Perth: An Accidental History Exhibition on the Northbridge Piazza Superscreen

A group of young men claim a street corner as their own, staring defiantly at the camera. A policeman directs trams, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians at the intersection of Wellington and Barrack streets. Women shop for groceries at a Murray Street fruit shop, exhorted by signs to ‘Eat more vegetables’. A soldier strolls down London Court; a kiosk for ex-servicemen and women, conveniently located in front of the Perth train station, has its doors open for enquiries. A businessman boards a trolley bus on a wet day on the Terrace.

 

These moments from Perth’s history were captured by photographers from the Engineering Branch of the Postmaster-General’s Department. From 1911, the department dutifully photographed telephone poles and exchanges, telegraph wires, post offices, postal trucks, public telephones and other aspects of Western Australia’s telecommunications network. Almost by accident, they also created a pictorial history of Western Australia, its capital and its people.

 

This digital exhibition represents some of the images on display in the National Archives of Australia.