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Perth

City in AustraliaPerth lies on the Swan River near Australia's west coast, on a flat coastal plain between the Indian Ocean and the hills of the Darling Scarp.

What it's known for

Perth is the capital of Western Australia. Captain James Stirling founded it in 1829 as the centre of the Swan River Colony, and it grew as the main service centre for the state's mining and energy industries, such as gold, iron ore, nickel, oil and natural gas. It is one of the most isolated major cities in the world.

Fun facts

  1. The city is named after Perth in Scotland, in honour of George Murray, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.
  2. In 1962 people in Perth switched on their house lights and street lights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead in space.
  3. Perth is closer to Jakarta in Indonesia than it is to Sydney.

Finding it on the globe

Go nearly due west from Sydney, right across the continent, to the Indian Ocean coast: Perth is in the south-western part of Australia.

Easy to mix up

Perth is the capital of the state of Western Australia, not of the whole country; Australia's capital is Canberra, on the other side of the continent.

Sources: Wikipedia: Perth