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 â€œâ€¦ sociability, and rational amusement …”

The Town Hall has always been a popular venue for exhibitions and displays by community groups and commercial organisations. All sorts of community groups have used the facilities over the years to share and promote their special interests and often raise funds as well.

The first bazaar and exhibition opened on 6 September 1870, in aid of the ‘Benevolent Fund for destitute and indigent women’. At the bazaar you could buy all sorts of handcrafts, while the exhibition displayed an extraordinary range of artworks, curios, antiquities and natural history objects. A piano in the gallery provided entertainment. Some of the objects displayed ended up in the collections of the WA Museum.

Click here to read the newspaper report of the first bazaar and exhibition at the Perth Town Hall

Wild life and wild flowers

Many Perth people remember fondly the wild life shows held at the Perth Town Hall from 1946 to 1975. The brainchild of Vincent Serventy, and family, these were organised by the WA Naturalists Club and the WA Gould League to promote interest in natural history. 

The annual wild flower exhibitions are also fondly remembered and have an even longer history. These began in 1892 and became popular annual events, raising money for various charities through the years. WA railways were involved in organising transport of flower displays from various parts of the state. By the 1930s the displays were promoted interstate to encourage tourism. The show included competitions with categories for different types of floral arrangements, as well as paintings and drawings, and fancy work – for both adults and children. Primrose Allen remembers visiting the Town Hall as a child – ‘I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the orchids and especially by seeing the rare Qualup Bell’

Hobbies and pastimes

The Perth Town Hall was not just for the city – hundreds of country people flocked to Perth for the opening ceremony. The Country Women’s Association frequently held shows. Their 1935 ‘exhibition of handicrafts and home industries’ was a huge success, with nearly all of the entries coming from the country. The display of ingenuity in ‘turning waste material to profitable use’ was especially admired and strikes a chord today. 

A highlight of the 1935 CWA exhibition was the spinning demonstration. Mrs Broun (left) is working a spinning wheel made during World War 1, used by hundreds of Perth women to spin yarn to make socks for soldiers. Mrs A.G. Todd demonstrates on a 235-year-old wheel from the Shetland Islands, used for spinning flax to make clothing for fishermen, on the Greenland fishing- grounds. Miss Francis, of Fremantle, added atmosphere by playing on her harp during the demonstration. RWAHS P1999.4430

After World War 2, displays of arts and crafts from different countries were popular and celebrated the contributions and culture of ‘new Australians’. A bewildering variety of interest groups held shows and exhibitions – from stamps to sewing, model trains to orchids.

  • Enthusiasts enjoying the Sports and Hobbies exhibition at the Town Hall, 1954. SLWA 113755PD, 113757.
  • An International Fair and Migrant Exposition organised by the Good Neighbour Council, 1952. SLWA BA1200/97.
  • Mrs Pat Hethersay admires a vase of dahlias at the Town Hall, 1950. This was Mrs A. Brocklehurst’s champion entry in the WA Gladiolus, Dahlia and Bulb Society’s dahlia show. SLWA 224183P.

    • Informing the community

    Professional and commercial organisations also hold events at the Town Hall. Wireless demonstrations were popular in the early part of the 20th century, while the Town Hall hosted the first demonstration of television in 1949.

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    Cabinet of Curiosities

    Advertising poster for a pantomime at the Town Hall in 1895. City of Perth Collection.
    Programme from 1921 for a concert to raise funds for the ‘starving children of Central Europe’. City of Perth Collection.
    Daily Newsboy’s cap and bag. Steve Weeks had the Town Hall corner pitch for selling the Daily News in the 1960s. He got a ha’penny for each paper sold for sixpence. Lent by Steve Weeks.
    Programme for a film screening by the Amateur Cine Society in 1949. City of Perth Collection.
    This shovel is said to have been used to turn the first sod on the Town Hall site. City of Perth Collection.
    Advertising postcard showing the Perth Town Hall. This postcard advertised a printing company, Star Press, which operated in Perth through the 1920s and 1930s. SLWA 7197B.
    W.E. Bold’s invitation to a civic luncheon for H.R.H. The Prince of Wales in 1920. This was the future Edward VIII and the visit was to thank Australians for their support during the First World War. Mr Bold was the Town Clerk at the time. City of Perth Collection.
    Costume jewellery like this was worn for formal functions and dances at the Town Hall. Lent by Steve Weeks.
    A collection of toy cars. Hobbies featured in many shows at the Perth Town Hall.
    A civic dinner held in honour of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Adelaide, Mr and Mrs Reginald Walker, Perth Town Hall, 1945. The floral decorations and potted palms probably came from the City of Perth’s Victoria Park Nursery, Trafalgar Road, East Perth. City of Perth Collection.
    From the 1920s to the 1950s, the shops under the Town Hall included tea rooms. CC BY-SA 4.0.
    Medals are often issued to commemorate events. This medal was given by Mayor George Shenton to Perth schoolchildren to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. City of Perth Collection
    An extract from George Grey’s journal, where he describes Nyoongar songs. National Library of South Africa, Capetown.
    A keen audience of young cricketers at a lecture by Arthur Richardson, 22 October 1927. Arthur Richardson was a well-known South Australian cricketer. He came to Perth in 1927 to play and coach for the West Australian team. SLWA 100166PD.
    Lanyard and security pass from the second Perth Fringe Festival 2012. The Town Hall and the derelict Old Treasury Buildings were both venues that year, while the space between them was fenced off for the bar and festival hub.
    A newspaper cutting about retired engineer and model-builder James Lang of Mt Lawley turning to clock making.
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