View source for Forrest Place

{{Short description|Pedestrianised square in Perth, Western Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2013}}

[[File:Forrest Place, January 2018 06.jpg|alt=|thumb|View south along Forrest Place towards the [[Murray Street, Perth|Murray Street Mall]] and [[Carillon City]]. [[Forrest Chase]] is located on the left (seen prior to its 2019 redevelopment).|250px]]
[[File:Forrest Place, February 2018.jpg|thumb|Forrest Place is bounded to the west by the Commonwealth Bank building, the General Post Office building and Albert Facey House|250px]]

'''Forrest Place''' is a [[pedestrian zone|pedestrianised square]] located within the [[Perth#Central business district|central business district]] of [[Perth]], [[Western Australia]]. The street was created in 1923, and has a history of being a focal point for significant political meetings and demonstrations.

==Description==
Forrest Place connects [[Perth railway station]] on [[Wellington Street, Perth|Wellington Street]] with the [[Murray Street, Perth|Murray Street Mall]], outside the [[Carillon City]] shopping centre. It is {{convert|150|m}} long,<ref name="gmaps" /> and is paved and landscaped as a pedestrianised square, with seating, public artwork, and trees. The eastern side of the street is lined by shops from the [[Forrest Chase]] shopping complex, while the historic [[General Post Office, Perth|General Post Office]] and [[Commonwealth Bank building, Perth|Commonwealth Bank]] buildings are located to the west.<ref name="gmaps">{{Google maps|url=https://maps.google.com.au/maps?saddr=Forrest+Pl&daddr=Forrest+Pl&hl=en&sll=-31.952365,115.859295&sspn=0.002312,0.00327&geocode=FXl0GP4dO-DnBg%3BFblvGP4dHN7nBg&t=h&dirflg=w&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=19&z=19 |accessdate=8 December 2013}}</ref>

Forrest Place is used in many ways throughout the year, including cultural displays, children's activities and parades, and contains the [[City of Perth]] visitors centre.<ref name="cityofperty1">{{cite web| publisher = City of Perth| url = http://www.cityofperth.wa.gov.au/html/vis13_waaccess_fp_fp.php| title = Forrest Place| accessdate = 31 July 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060821202320/http://www.cityofperth.wa.gov.au/html/vis13_waaccess_fp_fp.php| archive-date = 21 August 2006| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Nearby transport facilities include [[Perth railway station]] and [[Perth Busport]], and [[Perth Central Area Transit]] (CAT) buses run along Wellington Street,

==History==
[[File:Forrest Place 1971 .tiff|thumb|right|Forrest Place in 1971 – looking south toward Murray Street, Padbury Buildings to left, Commonwealth Bank Building to right rear|250px]]
[[File:Forrest Place, January 2018 08.jpg|alt=|thumb|Children playing in the ''Water Labyrinth'' interactive sculpture by artist [[Jeppe Hein]]|250px]]
Named after [[John Forrest|Sir John Forrest]],<ref name="ABC">{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-17/the-changing-face-of-forrest-place-perth/7421894|title=From marketplace to water labyrinth: The changing faces of Forrest Place|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|author=Emma Wynne|date=17 May 2016|access-date=18 November 2017}}</ref> the first [[Premier of Western Australia]], Forrest Place was for most of its history a roadway between the [[Perth railway station]] and [[Murray Street, Perth|Murray Street]].

It was originally a plot of land issued to Patrick Farmer in 1833.{{fact |date=June 2025}} Prior to Forrest Place's construction, an arcade between Wellington and Murray Streets existed on the site known as Central Arcade.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207395550 |title=Perth's Central Arcade |newspaper=[[Truth (Perth newspaper)|Truth]] |volume=  |issue=154 |location=Western Australia |date=23 June 1906 |accessdate=31 March 2023 |page=7 (CITY EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> It was considered an "unhealthy" establishment, which led to its demolition. The construction of Forrest Place deemed to have "changed the face of Perth".<ref name="West">{{cite news|url=http://www.thewest.com.au/multimedia/WAN%20ONLINE/mm1/Galleries/175_ed4/26-Sept-full-page-10.jpg|title=Postal palace – the new G.P.O. ready at last|date=26 September 1923|work=[[The West Australian]]|accessdate=18 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080731005302/http://www.thewest.com.au/multimedia/WAN%20ONLINE/mm1/Galleries/175_ed4/26-Sept-full-page-10.jpg|archive-date=31 July 2008|url-status=dead|location=[[Perth, Western Australia]]|format=JPG}}</ref>

