Kings Park, Western Australia
Kings Park is a 4.06-square-kilometre (1,003-acre) park located on the western edge of the central business district in Perth, Western Australia. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with two-thirds of the grounds conserved as native bushland. With panoramic views of the Swan River and Darling Range, it is home to over 324 native plant varieties, 215 known indigenous fungi species and 80 bird species. It overlooks the city as well as Perth Water and Melville Water on the Swan River.
It is one of the largest inner city parks in the world and the most popular visitor destination in Western Australia, being visited by over five million people each year. The park is larger than New York's Central Park which is 3.41 km².
Besides tourist facilities Kings Park contains the State War Memorial, the Royal Kings Park Tennis club and a reservoir. The streets are tree lined with individual plaques dedicated by family members to Western Australian service men and women who died in World War I and World War II.
During September of each year Kings Park hosts Australia's largest wildflower show and exhibition – the Kings Park Festival.
Prior to European settlement and exploration Mount Eliza was known as Mooro Katta and Kaarta Gar-up, the Aboriginal names given by the Nyoongar inhabitants. The area has been an important ceremonial and cultural place for the Whadjuk tribe who had campsites and hunting grounds in the area.
In the early 1880s a rifle range was established on the site for the Perth section of the Volunteer Rifle Corps' (a civilian militia) use and training. Both the Fremantle and Perth sections held organised competitive shooting competitions on this range. [29]
At the base of the southern face is a freshwater spring, known as Kennedy Spring (Goonininup), which provided year-round water for the native inhabitants. The spring was noted by the first European visitors to the area, Willem de Vlamingh's party, on 11 January 1697. The Lieutenant Governor of the Swan River Colony, James Stirling, chose the townsite of Perth for this reason – the only local spring. He named the area Mount Eliza for Mrs. Ralph Darling.
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