City of Perth, Australia Exploration Essay

Introduction

The city of Perth in Australia has a rich heritage in terms of cultural values and attitudes which define the culture of the city and this is evidenced by the exotic buildings and open spaces which display rich architecture. The city of Perth is a melting pot of different cultures courtesy of immigrations which have greatly influenced its people’s way of life and this has touched on their culture, cuisine, their values, and lifestyles. Other artifacts that define the city of Perth include physical realities such as the quality of street furniture as well as their landscape treatments.

This case study seeks to explore the cultural profile of the people of Perth in regard to these artifacts.

Cultural profile of the Perth community of Australia

The Perth community has a high belief in their cultural values and refers to them in their day-to-day activities. They believe that it influences their life in a big way and that it governs their livelihoods. The artifacts present in the Perth community reflect strongly on these people’s lives and they use them to communicate to the world about their importance. These artifacts are used to display these people’s well-being in regard to educational practices and cultural identity. They will also be displayed in public for people to learn about the history of the Perth community and also entertain themselves. For instance, the Perth community’s system of education recommends that school-going children learn early enough about painting, music, drama, and writing as well (DCA 2009, 1-4).

The Perth community has a history of painting and this is deeply embedded into their culture even to date. By doing so, they feel that their children will carry the culture to the next generations and this will ensure that it is upheld. The Perth community has also involved their government in the cultural process and has campaigned strongly on government-sponsored activities that will involve culture and arts in their buildings and they also advocate for their display to the public so that they can keep learning about their culture. The Perth community is home to theatres, art galleries as well as ballet and opera centers where their cultural values are exhibited in various forms. It is interesting how much they adore their culture and therefore seeks to preserve it (DCA 2009, 1-4).

Through the arts, the Perth community feels well represented and is able to make a connection with their past and it is important to note that the most popular activities among the peoples of the Perth community include libraries and cinemas. This is a clear indication of how much these people value their culture be it preserved in books or in mobile cinemas. Another favorite sport for the people of Perth is museums and high numbers of visitors have been recorded in the past years. The Perth community also takes pride in their bars and restaurants and they always retreat to these spots after their cultural activities. When it comes to new technology, the Perth community has not been left behind and the number of people using the internet has increased considerably. To offer their cultural practices variety, the people of Perth love engaging in international exhibitions where they showcase their rich heritage to the world (DCA 2009, 1-4).

Architecture in the Perth community of Australia

When it comes to art and design, the Perth community’s architecture takes center stage as these people specialize in artefacts that are creative and representative of their cultural value. Their architecture which is one of the most unique designs of the world encompasses buildings, landscape, and town planning. The most famous buildings of Australia include the Sydney Opera House, the parliament house, and the royal exhibition building. These buildings are iconic and they are the devoted works of renowned architects such as Francis Greenway and Harry Seidler. However, in the ancient Perth community, permanent structures were few in numbers since they put a lot of emphasis on temporary structures which housed them (Asia rooms 2010, 1-10).

The design that was commonly used was narrow and this suited the Perth people needs perfectly which were influenced by the availability of materials and climate. Since Australia was a British colony, most of the buildings in the Perth Community borrow heavily from European architectural trends. Most of their temporary structures were built from wattle and tents and with time, the Perth community architecture grew and Georgian architecture was used too. This form of architecture was however a preserve for the rich people of Perth and the government as well. These government buildings bearing the Georgian architecture include the Tasmania and the Sydney structures. During the Victorian era, the Perth community enjoyed a variety of architectural designs which now borrowed from this boom (Asia rooms 2010, 1-10).

According to Asia Rooms (2010), the other fact that facilitated the all-changing architectural works in the Perth Community is the all famous Australian gold rush which brought about a major revolution in the architectural world of the Perth community. Victorian architecture brought about an air of sophistication and was experienced in parts of Melbourne, Bendigo and Ballarat provinces. Architecture went ahead to advance and borrow from other designs that were taking root in Australia. The next style that captured the city of Perth’s architects was the federation style which debuted around the 20th century. It is important to note that with the emerging trends, many older buildings were demolished to embrace these upcoming designs which proved more superior to the others (Asia rooms 2010, 1-10).

Developers invaded the Perth community with new ideas for architectural designs and thus threatened the existing ones which faced a risk of being demolished. In an effort to protect the Perth’s city heritage, green bans were put in place to protest against such intended demolitions. This move proved successful and most of the buildings were saved and they live till today exhibiting the Perth’s community architectural heritage. Most of these buildings had been erected around the 18th century and they had been so carefully done by Australia’s leading architects. Thanks to the green bans, these buildings survived and are now landmarks of the city of Perth’s cultural and artistic values. These buildings that survived include the Sydney opera house which encompasses creativity and innovation courtesy of Jorn Utzon (Asia rooms 2010, 1-10).

