Perth is frequently cited as one of the most isolated major cities in the world, its nearest comparably sized city, Adelaide, sits roughly 2,100 kilometres away across largely uninhabited desert, a distance greater than that separating many entire countries. That extreme isolation shaped Western Australia’s development distinctly from the rest of the country, the state’s early colonists faced genuine logistical challenges simply staying connected to the other Australian colonies, let alone the wider world.
Perth briefly gained an unusual nickname, the “City of Light,” after residents turned on their house lights and streetlights specifically so astronaut John Glenn could see the city from orbit during a 1962 space mission, a gesture the city repeated for later astronauts, a small, genuinely touching piece of space-age civic pride that has become part of local folklore.
A City Built on Mining Wealth It Rarely Sees Directly
Perth’s modern economy is substantially shaped by Western Australia’s vast mineral wealth, particularly iron ore extracted from the remote Pilbara region hundreds of kilometres north, wealth that flows through Perth’s financial and corporate sector even though the mines themselves remain largely out of sight for most residents. That mining-driven prosperity has made Perth one of Australia’s wealthier cities during resource boom periods, while also leaving its economy notably exposed to global commodity price fluctuations in ways less pronounced in more diversified state capitals.
Rottnest Island, a short ferry ride from Perth, is home to the quokka, a small marsupial found almost nowhere else, whose seemingly permanent smile has made it something of an unofficial social media mascot for Western Australian tourism in recent years.
Painting a City at the Edge of a Continent
Perth’s Swan River waterfront against its skyline gives a watercolourist naturally reflective composition and clear Western Australian light to work with. We’ve captured that setting in our own Perth Watercolor Print, painted first by hand and printed to order on archival paper, a small piece of Western Australia for a wall at home.
Separated from its nearest major neighbour by a genuine desert crossing, Perth remains one of the clearest reminders that isolation, handled well enough, doesn’t have to mean disconnection.