A Slice of World History on Display in Western Australia
The history of the Bells.
The Bell Tower's fascinating historic content, its distinctive design - resulting from a major architectural competition and its prize location combine to produce a distinctively different attraction. It has become an icon for Perth and Western Australia.
The Bell Tower acts as a custodian of tradition for the over six million Australians (2001 census) who regard their ancestory as English and for all Western Australians as we carry a proud love of our ANZAC, worker roots. This historic ring of bells was gifted to the people of Western Australia as part of the national Bicentennial celebrations.
The Bell Tower includes the twelve bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields which are recorded as being in existence from before the 14th century and recast in the 16th century by Queen Elizabeth I.
The bells were again recast between 1725 and 1770 by three generations of the Rudhall family of bell founders from Gloucester in England, under the order of the Prince of Wales who was later crowned as King George II. They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England.
From one of London's most famous churches, in Trafalgar Square, the St Martin-in-the-Fields bells have rung out to celebrate many historic events. Click here to visit the St-Martin-in-the-Fields official site for more information.
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England's victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588,::
The World War II victory at El Alamein in 1942::
Ringing in the New Year at Trafalgar Square for more than275 years.
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Celebrating the coronation of every British monarch since King George II in 1727.::
The homecoming of Captain James Cook after his voyageof discovery in 1771.
On his return to London in 1771, the bells of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, the bells of the admiralty, rang out to welcome back a hero of the Age of Discovery. This fact adds a distinctively Australian connection to the bells.
Mining Industry and Metals
Historic displays throughout the Bell Tower share the story of wealth and development of our state, and the interconnectedness of the belltower with the WA mining and resources sector. Visitors learn through interpretive displays about the metals traditionally involved in bell making and used in it's modernistic architecture. Did you know that bell metal is an alloy of tin and copper ?
