Many of the old buildings in today's Perth were built using convict labour, for example the Town Hall and the Government building. Perth's development was still small in comparison to the eastern cities. This under-development proceeded until gold was discovered in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, in the 1890s. This elevated the population from 1958's three thousand citizens, to thirty thousand in the early 1900's, resulting in a building boom. Many of these classical 19th and 18th century buildings have hence been devoured by newer architecture.
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Orientation.
Perth lies on the western coast of Australia, a bit to the south. The Inner city is situated around the Swan River. Perth is quite compact and well planned, witch makes it fairly easy to get around by simply walking. The four main streets of Perth leap in an east-west direction, those being Wellington Street, where the railway is situated, the Hay and Murray streets witch are part pedestrian streets filled with shopping malls, and cosy cafés. The Saint George Street witch faces towards the river, and the parks lying there. Saint George street later transforms into Adelaide Terrace, where you can find all of Perth's most luxurious hotels. Some of them are the Sheraton, Hyatt and Quality Langley Plaza Hotels. .
The Swan River continues to Fremantle, where it ends in the Indian Ocean. The largest park in Perth, Kings Park, takes up a great area of space in western Perth. Further west lies Subiaco and the suburbs Scarborough and Cottesloe. Perth has two airports, one domestic and one international, 8 respective 10 km away from the city.
Transport.
Sealed highways link regional centres to Perth and two national highways, one in the north and one in the south provides transportation for interstate traffic. A major east-west rail line carries goods and passengers between Western Australia and other states. An extensive public rail network services agriculture and industries in the state's southwest.