Perth
Today we went into the city of Perth.
Kangaroo Paw with the R&I Building
Silver Princess tree in Perth
We went to London Court because I love Tudor Style anything, but Laura loved it for it’s shops.
Built in 1937 as a combination of residential and commercial premises for a wealthy gold miner and financier Claude de Bernales, Perth’s London Court is designed using the architectural features present in Elizabethan times.
London Court attracts local and international visitors with its friendly, inviting atmosphere and unique architectural style making it superbly different to the sky scrapers it is nestled under in the City of Perth.
London Court
London Court
At the decorative Hay Street Mall entrance, a blue-faced clock chimes every quarter of an hour. The clock face is a replica of one of the dials in the clock tower that houses Big Ben in London. To the left of the clock, near one of the turrets, visitors can see the name of the Court’s plasterer engraved into the plasterwork.
Above the clock four knights, known as “Tournament of Armoured Knights”, circle in the window when the clock chimes. Another clock is located at the St Georges Terrace entrance. Above this clock, in a window, is a miniature St George doing battle with the dragon. Both the clocks are replicas of the “Great Clock” of Rouen, France.
Clock at Hay Street May Entrance
London Court and Its Shops
London Court
London Court
Laura at London Court
London Court
London Court
Statues of Sir Walter Raleigh and Dick Whittington stand above the first level facing each other at either end of the Court. Mr. Whittington’s facial expression shows he is overwhelmed at finding himself in Tudor times!
After London Court, we went to see the Bell Tower.
Bell Tower
his historic ring of bells was given to the people of Western Australia as part of the national Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. Among its many attributes the Bell Tower includes the twelve bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which are recorded as being in existence from before the 14th century and recast in the 16th century by Queen Elizabeth I. The bells were again recast between 1725 and 1770 by three generations of the Rudhall family of bell founders from Gloucester in England, under the order of the Prince of Wales who was later crowned as King George II. They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England.
Commemorating Australia’s bicentenary in 1988, the twelve bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields as well as five specially cast bells were presented to the University of Western Australia, the City of Perth and to the people of Western Australia. The London diocese of the Church of England and the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields gave authority for the project to proceed. The additional bells cast in 1988 include two from the cities of London and Westminster, who each gifted one bell to the project, and a total of three bells bestowed by a consortium of British and Australian mining companies. Completing the ring of eighteen bells, a sixth new bell was commissioned by the Western Australian Government to mark the second millennium.
Bell Tower
After the Bell tower, Laura became hungry so we well to Bell’s Cafe, of course!
Laura got fish and chips, I tried a chicken sandwich, and John who doesn’t like to eat out, ordered a Vanilla milkshake!
John wearing his new T-Shirt from Father’s Day
Stock Exchange building in Perth
We also saw a sculpture based on May Gibb’s Gumnut Babies. I just like them because of the ‘gumnuts’
🙂
Gumnut Babies
At one of the souvenir shops, Laura and I got some Aussie bling for our cell phones.
Aussie charms for the cell phone
