Start your journey at one
of the largest musical
instruments on Earth, Perth’s
iconic Bell Tower.
Encompassing 18 bells in total,
the tower is home to 12 ancient
bells – paid for in the early 1700s
by the then Prince of Wales, later
King George II – from St Martin-
in-the-Fields, which is in Trafalgar
Square in London.
Over time the heavy movement
of this large set of bells caused
the small bell tower in England
to sway, causing damage. So in
1987, it was decided they would
be melted down and recast into
new ones. However, bell ringers
in Australia made a deal, saving
the old bells for a new tower in
Perth – celebrating the nation’s
1988 bicentenary – and, in
LEFT: Treetop
walk along the
Lotterywest
Federation
Walkway.
RIGHT: Bell Tower.Kings Park
with Perth
CBD skyline.return, supplying the tin and
copper required to create
new bells for St Martins.
Accompanying these
extraordinary bells are six
additional modern bells. If
possible, try to time the start
of your walk with the ringing of
these bells (check times on the
website: thebelltower.com.au).
While here, explore Perth’s
waterfront precinct Elizabeth
Quay, admiring (or crossing) the
20-metre-high suspension bridge
and visiting the Signature Ring,
featuring more than 200,000
students’ signatures from across
the state. The signatures were
collected in 1999 to
support the opening
of the tower, and
the millennium,and were once etched into more
than 2300 tiles around the tower.
Today, they are on copper plates
that link to form a bronze ring.
Following the quay inland
towards the city, you will turn left
onto Mounts Bay Road, walking
past the convention centre to
Cliff Street, where you’ll find the
Health Freak Cafe at the foot of
Kings Park. Stop here to enjoy
a meal, before continuing on
through the park.
With more than 400 hectares
of cultivated gardens and
untamed bushland, there is so
much to see and do in Kings
Park. Home to an
incredibly diverse display
of native wildflowers- most of them not
found anywhere else in
the world – Kings Park
features remarkable
views of the city skyline
and the Swan River.
Although previously explored,
it wasn’t until 1872 that a section
of the land was reserved as a
public park. In 1895, it was
named ‘The Perth Park’, but upon
the turn of the millennium and
honouring the crowning of King
Edward VII, the park was
renamed Kings Park in 1901.
Today, the Botanic Gardens and