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Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia, and the fourth-largest city in Australia, with a population of 1,554,769 (2007 estimate).One of its LGAs, the City of Perth, is currently the fastest growing area in Australia in percentage terms (10% per year).
Perth was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of the free settler Swan River Colony. It has continued to serve as the seat of Government for Western Australia to the present day.
The metropolitan area is located in the south west of the continent between the Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as the Darling Range. The central business district and suburbs of Perth are situated on the Swan River.
Perth became known worldwide as the "City of Light," as city residents lit their houselights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962.The city repeated its feat as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in 1998.
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The central business district of Perth is bounded by the Swan River to the south and east, with Kings Park on the western end, while the railway lines form a northern border. St Georges Terrace is the prominent street of the area with 1.3 million m² of office space in the CBD.Hay Street and Murray Street have most of the retail and entertainment facilities. The tallest building in the city is Central Park, which is the sixth tallest building in Australia,although it is to be surpassed by the BHP Tower in 2012.With the current resources-based boom the skyline will change dramatically with at least eleven 100 m+ buildings either being currently or soon to be built.