Northbridge, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Northbridge is an inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...

 suburb of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, separated from Perth's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines. It is part of the City of Perth
City of Perth
The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth Metropolitan Area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs...

 local government area.

Geography

Located immediately north of the CBD, Northbridge is officially bounded by William Street
William Street, Perth
William Street is a suburban distributor and one of two major cross-streets in Perth, Western Australia.Commencing in western Mount Lawley it also crosses the Perth to Fremantle railway at the Horseshoe Bridge....

, Roe Street, Newcastle Street and the Mitchell Freeway
Mitchell Freeway
Mitchell Freeway is a long freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth's central business district with its outer northern suburbs. It is allocated Route 2 for its entire length and is named after former state Premier and Governor Sir James Mitchell....

.

The name Northbridge is often misapplied to areas and landmarks which are east of William Street and/or north of Newcastle Street — such as the Perth Cultural Centre
Perth Cultural Centre
The Perth Cultural Centre is an area of central Perth, Western Australia and the collective name for the buildings of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, Perth Gaol, Alexander Library, State Records Office, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts .William Street,...

 — which are technically still part of the CBD.

The area is accessible by foot from Perth railway station
Perth railway station
Perth Station including Perth Underground is the largest railway station in Perth, Western Australia, and functions as an interchange between the Transperth Trains Armadale / Thornlie, Fremantle, Joondalup, Mandurah and Midland railway lines, as well as the Transwa Australind.-History:The Victorian...

 and Wellington Street bus station. It is served by a free CAT bus and also has a significant number of public car parks, both open and high rise.

The area is largely a mix of commercial, public and residential properties.

History

The area now known as Northbridge originally hosted freshwater swamps
Perth Wetlands
The Perth Wetlands, also known as the Perth Great Lakes or the Great Lakes District, was a collection of fresh-water wetlands, swamps and lakes located on the Swan Coastal Plain north of the city of Perth in Western Australia...

 where the current train station and train lines are. Draining of the swamps commenced in the 1860's, by convict labour, facilitating the construction of more permanent buildings. The gold boom of the 1890's saw the construction of many hotels for the accommodation of prospectors, including the Brass Monkey (built 1896). The 1890s saw the area house the attorney-general, and many others from the elite classes. It was for that elite population that several private schools were established in the area, such as Scotch College
Scotch College, Perth
Scotch College , is one of Australia's leading independent schools for boys, situated in Swanbourne, Western Australia, Australia. The school is a member of the Public Schools Association and is now a Uniting Church school, although it was founded in 1897 by the Presbyterian Church of Australia...

 (1897), and Presbyterian Ladies' College
Presbyterian Ladies' College, Perth
The Presbyterian Ladies' College , is an independent, day and boarding school predominantly for girls, situated in Peppermint Grove, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia....

 (1915). These schools were subsequently relocated. Around the time of World War I, as the elite began to move out of the area, the area became a hub of European immigration, especially Greek and Macedonian In the 1950's, post-war European migration brought with it a culture of outdoor coffees and al-fresco lifestyle.

The area was previously a part of the Perth CBD, and was known by informal names such as "North of the Bridge
Horseshoe Bridge
The Horseshoe Bridge is a traffic bridge located in the central business district of the city of Perth, Western Australia.The bridge runs along William Street and crosses over the Fremantle to Perth railway line, at the western end of Perth Train Station...

" and "North of the Line". Northbridge was split from Perth and officially gazzetted as a suburb in 1982.

Culture

Northbridge today is a predominantly ethnic precinct, and contains a wide array of cuisine, including Asian and Mediterranean cuisine, and contains Perth's main nightlife district, which is centred on James Street and Lake Street. The area has a historical connection to the Greek and Italian communities, with Perth's first Orthodox Church located on Parker Street.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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