===Streetscape===
Prior to the building of the [[Forrest Chase]] complex (containing [[Myer]] and numerous other retail stores), the central building on the eastern side of Forrest Place was the [[Padbury Buildings, Perth|Padbury Buildings]] (built in 1925<ref name="heritage2">{{cite web|publisher=Heritage Council of Western Australia|url=http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/viewplace.html?place_seq=25079&offset=2&view=description|title=Padbury Buildings|accessdate=31 July 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930023633/http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/viewplace.html?place_seq=25079&offset=2&view=description|archivedate=30 September 2007}}</ref> and demolished in 1986–1987). While the buildings on the east side have changed a number of times in the street's 82-year history, the [[General Post Office, Perth|General Post Office]] (completed in 1923<ref name="heritage3">{{cite web |publisher=Heritage Council of Western Australia |url=http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/POST%20OFFICES%20-%20Reg/General%20PO%20Perth%20%28P%29.PDF |title=General Post Office |accessdate=31 July 2006 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626185221/http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/POST%20OFFICES%20-%20Reg/General%20PO%20Perth%20%28P%29.PDF |archivedate=26 June 2009}}</ref>) and the [[Commonwealth Bank]] building (completed 1933<ref name="heritage1">{{cite web|url=http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/C%20Reg/Com%27wealth%20Bank%2C%20Perth%20%28P%29.PDF|title=Commonwealth Bank Building|publisher=Heritage Council of Western Australia|accessdate=31 July 2006}}</ref>), both designed by [[John Smith Murdoch]] in the [[Australian non-residential architectural styles#Beaux Arts|Interwar]] [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] style and faced with [[Donnybrook stone]], have endured significant change around them.

===Parades, meetings and rallying place===
In the 1940s returned soldiers marched through Forrest Place.<ref>Edmonds, Jack (editor) (1976) ''Swan River colony : life in Western Australia since the early colonial settlement, illustrated by pictures from an exhibition mounted by West Australian Newspapers Ltd. as a contribution to celebrations for the state's 150th year'' Perth : West Australian Newspapers, 1979.{{ISBN|0909699208}} – page 79 – Ninth Division troops 24 March 1943</ref>
It was a meeting place and focal point for political meetings in the 1950s through to the 1980s;<ref>Edmonds, Jack (editor) (1976) ''Swan River colony : life in Western Australia since the early colonial settlement, illustrated by pictures from an exhibition mounted by West Australian Newspapers Ltd. as a contribution to celebrations for the state's 150th year'' Perth : West Australian Newspapers, 1979.{{ISBN|0909699208}} – page 95 – Gough Whitlam – 1974,</ref> considerable use was made of the steps of the Post Office being above the roadway level.

An attempt to defuse the political nature of the space and ban meetings in Forrest Place was carried out by [[Charles Court]], on 18 November 1975, when his government used Section 54B of the Western Australia Police Act to ban meetings.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110576344 |title=The promised Police Act amendments labelled 'cosmetic' |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=53 |issue=16,036 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=20 August 1979 |accessdate=21 June 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title=54B affects you! | publication-date=1980 | publisher=Civil Liberties Action Committee | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/159323463 | accessdate=8 December 2013 }}</ref> Considerable numbers of demonstrations resulted from this ban,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259474803 |title=Police act pushed to absurdity |newspaper=[[Tribune (Australian newspaper)|Tribune]] |issue=2169 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 November 1980 |accessdate=21 June 2023 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> which was later repealed by the Public Meetings and Processions Act of 1984.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259491608 |title=Anti-assembly law to go |newspaper=[[Tribune (Australian newspaper)|Tribune]] |issue=2316 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 February 1984 |accessdate=21 June 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 2013, the history of protests held at Forest Place, and the responses by authorities, was the subject of a presentation by [[Murdoch University]] Adjunct Associate Professor Lenore Layman. These events are considered by Layman to be part of an "alternative history of Perth" that isn't so sedated.<ref>http://community.perth.wa.gov.au/historycentre/?page_id=1994 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213013507/http://community.perth.wa.gov.au/historycentre/?page_id=1994 |date=13 December 2013 }} Forrest Place: A civic space of protest? – the summary of the presentation was given as: "A presentation by Adjunct Associate Professor Lenore Layman – Forrest Place has often been a contested city space as citizens have chosen the site to exercise their right to peaceful public protest. People's causes have been many and varied but always passionately proclaimed; and public authorities have frequently responded decisively to re-assert control of the street. Together the protests and responses to them tell part of an alternative history of Perth. Perhaps the city hasn't been so sedate after all?"</ref>
In 2017, in a chapter in the book ''Radical Perth, Militant Fremantle'' Layman develops an argument that Forrest Place was a location of conflict over the usage of the space as a place for freedom of speech, association and peaceful assembly.<ref>page 62 – as part of chapter 8, ''Forrest Place Protests from the Depression to 54B and into 21st Century'' in {{Citation | editor1=Fox, Charles Elmer | editor2=Oliver, Bobbie | editor3=Layman, Lenore | title=Radical Perth militant Fremantle | publication-date=2017 | publisher=Black Swan Press, Curtin University | isbn=978-0-9954415-5-2 }}</ref>

[[File:Melbourne fans celebrate grand final win.jpg|[[Melbourne Football Club|Melbourne]] fans celebrate the day after the Demons won the [[2021 AFL Grand Final]] that was played in Perth.|thumb|right|250px]]

