The Historic Heart of Perth is an area spanning from Barrack Street in the west to Hill Street in the east.

The name ‘Historic Heart’ is designed to bring together the history of the urban environment (Historic) and the community and natural environment (Heart). It is the premise that the physical and cultural landscapes are intertwined - a city is not just about buildings but about people and their experiences within it.

The history of the city of Perth began with the felling of a tree in 1829 at a site adjacent to the Perth Town Hall in the Historic Heart. Construction of civic, social and spiritual buildings followed, including Perth’s oldest building, the Old Court House located in Stirling Gardens, constructed in 1837.

Interestingly, the demarcation between Perth’s east end and west end dates back to these times of early European settlement with the central business district divided in two – an ‘eastern town’ and a ‘western town’. The ‘eastern town’ was the administrative centre and home to a number of significant government buildings including the Perth Town Hall, the State Buildings, Perth Mint and the Government Printing Offices. These heritage listed buildings are still standing today and form the urban fabric of the Historic Heart.

Western Australia is an ancient land and the story of Perth is far deeper than that represented by its urban fabric.

In his book Perth, David Whish-Wilson tells the story of Fanny Balbuk, a Nyoongar woman who refused to accept the floor-plan set down by the Swan River colonists and continued to take the exact tracks taken by her Aboriginal ancestors, even if they happened to pass through houses. As Whish-Wilson puts it:

“Balbuk’s story has always been a reminder to me that beneath the geometric frame of the modern city - the bar-graph rectangles of concrete, glass and steel across the skyline - there exist footpads worn smooth over millennia that snake up through the sheoak and marri woodland and into the city’s heart.”