The Northbridge Piazza Superscreen presents a weekend-long program of fascinating digital exhibitions exploring the heritage of Perth.

 

The program includes WAM Snap Shot, Perth: an accidental history and Northbridge: Then and Now.

 

WAM Snap Shot

Dive into the rich history of Western Australia’s incredible music scene as part of WA Music Week.

In partnership with West Australian Music (WAM) we present a digital display of local music photography spanning almost a century. Featuring images from the archives of the State Library, WAM and personal collections of the state’s hardest working music photographers, this exciting visual journey captures everything from big bands in ballrooms to punks in dingy pubs.

 

Perth: an accidental history

Developed in collaboration with the National Archives of Australia

 

A group of young men claim a street corner as their own, staring defiantly at the camera. A policeman directs trams, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians at the intersection of Wellington and Barrack streets. Women shop for groceries at a Murray Street fruit shop, exhorted by signs to ‘Eat more vegetables’. A soldier strolls down London Court; a kiosk for ex-servicemen and women, conveniently located in front of the Perth train station, has its doors open for enquiries. A businessman boards a trolley bus on a wet day on the Terrace.

 

These moments from Perth’s history were captured by photographers from the Engineering Branch of the Postmaster-General’s Department. From 1911, the department dutifully photographed telephone poles and exchanges, telegraph wires, post offices, postal trucks, public telephones and other aspects of Western Australia’s telecommunications network. Almost by accident, they also created a pictorial history of Western Australia, its capital and its people.

 

Northbridge: Then and Now

A collection of pictures of Northbridge, dating back from the late 1800’s until now, documenting the radical change that our city has undergone.