Perth Map

• The most popular sports are Australian rules football, cricket, association football (soccer) and netball.

• The climate of Perth allows for extensive outdoor sport activity, and this is reflected in the wide variety of sports available to citizens of the city. Perth was host to the 1962 Commonwealth Games and the 1987 America's Cup defence (based at Fremantle). Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport in Perth – nearly 24% of Western Australians attended matches in 2005.

• Perth is home to several professional sporting teams participating in various national competitions:

• Perth has hosted numerous state and international sporting events. Ongoing international events include the Hopman Cup during the first week of January at the Burswood Dome and the final leg of the Red Bull Air Race held on a stretch of the Swan River called Perth Water, using Langley Park as a temporary air field. In addition to these Perth has hosted international Rugby Union games, including qualifying matches for 2003 Rugby World Cup. The 1991 and 1998 FINA World Championships were held in Perth. Several motorsport facilities exist in Perth including Perth Motorplex, catering to drag racing and speedway, and Barbagallo Raceway for circuit racing and drifting. Perth also has two thoroughbred racing facilities in Ascot, home of the Railway Stakes and Perth Cup, and Belmont Park.

• Perth is served by Perth Airport in the city's east for regional, domestic and international flights and Jandakot Airport in the city's southern suburbs for general aviation and charter flights.

• Perth has a road network with three freeways and nine metropolitan highways. The Northbridge tunnel, part of the Graham Farmer Freeway, is the only significant road tunnel in Perth.

• Perth metropolitan public transport, including trains, buses and ferries, are provided by Transperth, with links to rural areas provided by Transwa. There are 70 railway stations and 15 bus stations in the metropolitan area. The rail system has recently undergone significant redevelopment, with a new railway line built between Perth and Mandurah which doubled the length of Perth's railways. The railway was opened on 23 December 2007, a year after the original deadline.

• Recent initiatives include progressive replacement of the bus fleet and the SmartRider contactless smartcard ticketing system. Perth provides zero-fare bus and train trips around the city centre (the "Free Transit Zone"), including three high-frequency CAT bus routes. Additionally, the rail network has been expanded in the northern and southern suburbs as part of the New MetroRail project.

• The Indian Pacific passenger rail service connects Perth with Adelaide and Sydney via Kalgoorlie. The Transwa Prospector passenger rail service connects Perth with Kalgoorlie via several Wheatbelt towns, while the Transwa Australind connects to Bunbury, and the Transwa Avonlink connects to Northam.

• Perth's main container and passenger port is at Fremantle, 19 kilometres south west at the mouth of the Swan River. A second port complex is being developed in Cockburn Sound primarily for the export of bulk commodities.

• Perth Concert Hall is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre, ballet, opera and orchestral performances. The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, which was officially opened on 27 January 2011, is home to the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Perth Theatre Company. This complex is located in Northbridge, and contains three performance spaces: the main 575-seat Heath Ledger Theatre, the Studio Underground and The Courtyard.

• Other theatres in Perth include an auditorium within the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre (completed in 2005), the historic His Majesty's Theatre and Burswood Dome, which hosts music concerts. Outdoor concerts are held in Kings Park, Subiaco Oval and Members Equity Stadium and the Convention Centre on the foreshore replaces the Burswood Dome until a more satisfactory building is established.

• Because of Perth's relative isolation from other Australian cities overseas artists often exclude it from their Australian tour schedules. This isolation, however, has developed a strong local music scene, leading some to dub Perth the "new Seattle".

• Perth has been a hotbed of local rock music producing such nationally and internationally respected acts as Pendulum, John Butler Trio, Eskimo Joe, End of Fashion, Little Birdy, Jebediah, The Sleepy Jackson, The Panics, Karnivool and Birds of Tokyo. The Hip-Hop and R&B scene has seen rise to artists such as Che'Nelle, and Samantha Jade. The local music culture revolves around a series of venues such as The Amplifier Bar and The Rosemount Hotel. The WAMI Awards have been acknowledging local music since 1985.

• The more popular rock concerts held in Perth are the Big Day Out (nationwide) and V Festival (Australia). The city is also referenced in the Pavement song "I Love Perth".

