Exploring Kings Park, the Crown of Perth

Kings Park, overlooking Western Australia’s capital city of Perth, is both the most peaceful part of the city and the most popular destination of tourists. It’s amazing to me that such a large bushland area has managed to survive development over the years, but now it’s firmly protected and locals and visitors will enjoy both the views and the park facilities for a long time to come.

A thousand acres of park and bushland sits above the city center of Perth. The most common photograph and postcard views of downtown Perth are always taken from the front of Kings Park; you can look over the freeway to the Swan River, with the skyscrapers of the business center of the city on the left, the Swan Bell Tower and the new Convention Centre at the front; the suburb of South Perth including the Perth Zoo are to the right.

War memorials are abundant inside Kings Park, so on the Australian ANZAC Day commemoration remembering those who served in wars, the well-attended Dawn Service is held here. I stood in the dark at 5am this year on ANZAC Day, watching big screen footage of Australian contributions to World War Two, in a huge crowd that somehow remained silent in remembrance. That’s one side of Kings Park, but the other is one of fun and celebration: free barbecues are available for anyone to use, and there are park areas galore for games and picnics. I love to take a Frisbee or a cricket bat and a bunch of friends and to spend the day in Kings Park – there are even enough trees there to stay in the shade most of the day and avoid that scorching Aussie sun.

In recent years, the Botanic Garden has been expanded and a new bridge has been built to create a fantastic circuit walk around the front of the park. One of my favourite parts is the gardens of native Australian plants, especially the beds of various kinds of kangaroo paws, those amazing flowers that somehow do look like the paw of a kangaroo. There are also boab trees imported from the north of the state, those crazy but clever trees that grow bloated and fat in the trunk to store water in dry desert areas.

Perth might suffer to some degree from urban sprawl, but having Kings Park at its center makes me forgive all of that. It’s a place that everyone can easily get to and enjoy, and that helps make Perth a special city.