University of Western Australia campus tour: Winthrop Hall and Matilda Bay

The University of Western Australia, known everywhere as UWA, was established by the state parliament in 1911 as Western Australia's first university. Teaching began in 1913 in temporary buildings in central Perth, and around 1930 the university moved to its permanent home at Crawley, on the shore of the Swan River. The result is often described as one of the most beautiful campuses in Australia: honey-coloured limestone, terracotta roofs, deep arcades and gardens, with the water a few steps away. This guide walks through it.

The setting

The Crawley campus lies about five kilometres west of central Perth. It is long and fairly narrow, running north to south between Stirling Highway and Mounts Bay Road on one side and Matilda Bay, a sheltered reach of the Swan River, on the other. The historic buildings and main lawns are at the northern end; science, engineering and the business school stretch away to the south. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk from one end to the other.

Winthrop Hall

Winthrop Hall is the image of UWA: a tall limestone hall with a square clock tower, set behind a lawn and a long reflection pond. It opened in 1932, to a design by the Melbourne architects Rodney Alsop and Conrad Sayce in a Mediterranean style that suits Perth's light and climate.

The hall was paid for by Sir John Winthrop Hackett, a newspaper proprietor and the university's first chancellor, whose bequest transformed the young university's finances. Graduation ceremonies, concerts and public lectures take place inside, beneath a painted ceiling and a rose window. The arcaded undercroft at ground level is a shady shortcut for students crossing the campus.

Whitfeld Court and the gardens

The lawn in front of the hall is Whitfeld Court. Arcaded buildings from the same period line its sides, and old fig trees shade the paths. Just to the south, the Sunken Garden is a small amphitheatre of lawn and stone hidden among trees, used for outdoor plays and much in demand for weddings. Further on are the Great Court and the Oak Lawn, the everyday heart of student life, beside the student guild's shops and cafés.

Theatres, films and peacocks

UWA has an unusual number of performance spaces, and the university founded the Perth Festival, the city's annual arts festival, in the 1950s.

The New Fortune Theatre, an open-air courtyard inside the Arts Building, was built to the dimensions of the Fortune Playhouse of Shakespeare's London. A small flock of peacocks lives in and around it.
The Somerville Auditorium is an outdoor cinema beneath rows of tall Norfolk Island pines, planted in the shape of a cathedral's nave. Festival films are shown here on summer evenings.
The Octagon and Dolphin theatres host drama, music and lectures indoors.

Libraries, museums and research

The Reid Library, a broad colonnaded building facing a lawn, is the main library; science and other fields have libraries of their own. The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, near the northern entrance, shows Australian art from the university's collections.

UWA's best-known research story belongs to Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, who shared a Nobel Prize in 2005 for showing that stomach ulcers are caused by a bacterium. Medical teaching is centred on the large hospital campus in Nedlands, a short walk north of the university.

The residential colleges

Across the road from the campus is a row of residential colleges, where students live, eat and study together. The oldest and most striking is St George's College, which opened in 1931 and looks like a small brick castle. Its neighbours include St Catherine's College, Trinity, St Thomas More College and University Hall. Most UWA students, however, live at home or in shared houses and commute.

The river and Kings Park

Matilda Bay Reserve, directly across the road from the campus, is a strip of lawn and shade trees along the Swan River, with black swans at the water's edge and the city skyline in the distance. The university's rowers train here, and the sailing clubs along the shore are busy at weekends.

To the north-east, Kings Park covers the hill between the university and the city. It is one of the largest inner-city parks in the world, mostly native bushland, with a botanic garden of Western Australian plants and famous views over the river and the city.

Seeing the campus for yourself

The grounds are open, and visitors can walk through the courts and gardens freely during the day. Winthrop Hall's interior is open only for events and on certain occasions. UWA holds events for prospective students and offers campus tours; dates, formats and booking arrangements change, so check the university's official visitor pages for what is available.

Getting there and around

By bus: frequent buses run from central Perth along Mounts Bay Road to the campus, taking about ten to fifteen minutes. There is no railway station nearby.
By bike or on foot: a flat riverside path links the city and the campus; it is a pleasant ride or a walk of about an hour.
By car: visitor parking on campus is limited and paid, especially in semester.
By air: Perth Airport is on the other side of the city; allow around half an hour to forty minutes by car outside peak times.

Where families usually base themselves

Central Perth: the widest choice of hotels, with a direct bus to the campus.
Crawley and Nedlands: a small number of places within walking distance of the university and the hospital.
Subiaco: a neighbourhood of cafés and restaurants a short drive north.
Fremantle or Cottesloe: the port city and the best-known beach suburb, for families combining the visit with a holiday.

Tips for the day

Start at Winthrop Hall, walk through the Sunken Garden and the Great Court to the Reid Library, look for the peacocks at the Arts Building, and finish at Matilda Bay.
Summer in Perth is hot and dry: carry water and a hat, and use the arcades for shade.
Comparing Australian universities? See our guides to Monash University, the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland.

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Cover photo: -wuppertaler, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons