Two Self-Guided Geology Trails in the City
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3. Ritter’s Pole, 2. Perth Mint Stirling Gardens The Perth Mint is one of Perth’s most impressive Finding geology in This ore obelisk (popularly Colonial-era buildings and is registered with the referred to as the ‘rock kebab’) is a National Trust. Built of Quaternary Tamala memorial to State progress. Limestone, the Mint opened in 1899, minting gold Perth city Erected in July 1971, it celebrated sovereigns. After the introduction of decimal jointly the millionth citizen and the currency in 1966 the Perth Mint had produced a decade-long exploration and staggering 855 million one-cent and two-cent mining boom between 1960 and coins by 1973. It now mints and markets gold, 1970. It has elicited a range of silver, and platinum Australian legal tender reactions! Designed by architect coinage to investors and collectors worldwide. A Paul Ritter, this 15 m oil-well drill heritage building, gold bullion and nuggets, pipe has 15 different ores precious-metal souvenirs, and a real gold pour threaded onto it, all from Western (liquid gold poured into an ingot) combine to Australia, showcasing the wealth make the Perth Mint a popular tourist attraction. www.perthmint.com.au and diversity of our mineral Perth Mint, Hay Street treasure. www.publicartaroundtheworld.com PERTH Perth Underground 4. Kangaroos drinking, HAY McIver Stirling Gardens ST Ritter’s Pole and kangaroos drinking, 5 Stirling Gardens, St Georges Terrace WELLINGTON The boundary walls and floor of the ST GEORGES MURRAY ST reflection pool adjacent to Ritter’s Pole ST ST Peter Pan sculpture, Queens Gardens, (where the kangaroos drink) are made of Toodyay Stone, a light-green rock with sparkling ST Queens Gardens Plain Street surfaces. The rock is an Archean metamorphosed quartz sandstone, now a quartzite, quarried 1. Queens Gardens at Toodyay, about 70 km east of Perth. Pale-green fuchsite (a chrome-rich mica) on its surfaces ST make it sparkle in the sunlight. The flaggy, banded rock easily splits into almost perfectly WILLIAM 4 TCE Esplanade 3 Dated 1899, these inner-city heritage gardens flat flagstones. It is a highly decorative local stone, used for feature walls (as here), chimneys, AVE 2 Stirling were part of the gentrification of Perth after the and urban landscaping. BARRACKGardens HAY ST HILL heady gold-rush days of the early 1890s. The ADELAIDE ST gardens are landscaped over a former clay pit — 1 Queens a fine example of sequential land use. This clay Tamala Limestone, Kings Park RIVERSIDE TERRACE TCE Gardens VICTORIA pit (with adjoining brickworks) supplied soft bricks RD PLAIN for many of Perth’s earliest buildings. The KINGS See reverse side forDRIVE more detail on 5. Granite sphere, Forrest Place the Façades of St Georges Terrace deepest parts of the clay pits are now the lakes as PARK 5 Geological feature the clay forms a natural seal to retain water. The of interest former quarry walls have been contoured to form 6 This floating stone sphere, sculpted from Western RD Australian orbicular granite, was designed and St Georges Terrace slopes for spring bulb displays; lake birdlife is façades trail plentiful. A reproduction sculpture of Peter Pan in Y manufactured in Perth. Water is pumped from beneath A (see reverse) B the sphere, gently lifting it and allowing the sphere to the gardens was gifted to Perth’s children to TS N Railway, celebrate Western Australia’s centenary in 1929. U rotate on a microfilm of water (0.10 mm). Perfectly SWAN RIVER O railway station M balanced, the sphere rotates unassisted about its axis, 6. Tamala Limestone rock face but with a mere push may be sent spinning in another direction. An exposed rock face of Tamala Limestone, a cross-bedded dune limestone, is visible For more copies of this pamphlet and information about publications, maps and datasets This rare rock is orbicular granite, quarried on in the cliff below the war memorial in Kings Park. The rock is made up of sand-sized published by the Geological Survey of Western Australia contact: shell fragments and quartz grains that were blown up along the coast during a glacial Boogardie Station, near Mount Magnet, period less than 200 000 years ago, and were then cemented by calcium carbonate. some 600 km northeast of Perth. Large, Information Centre Two features here are large cross-beds (indicative of a wind-blown origin) and vertical closely spaced, light to dark grey, Department of Mines and Petroleum solution pipes (in the upper right of the photo) that formed where tree roots rotted away, egg-shaped orbicules of hornblende Mineral House leaving cavities now filled with sand. This rock face can be viewed from afar from the and plagioclase crystals lie in a granitic 100 Plain Street walking trail along Mounts Bay Road or up close in Kings Park. See Trail 2 for buildings groundmass. Large veins of quartz and East Perth WA 6004 feldspar cut across the rock. Similar made of this limestone. Phone: (08) 9222 3459 rocks in the region have been dated Fax: (08) 9222 3444 at 2685 million years. www.dmp.wa.gov.au/GSWApublications www.floatingstones.com.au Geological Survey of 0 250 500 ISBN 978-1-74168-603-6 N Granite sphere, Forrest Place Western Australia © Department of Mines and Petroleum 2015 metres Trinity Church (stairs) Labradorite underground Black granite railway Perth Train Station 160 Basalt Façades of St Georges Terrace 216 Migmatite WELLINGTON STREET St George Apartments Strength, durability, and beauty are just some of the 72 reasons that polished stones feature in Perth’s major St Martins Tower 256 buildings. Local and imported granites, multi-coloured Rapakivi granite marbles, sandstones from Western Australia and afar, Stairs and access ramp, 44 Basalt 140 St Georges Terrace local limestone, and metamorphic rocks are all used 240 190 Perth with great effect for walls, floors, paving, and carved 140 Underground Woodside Plaza London House (pavers) stone features in buildings in the city. A stroll along the 25mm Terrace offers a plethora of coloured and polished MURRAY rocks used in a variety of ways. STREET Septimus Roe Square looks at the façades of many buildings in 25 mm 256 Adelaide Terrace STREET the CBD. The walk can commence anywhere and MILLIGAN Red travertine 12 proceed in either direction along St Georges Terrace. Just follow the numbered circles along the route: they Granite 50 Red granite 50 2 show the building address and the rock type used. 250 The photos show the beauty, texture, and usage of ST STREET the stone. Even street numbers are on the north side 140 HAY STREET MALL HAY ST of the Terrace. 25 mm Kimberley Sandstone Donnybrook 25 mm Granite White marble Sandstone railway Rock types used on façades EUNEVA QV1 Building HSBC Building underground 44 26 44 140 STREET PIER Igneous rocks 12 2 250 240 216 190 160 72 50 STREET 26 KING 256 Igneous rocks are formed by cooling of molten magma ST GEORGES TERRACE ST GEORGES TERRACE ADELAIDE from deep within the Earth. Rocks that cool slowly TERRACE have a chance to grow large crystals of interlocking minerals (e.g. granite and gabbro). Rocks ejected and 237 197 133 99101 81 SG Tamala 77 cooled quickly at the Earth’s surface, perhaps via a Limestone Red-and-white 101 CH 197 veined marble volcano, are fine grained (e.g. basalt). Cross-cutting 81 Stirling GH veins and dykes are also igneous. Gardens Tamala Sandstone WILLIAM Limestone Sedimentary rocks BARRACK 237 VICTORIA 25 mm All rocks are weathered or eroded by wind, water, and Terrace Hotel (limestone wall) 25 mm 77 Gneissic ice. Weathered particles such as gravel, sand, silt, and Migmatite 133 granodiorite clay, are transported to new locations and redeposited CH in layers along rivers, in deltas, and under the oceans. Red granite GH Over a long period the particles are compacted and Façade rock type and Walking trail Black granite 77 solidified into sedimentary rocks, such as sandstone building address Government House (GH) The Western Australian Club 25 mm and shale. Sedimentary rocks can be banded or 240 Igneous Public carpark Supreme Court layered, contain fossils (limestone), have a sandy or Esplanade Gardens The Trustee Building Busport Esplanade silty look, or be formed by chemical means. Public toilet Train Station SG 81 Sedimentary Nanutarra Marble Footpath paving along Metamorphic rocks 27 Metamorphic 99 Elizabeth Quay St Georges Terrace Perth Convention (under construction) RIVERSIDE Exhibition Centre White marble DRIVE Red granite Metamorphic rocks form under pressure and high temperatures at various depths within the Earth. The CH Toodyay Stone rocks are squeezed, pressed, contorted, and may almost be melted. Metamorphism changes the 25mm Stirling Gardens (SG) minerals in the rock and the texture of the rock. St Georges Terrace Allendale Square Council House (CH) Sandstone may be metamorphosed to quartzite, SWAN RIVER granites may be metamorphosed to migmatites or 25 mm façades N 0 50 100 150 200 to gneisses. metres.