Welcome to
The Historical Panoramas Project

With more than 50 panoramas across 20 locations, this site allows visitors to take an unprecedented look at the history of the development of Perth and Fremantle.

Highlights include: a full 360 degree view from the the tower of the Perth Town Hall, the Perth Pensioner Barracks / Barracks Arch, the view from Fremantle Town Hall is six different periods, and much more!!!

About the Project

The Historical Panoramas project allows visitors to take a trip back in time to see how Perth and Fremantle have developed over a period of more than 150 years. Photographic panoramas provide a visually dramatic way to understand the physical layout of a cityscape.

We are very fortunate that panoramic photography has been so popular over the ages and photographers have captured such amazing views of our cities. Many people are visual learners and this project provides a useful way to visualise the history of Perth and Fremantle.

This website allows visitor to zoom into fine details, pan across the wide-angle scenes, fade between different years, and jump between different camera locations. We've spent many hours exploring these panoramas and we think you will too.

We are proposing similar websites for the Goldfields, Albany and the South-West. If you are aware of more panoramas, please let us know.

The Tour

The Historical Panoramas virtual tour provides visitors with the ability to explore 20 panoramic locations around Perth and Fremantle dating as far back as 1860. The interface allows users to zoom in on fine details, zoom out to see the big picture, and pan around to explore. Users are able to jump between panorama locations and fade between different years. The centrepiece of the tour, and the starting point, is a near 360° view from the Perth Town Hall in 1885, 1906, 1925 and 2016.

When you reach the start page of the tour, please take a few moments to read the instructions, and then please explore!

Jump into the Tour

Explore - Learn - Enjoy!


The Exhibition


The Historical Panoramas project is now an exhibition!  Explore Fremantle through sweeping panoramas taken from the 1800s to the modern day. Through seven different vantage points across the port city spanning 155 years, the exhibition "Fremantle Then & Now: Historical Panoramas" showcases the changing face of Fremantle. Experience guided tours of the panoramas via an immersive, in-gallery installation using a large, curved screen at the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Around this central experience, visitors will explore connected themes including local photographers and photography studios, pre-colonial history, convict influence, the development and significance of the port, goldrush buildings and legacy, and street life.

Don’t miss this incredible celebration of the changes and legacy of Fremantle.

Dates: Friday 23 September 2022 – Sunday 12 February 2023.
Location: WA Maritime Museum, Victoria Quay, Fremantle.

Visit the Exhibition

How can you participate?

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to find out about updates to the tour.

Spread the word - tell your friends - Share or Retweet.

We are seeking help locating more panoramas. Specifically, we are interested in: (a) locating more historical panoramas from existing locations for different years (e.g. view from Perth Town Hall), (b) finding images which fill gaps in existing panoramas (e.g. Fremantle Town Hall 1891), (c) finding images which extend the extent of existing panoramas (e.g. Arthur Head Lighthouse 1890) and (d) locating historical panoramas from new locations across all of Western Australia.

Do you have historical photographs you'd like to contribute? Please note that we are only able to receive historical _panoramas_ in this project. Panoramic photographs are wide-aspect images captured with a special panoramic camera, or a sequence of images filmed from the same location which can be stitched together. We are specifically interested in historical panoramic photography older than 1955. Non-panoramic historical photography may be of interest to the Battye Library of West Australian History at the State Library of Western Australia (NB: content donations information), or the Fremantle History Centre.

To continue the further development of the project we are seeking grants and donations. We have lots of ideas to expand the project. There are many more historical panoramas we can add to the tour. We could also add many more hot spots to identify historically significant buildings. We also wish to re-photograph historical panorama locations so that comparisons can be made.
Donations can be lodged here: http://curtin.edu/historical-panoramas

Donate

How can you participate?

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to find out about updates to the tour.

Spread the word - tell your friends - Share or Retweet.

We are seeking help locating more panoramas. Specifically, we are interested in: (a) locating more historical panoramas from existing locations for different years (e.g. Perth Town Hall), (b) finding images which fill gaps in existing panoramas (e.g. Perth Town Hall 1906), (c) finding images which extend the extent of existing panoramas (e.g. Arthur Head Lighthouse 1890) and (d) locating historical panoramas from new locations.

Do you have historical photographs you'd like to contribute? Please note that we are only able to receive historical _panoramas_ in this project. Panoramic photographs are wide-aspect images captured with a special panoramic camera, or a sequence of images filmed from the same location which can be stitched together. We are specifically interested in historical panoramic photography older than 1955. Non-panoramic historical photography may be of interest to the Battye Library of West Australian History at the State Library of Western Australia (NB: content donations information), or the Fremantle History Centre.

To continue the further development of the project we are seeking grants and donations. We have lots of ideas to expand the project. There are many more historical panoramas we can add to the tour. We could also add many more hot spots to identify historically significant buildings. We also wish to re-photograph historical panorama locations so that comparisons can be made.
Donations can be lodged here: https://give.curtin.edu.au/how-to-give/historicalpanoramas
For example: a donation of $100 will help add additional hot spots, a donation of $500 will help add another historical panorama to the tour, and a donation of $1000 will help re-photograph a historical location.

Donate

Acknowledgements

The Historical Panoramas Project is a collaboration between the Curtin University HIVE and the State Library of Western Australia (SLWA). The first stage of the project was initiated as a ten week summer internship project by Curtin student Marcia Schneider with supervision from Dr Andrew Woods (HIVE manager, Curtin), Debra Jones (SLWA), Pauline Joseph (Curtin), A/Prof Artur Lugmuyr (Curtin), Adrian Bowen (SLWA) and technical assistance from Curtin HIVE staff Jesse Helliwell and Joshua Hollick. Stage 2 of the project was lead by Andrew Woods (HIVE) and Debra Jones (SLWA) with the support of Wesley Lamont (HIVE), Susannah Soon (HIVE), Daniel Adams (HIVE), Jesse Helliwell (HIVE), Celine Har (SLWA), Molly Tebo (SLWA), and Lee Blackford (SLWA).

Historical photographers: Alfred Stone, James Manning, E.G. Rome, A.G. Sands, Reg Lambert, Melvin Vaniman, Nixon & Merilees, and Stuart Gore, John Stuart Jackson, F.W. Niven & Co, Geoff Shaw, A. Pickering, Stephen Montague Stout, A. Hillman, Joseph Hope, T.S. Perry.

Modern photographers: Joel Newman (CADS Aerial), John Warkentin, Gideon Digby, Andrew Woods, Susannah Soon, Brenton Scheer, Petra Helmholz, David Belton, Darryl Peroni Photography, Marcia Schneider, Altitude Imaging.

Digital editing: Wesley Lamont, Marcia Schneider, Andrew Woods (Curtin HIVE)

Additional Support: Cohen Bequest, State Records Office of Western Australia, City of Fremantle Library History Centre, National Trust of Australia (WA), City of Perth - Perth Town Hall, Kings Park Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, Heritage Perth, Parliament of Western Australia, Ray White, WA Museum, Multiplex.

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References

Most of the historical panormaas in the virtual tour have come from the State Library of Western Australia catalogue. Pressing the (i) icon for each panorama will bring up a window which lists the catalogue numbers of the images and direct links into the catalogue - for example the 1885 Perth Town Hall panorama uses these images from the catalogue.

The following references provide a useful background about historical photography and panoramas:

"Court and Camera: The Life and Times of A.H. Stone" by Jacqueline O'Brien and Pamela Statham-Drew (2012) Fremantle Press, Western Australia.

"Capturing Time: Panoramas of old Australia" by Edwin Barnard (2012) National Library of Australia, ACT.

"Perth and Fremantle: a pictorial contrast" by Phil Gray and Reg Lambert (1986) Golden Press.