Esplanade Reserve

The northern edge of Perth Water, stretching from Mount Eliza in Kings Park to The Causeway, underwent significant modifications through land reclamation along the original pre-European shoreline. Many projects and constructions on the Esplanade area and adjacent areas have significantly reflected the changing identity of Perth.{{cite web|url=http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/talkingpoint/post/36/ |accessdate=27 February 2012 |title=Australian News Headlines | World News Now }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

The Esplanade was developed in the 1870s to provide a site of active recreation for the inhabitants of the city. The idea of a site closer to the administrative and residential heart of the city had been a matter of concern since at least 1864, when a fund for the establishment of a new recreation ground was established.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/swan_river/shaping_perth_water/the_esplanade/|title = The Esplanade}} A recreation ground, now Wellington Square, was included in the original town plan, but was considered too far for most people to walk to and was largely undeveloped. Around 1867–1868 stones were placed in the river to mark out the edge of the reclamation, but little other work was undertaken until 1870. Between 1870 and 1878 reclamation was undertaken using mud dredged up from the river bottom (dredging was used to provide crushed oyster shell for marking out roads and pathways) and street sweepings.

It was handed to the City of Perth in 1880 as a Crown Grant in Trust "for the inhabitants of Perth for recreation purposes forever".{{cite web|url=http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/viewplace.html?place_seq%3D32359%26offset%3D9%26view%3Dregentries |access-date=10 March 2012 |title=Assessment document 17/10/2003|page=5 |quote=On 31 March 1880, the partially reclaimed land, officially Reserve 423 and known as the New Recreation Ground, was handed over to the Perth Municipal Council by deed of grant 'for the free recreation and enjoyment of the people forever}}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{efn |The land was set aside for the Council in 1878, as a Crown Grant in trust for the purpose of Recreation forever.{{quote without source |date=February 2025}} {{incomprehensible span |date=February 2025 |reason= |text=(Fee Simple not received until 1880)}} As described in an 1880 illuminated address to the then Governor, Ord, by the Perth City Council: "the piece of reclaimed cricket ground, of about {{convert|15|acres|ha|disp=sqbr}}, by the river side is so centrally and pleasantly situated as certainly to be deserving of improvement by such means as planting trees etc, and we hope here long to see it an ornament to the city, as well as a suitable place for general recreation".{{cite conference |first=Lise |last=Summers |title=Reclamation for recreation |page=2 |conference=More than Grass. Exploring the Esplanade Public Forum |date=2011-11-10 |location=The New Esplanade Hotel, Perth }}{{cite web |url=http://www.historycouncilwa.org.au/events/forums-and-debates/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321040716/http://www.historycouncilwa.org.au/events/forums-and-debates |archive-date=21 March 2012 |title=Forums and debates | History Council of Western Australia }}}} Since its handover to the City of Perth, it was the site of many celebrations, protests and national commemorations.{{cite web |title=Celebrating Federation |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2948228~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110428/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2948228~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=WW1 Armistice Day celebrations |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1952043~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402115122/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1952043~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=Protest marches during the 1930s depression |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1909491~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061701/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1909491~S2 |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}{{cite web |title=Secession meetings |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2402799~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123810/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2402799~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=War time parades |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2379799~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111852/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2379799~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=Parades for Royal Visits |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2105871~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092535/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2105871~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=Circuses |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2424438~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402141320/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2424438~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=Malcolm Fraser |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1865462~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143208/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1865462~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}{{cite web |title=America's Cup celebrations |url=http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1914173~S2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110554/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1914173~S2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}

The first major event held on the Esplanade was the 1881 Intercolonial Exhibition, organised by Richard Twopenny and Jules Joubert.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/swan_river/shaping_perth_water/the_esplanade/|title = The Esplanade}}Lise Summers, "Hidden Treasure:Exhibiting Western Australia" in Seize the day, Melbourne University Press, 2010 Joubert, who spent several months in the city to develop and oversee the exhibition, recommended a city baths, and in 1885 the first Perth City Baths were established at the end of the Esplanade Reserve.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/swan_river/living_with_the_land/bathing/|title=Bathing}}

The Perth Bowling Club green was established directly across from the Esplanade Hotel in 1895,{{Citation | author1=Bartletto | title=Opening of Perth Bowling Club, Esplanade – Sir John Forrest, President | date=1895 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/157665250 | accessdate=18 June 2012 }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41707144 |title=Final match for the "Wood" bowling trophy. Played on the Perth Esplanade green on Saturday afternoon. |newspaper=Western Mail |location=Perth |date=12 March 1904 |accessdate=18 June 2012 |page=26 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} and the green and players appear regularly in the images created to promote the hotel in later years.

At various stages in its history, the Esplanade was a suggested site of various ideas, even a new town hall.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83999123 |title=Move for New Perth town Hall:: Scandal of Overcrowded Hospital. |newspaper=The Daily News |location=Perth |date=1 March 1935 |accessdate=18 June 2012 |page=1 Edition: LATE CITY |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Premier Collier in 1935 suggesting a new town hall might be accommodated{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46251753 |title=PERTH TOWN HALL. |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=30 December 1946 |accessdate=10 January 2014 |page=16 Edition: SECOND EDITION |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{Wide image|The Esplanade Perth gnangarra.jpg|950px|Looking east across The Esplanade in February 2012}}

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• Perth City Baths
• Perth and Tattersalls Bowling and Recreation Club
• Croquet Cub
• Bazaar Terrace
• 1881 Intercolonial Exhibition

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• Barrack Square
• The Esplanade Kiosk
• Alf Curlewis Gardens
• Allan Green Conservatory

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Category:Parks in Perth, Western Australia

Category:Barrack Street, Perth

Category:Elizabeth Quay

Category:The Esplanade (Perth)

Category:State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth