The official Chinatown of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Western Australia is bounded by Roe Street and James Street in the

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

suburb of Northbridge. Located within Chinatown are 13 restaurants and businesses. Many more Asian businesses are found further north around William Street near Brisbane Street, an area known informally for this reason as the "real Chinatown", and throughout both the

Perth metropolitan region The Perth metropolitan region or the Perth metropolitan area is the administrative area and geographical extent of the Western Australian capital city of Perth and its conurbation. It generally includes the coastal strip from Two Rocks in t ...

and the rest of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The City of Vincent (whose council boundary starts from Newcastle Street) has installed Asiatic themed street lights and street furniture to reflect the proliferation of Asian businesses in this area (see corner of William Street and Forbes Road). Businesses include restaurants, hair salons, grocery stores, travel agencies, Daiguo shipping companies, and medicine shops. The Vietnamese Buddhist Association and Temple is also located just off William Street on Money Street. While the area known informally as "real Chinatown" has always had a high proportion of non-Anglo migrants, its make-up has changed with time. During the 1970s and 1980s, during which the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

ended and the

Indochina refugee crisis The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and ...

began, the area housed Vietnamese migrants. Prior to this it was a Jewish quarter with Jewish businesses in the area; some still remain but are primarily landowners. Well known migrant business Kakulas Brothers still operate their wholesale operations off William Street on Wellman Street. From 2010 there has been a steady increase of mainland Chinese businesses as well as Korean businesses operating in the area. Historically many Chinese (usually of Malaysian, Singaporean or Indonesian background) settled in Northbridge alongside other immigrant groups. However, the city's low population density and comparatively low-cost property encourages migrants to move to the expanding suburbs. Likewise, overseas students often chose to live in suburbs near the universities they attend, such as Bentley, Murdoch and Nedlands.

Transport

The closest train station to Chinatown is

Perth railway station Perth railway station is the largest station on the Transperth network, serving the central business district of Perth, Western Australia. It serves as an interchange between the Airport, Armadale, Fremantle, Joondalup, Mandurah and Midland ...

, to its south-east on Roe Street. The

Perth Busport Perth Busport is an underground bus station, located underneath Wellington Street, Perth, Western Australia. It was officially opened by then Premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett and then Minister for Transport Dean Nalder on 13 July 2 ...

is about south of the precinct.

Transport

References

Further reading