• Perth has a very changeable and, at times, energetic Folk music culture. Bands such as The Settlers regularly played at Clancy's Fish Pub in Fremantle and the earlier line ups of the Mucky Duck Bush Band that now has regular bush dances in Whiteman Park. A favourite spot was the Hayloft in West Perth – home of WA Folk music in the 1970s and later moving to the Peninsula Hotel in Maylands. Perth is also home to a vibrant alternative sexuality music scene, focused especially around such nightclubs as "The Court" and "Connections". It also has a large growing electro indie scene through such nightclubs as "Capitol", "Amplifier Bar" and "Shape". Perth is also known for its thriving drum and bass scene and is known as the capital city for drum & bass music in Australia.

• Other musicians from Perth include the late AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, and veteran performer and artist Rolf Harris (also known as "The Boy From Bassendean").

• Perth is home to the West Australian Ballet, performing classical-based ballet at His Majesty's Theatre (two seasons per year), Quarry Amphitheatre in City Beach (one season per year in conjunction with the Perth International Arts festival)and Regal Theatre in Subiaco (one season per year). WA Ballet also performs its Genesis Choreography Workshops in one season per year, as well as regular touring, education and guest programs. West Australian Symphony Orchestra which performs a regular programme of orchestral music, usually from its base at the Perth Concert Hall. The Perth International Arts Festival also includes music in its schedule. Opera is provided by West Australian Opera.

• Western Australia Youth Music allows young musicians in Perth to gain performance opportunities by playing in a musical ensemble. The Western Australian Youth Orchestra is WA Youth Music's premier and flagship ensemble, however the organisation offers several other ensembles including the WA Youth Symphonic Band and the WA Youth Chorale. Acceptance is granted to amateur players under the age of 25 years. Auditions are held in November of each year.

• At present, 42 of the Legislative Assembly's 59 seats and 18 of the Legislative Council's 36 seats are based in Perth's metropolitan area as of the 2008 state election. Perth is represented by 9 full seats and significant parts of three others in the Federal House of Representatives, with the seats of Canning, Pearce and Brand including some areas outside the metropolitan area. The metropolitan area is divided into over 30 local government bodies, including the City of Perth which administers Perth's central business district.

• The state's highest court, the Supreme Court, is located in Perth, along with the District and Family Courts. The Magistrates' Court has six metropolitan locations. The Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates' Courts occupy the Commonwealth Law Courts building on Victoria Avenue, Perth, which is the also the location for annual Perth sittings of Australia's High Court.

• The Metropolitan Region Scheme is the statutory town planning scheme for land use in the Perth metropolitan area, and has been in operation since 1963.

• By virtue of its population and role as the administrative centre for business and government, Perth dominates the Western Australian economy, despite the major mining, petroleum and agricultural export industries located elsewhere in the state. Perth’s function as the State’s capital city, its economic base and population size have also created development opportunities for many other businesses oriented to local or more diversified markets.

• Perth’s economy has been changing in favour of the service industries since the 1950s. Although one of the major sets of services it provides are related to the resources industry and, to a lesser extent, agriculture, most people in Perth are not connected to either; they have jobs that provide services to other people in Perth.

• As a result of Perth's relative geographical isolation, it has never had the necessary conditions to develop significant manufacturing industries other than those serving the immediate needs of its residents, mining and agriculture and some specialised areas, such as, in recent times, niche ship building and maintenance. It was simply cheaper to import all the needed manufactured goods from either the eastern states or overseas.

• Industrial employment influenced the economic geography of Perth. After WWII, Perth experienced suburban expansion aided by high levels of car ownership. Workforce decentralisation and transport improvements made it possible for the establishment of small-scale manufacturing in the suburbs. Many firms took advantage of relatively cheap land to build spacious, single-storey plants in suburban locations where parking, access and traffic congestion were minimal. "The former close ties of manufacturing with near-central and/or rail-side locations were loosened."

• Industrial estates such as Kwinana, Welshpool and Kewdale were post-war additions contributing to the growth of manufacturing south of the river. The establishment of the Kwinana industrial area was supported by standardisation of the east-west rail gauge linking Perth with eastern Australia. Since the 1950s, heavy industry has dominated the location including an oil refinery, steel-rolling mill with a blast furnace, alumina refinery, power station and a nickel refinery. Another development, also linked with rail standardisation, was in 1968 when the Kewdale Freight Terminal was developed adjacent to the Welshpool industrial area, replacing the former Perth railway yards.

• With significant population growth post-WWII, employment growth occurred not in manufacturing but in retail and wholesale trade, business services, health, education, community and personal services and in public administration. Increasingly it was these services sectors, concentrated around the Perth metropolitan area, that provided jobs.