Public Art

The talents of urban designers, landscape architects and artists are reflected in imaginative buildings, street furniture, landscape features and stand-alone works of art in Claisebrook Cove.  Many pieces express East Perth’s history and some are made from materials found on the redevelopment site or salvaged from old buildings.

Holmes à Court Gallery runs regular Public Art guided walks. For more information call (08) 9218 4540 or visit www.holmesacourtgallery.com.au.

Alternatively, wander through Claisebrook Cove and enjoy the public art at your own pace with the Art Walk brochure. 

To download a copy of the Public Art brochure click here.  Alternatively call the EPRA Community Information Line on 1800 639 726 and we'll post one out to you. 

Heritage Map
Artist: Malcolm MacGregor
Located on Royal Street, in the heart of East Perth, is a granite map set into the pavement. It shows the old East Perth, its streets and blocks, together with other elements that describe its rich history.

Small Figurative Bronzes
Artist: Greg James
A series of small lifelike bronze castings have been installed to delight and surprise as part of the pocket park in Macey Place.

Theatre Seats
Artist: Mark Cox
Using recycled jarrah, two sets of curved seating provide a pleasant place for conversation or simply to read the paper.

Illa Kuri
Artist: Toogarr Morrison
The whole area along the riverbank at Victoria Gardens has been renamed Ngango Batta’s Mooditcher, translated as ‘Sunshine’s Living Strength’ – a place of hope and friendship for Aboriginal people. The winding pathway is named Illa Kuri and describes the chain of lakes and wetlands that stretched across the landscape before the city was built.

Yoondoorup Boorna
Artist: Alma Toomath
A very special old river gum, removed as part of the redevelopment, was treated and returned to the site at the request of the Noongar people. Its burnt and split trunk was used as a hiding place for goods and messages by those who once camped here.

Charnock Woman Mosaic
Artists: Jenny Dawson, Sandra Hill and Miv Egan
The East Perth foreshore was a meeting and camping place for the Noongar people. This colourful ceramic mosaic tells the Noongar Dreaming Story of a giant evil spirit woman, known as the Charnock woman, who stole children. The story can be read on the accompanying wall plaque.

The Niche Wall Mural
Artist: Joanna Lefroy Capelle
A stunning 14-metre-long wall mural is an allegory for the history and development of East Perth. It interprets the evolution of East Perth from its origins in the Bibbulmun nation, to settlement with the arrival of the Europeans, its industrial and horticultural growth, a phase of dormancy, and its renewal as a place of community and harmony of the human spirit. The relief mural is located in a limestone colonnade alongside the Cove. Natural resins were used to create the work and vegetation from the area was used to form its distinctive texture.

Victoria Gardens Shelter
Artist: Ralph Drexel
This architectural folly refers to the graceful period architecture of Richard Roche Jewell and the popularity of the
original Victoria Gardens at the end of the 19th Century, which was one of the earliest public gardens in Perth.

Trafalgar Road Culvert
Artists: Nola Farman and Marcelle George
As many trees as possible were retained during the redevelopment of East Perth. This one could not be moved, its roots were so deeply entwined in the old box culvert that took the brook under Trafalgar Road. The text celebrates all those who lived in and loved East Perth during its years of neglect, sleeping out in the ‘Star Hotel’.

Channel Markers
Artist: Malcolm MacGregor
A pair of seats located on either side of the Cove, use the imagery of a river channel marker. They also commemorate Solomon Cook’s water driven flourmill and the Caretaker’s Cottage at the entry to Victoria Gardens by Architect Richard Roach Jewell.

Macey Walk Sculptured Seats
Artist: Mark Cox
The industrial heritage of East Perth is an important part of local history. A series of four seats, constructed of jarrah timber recycled from the old PWD workshops, are based on the theme of pulleys, beams and rollers.