With the [[2021 AFL Grand Final]] being held at [[Perth Stadium]] because of a [[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia|COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne]], in lieu of the traditional [[AFL Grand Final Parade|AFL Grand Final parade]] a "people's parade" was held at Forrest Place allowing fans to celebrate the game (but without the clubs in attendance) on 24 September 2021, the day before the final.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/perth-to-hold-peoples-parade-at-forrest-place-in-lieu-of-traditional-afl-grand-final-procession-c-3973497|date=15 September 2021|accessdate=25 September 2021|publisher=7News|title=Perth to hold ‘people’s parade’ at Forrest Place in lieu of traditional AFL Grand Final procession|author=Pip Christmass}}</ref> The premiership cup presentation also took place at Forrest Place the day after the final following the [[Melbourne Football Club]]'s victory over the [[Western Bulldogs]], with the winning team in attendance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/afl-grand-final-melbourne-demons-celebrate-with-fans-at-forrest-place-ng-b882018355z|date=15 September 2021|accessdate=26 September 2021|publisher=The West Australian|title=AFL grand final: Melbourne Demons celebrate with fans at Forrest Place|author=Josh Zimmerman}}</ref>

=== Pedestrian mall ===
[[File:Grow Your Own, January 2018 02.jpg|alt=|thumb|The "Grow Your Own" public artwork erected in August 2011 at the northern end of Forrest Place|250px]]

Forrest Place became a large paved area with the closing of the roadway in the late 1986.<ref name=ABC/><ref>[http://innopac.liswa.wa.gov.au/search/dForrest+Place+%28Perth%2C+W.A.%29+--+Photographs./dforrest+place+perth+w+a+photographs/-2%2C-1%2C0%2CZ/l962~2030207&FF=dforrest+place+perth+w+a+photographs&12%2C%2C28%2C0%2C-1. Photo WA Library collect 1987 demolition]</ref> It still links [[Perth railway station]] on [[Wellington Street, Perth|Wellington Street]] with the [[Murray Street, Perth|Murray Street Mall]], with the bollards near the "[[Grow Your Own (sculpture)|Grow Your Own]]" public artwork ([[nickname]]d "The Cactus") blocking vehicular access to the north.<ref>[https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/is-our-cactus-cactus-zempilas-hints-that-perth-s-polarising-public-art-is-facing-the-chop-20231027-p5efo3.html Is our Cactus cactus? Zempilas hints that Perth’s polarising public art is facing the chop]</ref>

[[File:Forrest place plaque left.jpg|thumb|right|Forrest Place was officially opened by the Governor-General [[Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster|Lord Forster]] at 03:00 pm on 26 September 1923.<ref name="West"/>|250px]]

== See also ==
{{Portal-inline|Australian roads}}

* [[List of lanes and arcades in Perth, Western Australia]]

==References==
{{Reflist |30em}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin |30em |indent=yes}}
* Conole, Peter.(2002) ''Protect & serve : a history of policing in Western Australia'' Scarborough, W.A. : Western Australian Police Historical Society. {{ISBN|0-9579535-2-6}} – see specially pp.&nbsp;343–348 regarding the problems of 54B for the police service.
* {{cite Q |Q133458669 |last=Gregory |first=Jenny |author-link=Jenny Gregory |url-access=registration |isbn=0-9594632-4-0 |pages=124–130 }}
{{Refend}}

===Original title and later map of site===
{{Refbegin |30em |indent=yes}}
* Mason, John. ''Title of Perth town lot V 17, 1840'' Issued in his name, 3 November 1840. (Mason, John—Archives – Battye Library)
* Australia. Dept. of the Interior.(1911) ''Perth new G.P.O. site: Plan of existing buildings''. Plan Nos. D663 and D664.(Signed by Hillton Beasley, Chief Architect). (Australian Archives)
* {{cite Q |Q133458669 |last=Gregory |first=Jenny |author-link=Jenny Gregory |url-access=registration |isbn=0-9594632-4-0 |pages=124–130 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Attached KML|display=inline,title}}
{{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://innopac.liswa.wa.gov.au/search/dForrest+Place+%28Perth%2C+W.A.%29+--+Photographs./dforrest+place+perth+w+a+photographs/-2%2C-1%2C0%2CB/exact&FF=dforrest+place+perth+w+a+photographs&1%2C28%2C Photographs of Forrest Place, State Library of Western Australia]
* [http://innopac.liswa.wa.gov.au/search/dPadbury+Buildings+%28Perth%2C+W.A.%29+--+Photographs./dpadbury+buildings+perth+w+a+photographs/-2%2C-1%2C0%2CB/exact&FF=dpadbury+buildings+perth+w+a+photographs&1%2C3%2C Photographs of the Padbury Buildings, State Library of Western Australia]

{{Perth CBD Streets}}

[[Category:Forrest Place| ]]
[[Category:Streets in Perth central business district, Western Australia]]