Utzon also created the Sydney harbour and his distinctive style was use of hemispherical contours and curved roofs. The other buildings that still stand to showcase the city of Perth architectural culture are the rocks and the royal botanic gardens. An architect by the name of Philip Cox designed the Sydney Maritime Museum which he creatively designed using fabrics, miniature ships and underwater tunnels that make it stand out as one of the most unique structures of the Perth community. Other buildings that showcase the city of Perth’s unique architectural designs are the Sydney State Bank which is also highly innovative in terms of design and materials used for its construction. The big names associated with the Perth community architecture include Burley Griffin and Glenn Murcutt who have won awards for their exemplary works. Burley griffin for example is accredited to the construction of the Canberra and other works that fall under him include the construction of the Newman College, the Leeton Township, the Griffith town, Melbourne’s capitol theatre, Castle Cove and Castle Crag which all stand so uniquely in Australia (Asia rooms 2010, 1-10).

The Perth community’s quality of street furniture

The city of Perth’s quality of street furniture borrows heavily from traditional designs which include use of hard wood. This furniture includes benches, litter bins, tables and drink fountains among others. The use of aluminium is also prevalent in reflection of the modern changes that have been felt in the community. This street furniture is of high quality due to its indoor assemblage which enhances the paying of attention to detail. A company by the name Street Furniture Australia (SFA), one of the oldest in this trade has been providing street furniture to the peoples of Perth since 1986 (Street furniture 2010, 1-6).

According to Street Furniture (2010), Architects William Morrison and Conybeare Darrel are accredited to the modification of street furniture in the City of Perth as they saw a need to introduce glamour in the field which was characterized by furniture of poor quality. They designed their first seat known as a plaza seat which was widely accepted by many people and this saw it as Canberra’s official face of street furniture. They later introduced bollards and litter bins and some of the projects were further initiated at the Bateman’s Bay, Macquarie Street and bus shelters at the Queen Victoria Building among others (Street furniture 2010, 1-6).

Art in the Perth community of Australia

The Perth community’s art is represented by her paintings, music, films, dances, theatre, and crafts which have been given credit all over the world. Due to the influence of outside cultures, the city of Perth’s arts is not very clearly defined and distinction is lacking. With time, the most popular culture has overtaken traditional culture since people tend to ignore it. However, the indigenous Perth community culture has somehow survived despite all the confusion being brought about by civilization. For instance, the people of the Perth community still boast of a rich traditional ballet that has refused to be eroded over the years. Some of the names that are associated with the Perth community’s traditional ballet are Robert Helpman and Edouard Borovansky who have left a rich legacy (Aboriginal Art 2010, 1-3).

The Perth community has great value for traditional ballet so much that it has set up a company known as the Australian Ballet to be managing all the ballet talent in the City of Perth. Some well-known dancers and choreographers have dedicated themselves to seeing that this culture of traditional ballet is upheld; these are Meryl Tankard and Graeme Murphy. The art department of Australia has ensured that there are symphony orchestras in the major cities, the city of Perth being one of them but it is however sad that this culture ends here as it is non-existent in other parts of Australia which could threaten its survival. Independent culture is the most widespread in the Perth community and tends to be very extensive. These arts include street art, music, art, and film which are widespread throughout the Perth community and music thrives strongly in Melbourne making it one of the largest music scenes in the world (Aboriginal Art 2010).

City of Perth’s paintings and sculpture (visual arts)

Visual arts in the city of Perth include landscapes, Australian aboriginal art, colonial, contemporary art, atelier, and modernist. The Perth community’s visual arts have been used as a socialization mode whereby they pass messages from one generation to another and they have also been created to educate the future generations through archival modes. The people of Perth in the traditional societies had great respect for the land and regarded it as sacred and this is depicted in most of their visual artworks. These visual artifacts tell a tale of the traditional Perth community’s journey to modernization and even touch on the Europeans invasion of their land. The people of Perth use these forms of art to express their moods, feelings, and thoughts and they have also been used to depict fashion, intellect, technology, hobbies, and entrepreneurship among others which all represent their way of life. For example, aboriginal art is used to show how life was before the coming of the Europeans (Aboriginal art, 2010).

These are works of the indigenous people of Perth and may include contemporary art done by the current Australians to represent the old Australian societies. These forms of art used different mediums, which produced woodcarvings, sculpture, leave paintings, artistic decorations, sand painting, rock carvings, as well as ceremonial clothing. Landscape art in the city of Perth featured physical features such as land, rivers, sea, vegetation, and lakes among others and the people of the Perth community created artworks that represented these physical features about what they witnessed in their land’s topography. The city of Perth’s modern art is mostly depicted by acrylic paintings and has been used to show relationships in society as well as with the modern world. These forms of art are used to show the state of life in the traditional society and the changes that have turned it into what it is now. Most of the Perth community’s contemporary arts are characterized by dances, paintings, and the Dreamtime which was a major ritual in the traditional society (Aboriginal art, 2010).