Sea Queen and Standing Figure
Artist: Tony Jones
The old river boat is permanently ‘moored’ at the jetty on the northern side of the Cove, now a place to sit and take in the view. The abandoned fishing boat was found on East Perth’s foreshore and restored by sculptor Tony Jones. The memories of a life on the river are represented in Standing Figure holding a sailboat, her head turned to the direction of the wind.

Concrete Poem
Artists: Rob Finlayson and PlanE
Mardalup Park is on the site of the old Perth Gasworks. The poem here is a palindrome (you can read it forwards or backwards) about gas and is set into a concrete spiral.

Steel Magnolias
Artist: Jon Denaro
These sculptures are made from industrial ‘junk’ salvaged from the old Perth Gasworks. They are like magnificent organic plants symbolising the park’s metamorphosis from industrial land back to nature.

Diver and Guard Dogs
Artist: Russell Sheridan
In the elevated residential subdivision of Belvidere, a figure stands on its hands atop a timber column. This humorous spoof on Nelson’s Column is surrounded by timber guardian dogs that are popular with children.

Smoke Stack Wind Vane
Artist: Stuart Green
Located on the corner of Fielder and Kensington Streets and made of aluminium swings, this wind vane swings around inside the “V” class locomotive smoke stack. Sculptured as an acknowledgment of the railway and its workers who worked at the Claisebrook Depot for nearly a century. The stack is arguably the last piece of
coppersmithing completed at Westrail’s Midland workshops before their closure.

THE GREENWAY
A walk along The Greenway is a walk back in time. The gentle curves of the path, the lake and the harbour reflect the original lake and wetlands, while the works along the route tell the story.

Drinking Fountain
Artists: Nola Farman and Marcelle George
A simple drinking fountain marks the start of the pedestrian walkway through East Perth. Poems on the side of the fountain refer to earlier times before the city and its bitumen took over.

Spring
Artists: Nola Farman with Tract (WA)
The spurting fountain creates a soothing spot to relax. It represents the unquenchable energy of the water that lies beneath the city streets.

Fine Wall
Artists: Nola Farman and Marcelle George
The curved limestone retaining wall not only ensures that a mature tree remains part of the new landscape, but also that the water artificially seeping through it reinforces the power and presence of water in this area of Perth. The text talks about the abundance of food found in the Claisebrook wetland and how it was cooked in the past.

Art in Landscape
Artist: Nola Farman
The artist has tried to create a tension between our own memories of a real wetland and the artificial landscape of the Greenway. Specially planted paperbarks appear to be forcing their way through the paving; irregularities in the limestone channel make the water bubble and dance.

Old Fjord Tract (WA)
Artist: Unknown
During construction, a cache of old cobblestones was unearthed. They have been re-laid in the approximate position of an old fjord across Claise Brook.

Turtle Walk
Artist: Nola Farman
The turtle shapes are used as a symbol; the line a reference to the traditional path used by Noongar people on their way to the ceremonial grounds at Mount Eliza.

Sound Chamber
Artist: Nola Farman
The tiny sculptured pool and bronze turtle are part of a sound system inside the underpass that amplifies the natural sound of running water.

The Greenway Stream
Artist: Nola Farman
The ability of water to sculpt the landscape and carve its own path has inspired the creative design of the ‘eroded’ water channel along the length of the Greenway.

END OF THE GREENWAY

The Impossible Triangle
Artists: Brian McKay and Ahmad Abas
The 13.5m landmark artwork stands at the gateway to East Perth. The Impossible Triangle was devised by Mathematician Sir Roger Penrose in the 1950’s. There are only two positions from which the triangle appears complete.

Chinese Consulate
Artist: Kevin Draper
Detail of a metal screen commissioned for the new Chinese Consulate in East Perth.

Red Surveyor
Artist: Jon Tarry
Located outside the Boans Warehouse, on the corner of Brook and Henry Streets, the Red Surveyor looks out over East Perth from his vantage point at Boan Place, faithfully recording all the changes.