Kings Park and Botanic Garden

Kings Park occupies a scarp above the Swan River on the edge of central Perth, and much of it is not landscaped at all but retained bushland, which is unusual for a park this close to a city centre. The Western Australian Botanic Garden within it grows thousands of species from across the state, a flora with a very high proportion of plants found nowhere else, from banksias and kangaroo paws to a relocated boab brought down from the Kimberley. The Lotterywest Federation Walkway carries a glass and steel bridge through the canopy of a eucalypt grove. The eastern edge gives the standard view of the city towers and the river bends below, and it is a short walk from there back into scrub full of birds.

History

The Whadjuk Noongar, who call the hill Mooro Katta or Kaarta Koomba, big hill, had campsites and hunting grounds here, and Kennedy Spring at its foot gave water to them and to Willem de Vlamingh's party on 11 January 1697; James Stirling sited Perth here for that spring and named the hill Mount Eliza after Eliza Darling. The first Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe, tried to keep the land for public use, but in 1835 jarrah cut on Mount Eliza became the colony's first export, and logging went on until 1871, when Roe's successor Malcolm Fraser persuaded Governor Weld to set aside 175 hectares as a public park; the Volunteer Rifle Corps used it for shooting in the 1880s (Wikipedia, Kings Park, Western Australia).

Highlights

• The botanic garden - beds arranged by region, heavy on Western Australian species.
• Federation Walkway - an elevated bridge through the crowns of tall eucalypts.
• The scarp lookouts - the view over the Swan River, the city and the Darling Range beyond.
• Retained bushland - unmanicured tracks through native scrub in the western half of the park.

When to go

Spring, roughly September to November, is when the wildflower displays peak and the park runs its main flower season, which is also the busiest time. Mornings are best in summer, when the open sections give little shade and the heat builds quickly. Sunset draws large crowds to the eastern lookouts year-round.

Practical notes

Expectations set by the word garden can mislead: much of Kings Park is dry native bushland that looks scrubby to anyone hoping for formal beds, and outside the short spring flowering it can be visually flat. Parking near the lookouts fills on weekends and holidays. The site is large and exposed, so walking it in summer heat is uncomfortable.

Nearby

Central Perth is directly below, with Fremantle and the Rottnest ferries about half an hour away.

Key facts