According to ABC News (2009), Rock art is another famous form of expression used by the people of the Perth community, the most famous one being the Sydney rock engravings which are about 5000 years old. The Friends of Australian Rock Art is one such center where art is preserved in a place called Murujuga. There is also a journal called Rock Art Research that is published two times a year that seeks to highlight these artistic works.

City of Perth’s clothing and apparel of its people

The people of the Perth community are lacking in a national dress but the local regalia includes surf wear and bush wear. Under bush wear, cloth brands such as R.M. Williams and Akubra make a feature whereas surf wear will have brands such as Rip Curl and Billabong. In search of a national dress that will have an international appeal, some leaders from all over Australia including those from Perth have been dressed in brands such as R.M. Williams and Drizabone. The city of Perth’s labels also includes clothing brands such as Country Road, Bonds, Blundstone Footwear, Billabong, Quicksilver, Driza-Bone, and Mambo (Hudson 2007, 1-13).

The people of Perth will be found doing various activities in Australia’s most famous shopping mall which is the Rundle Mall and is named after the South Australian Company Director. It lies on Rundle Street and an interesting fact is that most of the Perth community’s landmarks and streets are named after some eminent businessmen who lived around the 19th century. Back then, most retailers lived in the Rundle Mall before it was upgraded to its current status in 1976. This mall is home to various business premises, government offices, an art gallery and museum, the walk of fame, parliament house, Scots church, and many other treasures. The Rundle Mall is a perfect representation of ancient architecture and most people from the Perth community as well as tourists will be found here marveling at this exotic structure. There are several eating places here and this takes us on a journey through Australian varied cuisine that includes that of the city of Perth (Rundle mall, 2010).

The city of Perth cuisine

The city of Perth cuisine has been greatly influenced by her immigrants who have brought about diversity in her menus. Most of her dishes are influenced by the British, Asians, and part of the Mediterranean cuisines. However, there are still some dishes that are uniquely Perthian such as the Macadamia nuts and kangaroo meat. Some of Perth’s city favorite delights include the Chiko roll which is similar to the spring roll and they are made up of mixed vegetables and mutton which are then deep-fried. They also love eating damper which is bread made from wheat as well as pie floater which is a meat pie. They also eat oat biscuits which are commonly known as ANZAC biscuits. The city of Perth has several beverages that include wines and beers which are brewed and blended here. When it comes to bread spreads, the Vegemite which is uniquely Australian is used. Most of it is however not used locally but exported to various parts of the world that include the USA and the UK. Their desserts include lamingtons and Pavlova which are synonymous with the city of Perth (Tanna 2010, 1-4).

Conclusion

The cultural values and attitudes of the Perth community of Australia have come out strongly to show what they hold close to them. When it comes to architecture, their buildings stand out as the most well-done and fascinating structures in the world. They are rich in design and innovation which has given their construction an edge above the rest. However, changing times brought about change in their traditional designs and the European invasion also brought a change in how they constructed their buildings. This influence gave birth to more sophistication and to preserve their culture which was getting eroded fast; they employed the ‘Green Bans’ which ensured that they retained some of their traditional buildings to preserve their culture. The city of Perth people were great painters whose main form of expression was art. They designed several carvings and did many paintings which represented their way of life.

The Perth community has married traditional art to contemporary art and both forms give detailed cultural evidence of their way of life both in the past and in the present. They have also engaged in landscape treatments that depict their topography in terms of natural heritage. These are still present today in their galleries which attract both local and international tourists. The presence of street furniture which incorporates the ancient and the modern is also another way that these people’s culture has been preserved. Their manner of dress is also of interest though they have not been able to come up with a national dress. Their cuisine defines the multicultural existence that has found its way into the city of Perth and this mix of cultures has made their food exotic and has also given it variety.

References List

ABC News. 2010. Pilbara rock art not affected by mining emissions: study. Investigative unit. Web.

Aboriginal Art. 2010. Aboriginal Australia art and culture centre. Australian Aboriginal art gallery.

Asia rooms. 2010. Culture of Australia. Architecture in Australia. Quatally 54.

Department of Culture and the Arts (DCA). 2009. Arts and culture in Western Australia. Values and attitudes. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Hudson, Philip. 2007. Revealed: Our national dress. The Sidney Morning Herald. Smh.com.au: Web.

Rundle Mall. 2010. Uniquely rundle mall. Rundle Mall Discovery Trail. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Street Furniture. 2010. About SFA. Street furniture Australia. Chicago: Huty press

Tanna, Sunil. 2010. Australian cuisine. Food and drink. Ezine articles. Web.