VIRTUAL London Heritages Conference

Abstract

This proposal describes the opportunity for social connection, community, identity and storytelling afforded by an abandoned power station occupying prime land on the coast of Perth, Western Australia. The East Perth Power Station is topical because of the combined impact of its imposing scale, visibility from infrastructure and state of disrepair. Asbestos contamination and structural fragility have rendered the site off limits to the public since 1981. Yet, the structure still forms part of our community’s collective memory as an iconic marker of Perth’s industrial history. The precinct has been the object of multiple failed attempts at rehabilitation due to cost, politics and private sector failings. Only recently, with proper stakeholder management from Development WA, has interest in the site be reignited and public access to the exterior reinstated. Its value as community precinct has been championed by Festival of Perth Director, Anna Reece, who has found the site analogous to London’s Printworks, or Sydney’s Carriageworks, both former industrial sites now adaptively reused arts and entertainment venues. Importantly, through her festival offerings, Reece has raised awareness of the site’s previously underacknowledged indigenous heritage and cultural significance to the Noongar peoples of Western Australia. Reece’s successful recognition and promotion of a shared history through her summer festival begs for a more permanent public expression of our state’s collective past and path to reconciliation. The potential for high profile advocacy may be modelled on the success of London’s iconic Tate Modern, which was itself, a former power station. East Perth Station’s fate remains undetermined. However, the digital scanning of the station’s exterior will take place this month. The undertaking makes for a timely discussion of the site’s potential to convey shared histories, unite communities and to cement Western Australia’s identity.