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

East Perth East 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 fact that eas ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, 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 games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

fields, and named in honour of the

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

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 Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

at the time of the settlement of the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

. Prior to the construction of the

WACA Ground 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 (WACA). The WACA has been referred to as Western Australia' ...

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 "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") 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 f ...

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 Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

. 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