The story of this place
Rising 82.5 metres above the Swan River, the Swan Bells tower holds 18 bells with an extraordinary secret: 12 of them date back to 1725, making them older than Australia itself. These historic bells hung in St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, where they rang out as Captain James Cook set sail on his voyages of discovery. They witnessed the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution before being gifted to Perth in 1988 for Australia's Bicentenary.
The bells form the second largest set of change ringing bells in the world, after Liverpool Cathedral. In 2018, the Great ANZAC Bell was added—weighing 6.5 tonnes, it rings at noon daily in memory of those who served. The tower's design mimics the shape of a swan, Perth's namesake, and its glass spire catches the Western Australian sun.