Perth Then And Now

Perth Then and Now accurately matches historic photographs of the city with specially commissioned contemporary views that show how each site looks today.

With an Aboriginal history going back over 40,000 years, Perth ranks amongst the oldest places on earth with near continuous human habitation. The modern city came into being in 1829 with the formation of the Swan River Colony. For the first 60 years of its existence, Perth was no more than a small country town which lived on an economic knife-edge between riches and ruin. Then, in the 1890s, commercial quantities of gold were discovered in the North and East of Western Australia. This sparked the first of several mineral booms in the State and resulted in Perth being able to demonstrate its newfound wealth in the form grandiose buildings which transformed the modest town into a fine city.

Since the late nineteenth century, a cycle of ‘boom and bust’ has added successive layers of development to the city’s rich tapestry of building styles. As with many cities around the world, Perth witnessed the destruction of many older buildings during the last quarter of the 20th century, but has now learned to respect its heritage, resulting in some spectacular and imaginative adaptive reuses of older buildings.

Past and present are laid side by side in this fascinating visual tour around the capital of Western Australia.

About the Author

Richard Offen began his writing career whilst working for the UK National Trust. Whilst with the Trust, Richard was co-author of Coast, Countryside and The Living Coast, and author of Coastline UK. Richard was appointed as inaugural Executive Director of Heritage Perth in 2005.

In this role he was able to activate his interest in people and places of the State to become a popular lecturer, and a broadcaster on radio and television. Richard left Heritage Perth in 2017 to focus on writing, lecturing and gardening. He is the author of A Perth Camera, and Australian bestsellers Perth Then and Now and Lost Perth.

His history of St Mary's Anglican Girls' School A Place to Grow was commissioned to celebrate their centenary in 2021. When not in his study/library, Richard is an active parishioner and Churchwarden of Christ Church, Claremont, sits on the Heritage Council of Western Australia, is Chairman of the Swan Bells Foundation and is President of both the Friends of the Battye Library and the Royal Western Australian Historical Society.