City of Light: A History of Perth Since the 1950s

In 1962 a lone astronaut orbiting the Earth sighted a small cluster of lights on the dark silhouette of Australia's western coastline - a token of friendship from the people of Perth that prompted the world's media to dub this isolated provincial outpost the "City of Light". City of Light expands this metaphor by shedding new light on the social history of Perth since the 1950s. Its focus is the city center and the events that unfolded there. After a lively sketch of prewar Perth, Jenny Gregory ventures into the historically uncharted territory of the postwar era. The result is a frank, incisive and richly detailed investigation of the city's growth and transformation over a fifty-year period, from the modernist era of postwar reconstruction to the mid-nineties. Often cast as a peaceful, sun-drenched lotus land, Perth is shown in a quite different light here, during a time that saw wild swings from boom to bust, consensus to conflict, riches to poverty. In exploring the city's past, City of Light provides a significant and insightful contribution to our understanding of the modern Australian urban experience.