Wellington Square is a public park located on Wellington Street in the suburb of

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

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.

History

The park was originally a swamp and was drained in the 1830s. It was originally used to exercise horses. The ground was known as the Recreation Ground or the "Rec". In 1898 the ground was cleared to form a series of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

fields, and named in honour of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...

at the time of the settlement of the Swan River Colony. Prior to the construction of the

WACA Ground The WACA (formally the WACA Ground) is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association. The WACA has been referred to as Wester ...

in the 1890s, the park served as the main

ground in Perth. In 1901 the ground was used for four

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...

matches. Between 1906 and 1909

team

were based at Wellington Square but played home games elsewhere. Perth Rugby Club (later Perth-Bayswater) used the square from the late 1920s as a training venue. In 2020 the City of Perth began a $18.7 million upgrade of Wellington Square. The redevelopment included construction of a new playground, basketball courts, new paths and facilities and a place of reflection to commemorate the Stolen Generation. The redevelopment was opened to the public in March 2021.

Current uses

The square is used as a meeting place, and occasionally for cricket and athletics by local schools and clubs. It is also used as a live music venue.

References

{{coord, -31.9545, 115.8719, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Parks in Perth, Western Australia West Australian Football League grounds Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia East Perth Football Club East Perth, Western Australia Squares in Perth, Western Australia Wellington Street, Perth