Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia (WA). It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of the metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which the city's central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Perth is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 38,000 years.
Western Australia is a state occupying the western 33 percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres (975,685 sq mi). It is the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. As of 2021, the state has about 2.68 million inhabitants – around 10 percent of the national total. The vast majority live in the south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated.
The City of Nedlands is a local government area in the inner western suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about 7 kilometres (4 mi) west of Perth's central business district. The City is situated within the western suburbs of the metropolitan area—known colloquially as the “golden triangle” for the concentration of wealth and high housing values.
TVW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia, wholly owned by Seven West Media. It was the first television station in Western Australia, commencing broadcasting on 16 October 1959. It broadcasts a modulated 64-QAM signal of five DVB channels. The primary channel was available as a PAL-B modulated simulcast on VHF channel 7 at 182.25 MHz before being discontinued in the first half of 2013; it had been the station's primary signal since its inception. The TVW callsign stands for TV Western Australia.
Esperance is a town in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately 720 kilometres (450 mi) east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The urban population of Esperance was 12,145 at June 2018. Its major industries are tourism, agriculture, and fishing.
Ernest Ashley Dingo AM is an Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter, comedian, teacher and promoter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia. He is a designated Australian National Living Treasure. He collaborated with Richard Walley to create the first public performance of the "Welcome to Country" ceremony in Perth in 1976.
The Sunday Times is a tabloid Sunday newspaper published by Western Press Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Seven West Media, in Perth and distributed throughout Western Australia. Founded as The West Australian Sunday Times, it was renamed The Sunday Times from 30 March 1902.
Bradley John Ness, OAM is an Australian wheelchair basketballer. He won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing and silver medals at 2004 Athens and 2012 London Paralympics. He was selected as the Australian flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
John Andrew Henry Forrest, nicknamed Twiggy, is an Australian businessman. He is best known as the former CEO of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), and has other interests in the mining industry and in cattle stations.
The Channel Seven Perth Telethon, regionally known simply as Telethon, is an annual telethon established in 1968 by philanthropist Sir James Cruthers and Brian Treasure, and produced by TVW, a Seven Network-owned television station in Perth, Western Australia. It raises money for over 50 beneficiaries each year including the Perth Children's Hospital, the Telethon Clinical Research Centre and the Telethon Kids Institute. Channel Seven's Perth Telethon is the highest donating telethon in the world, and since the first Telethon in 1968 has raised over A$400 million in total.
Perth Stadium, currently known as Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Burswood. It was completed in late 2017 and officially opened on 21 January 2018. The stadium's total capacity is 61,266, including standing room, making it the third-largest stadium in Australia. The stadium can be extended up to 65,000 seats for rectangular sports.
Francis Ettore Ponta was an Australian Paralympic competitor and coach. He competed in several sports including basketball, pentathlon, swimming and fencing. A paraplegic, he lost the use of both his legs after a tumour was removed from his spinal column when he was a teenager. Ponta was a member of Australia's first national wheelchair basketball team, and is credited with expanding the sport of wheelchair basketball in Western Australia. At the end of his competitive career, he became a coach, working with athletes such as Louise Sauvage, Priya Cooper, Madison de Rozario, Bruce Wallrodt and Bryan Stitfall. He died on 1 June 2011 at the age of 75 after a long illness.
Justin Cain Eveson, OAM is an Australian swimmer and wheelchair basketball player who has won Paralympic medals in both sports.
Katherine Rose Downie is an Australian Paralympian. Kat first represented Australia in 2011. Kat represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming and was a member of both the Gold medal Women's 34 point 4 x 100 free and 4 × 100 medley relay teams. Kat placed fourth in both her pet events the 100 backstroke and 200IM.
Gerry Georgatos is a university researcher and social justice and human rights campaigner based in Western Australia. He has campaigned for prison reform, as well as championing the rights of the impoverished and marginalised and the homeless.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 and implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. The minister responsible for the department was the Minister for the Environment.
Civmec Limited is a dual-listed Singaporean-Australian public company involved in the construction, engineering and shipbuilding industries. Headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, it specialises in fabrication and construction for the oil and gas and mining industries and has been involved in a number of significant Australian mining and civil engineering projects and has been selected to build a number of vessels and facilities for the Royal Australian Navy.
The 2021 Wooroloo bushfire was a fast moving bushfire that started on 1 February in Wooroloo, 45 kilometres (28 mi) north-east of the Perth central business district, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia. By 2 February, the bushfire emergency had spread to Shires of Chittering and Northam, and the City of Swan. It had destroyed at least 86 houses and 2 fire trucks. By 6 February, the bushfire had travelled 26 km (16 mi) from its source. The fire coincided with a five day lockdown of the Perth metropolitan region that started at 6pm on 31 January, due to a case of COVID-19 outside of hotel quarantine. In July 2021, WA Police charged a man with a breach of duty and carrying out an activity that could cause a fire, alleging that he used an angle grinder that caused sparks.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Western Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Western Australia (WA) confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 21 February 2020, and its first death on 1 March. On 15 March, premier Mark McGowan declared a state of emergency. On 24 March, Western Australia closed its borders to the rest of Australia, and on 1 April, the state implemented borders between regions in the state. By mid-April 2020, the state had eliminated community transmission of COVID-19, becoming one of the few places in the world to do so. Since then, there was only a handful of cases of community transmission in the state, until late December 2021 when a tourist caused an outbreak that led to the cancelling of some New Year's Eve events, and the re-imposing of mask wearing rules in Perth and the Peel region.
This article documents the chronology and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia during the first half of 2021.
