth to Melbourne and back. I didn’t sleep much for the 10 days or so they were away!

The photos of Hyde Park below give a glimpse into another aspect of Perth life – we do have a considerable amount of of green space and vegetation, which provides some welcome respite from the summer sun along of course with our pristine beaches!

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