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Toponymy

The name of the city is taken from Perth, Scotland in honour of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and Member for Perthshire in the British House of Commons, Sir George Murray. Murray's association with the city was included in Stirling's proclamation of the colony, read in Fremantle on 18 June 1829, which concluded with the statement, "Given under my hand and Seal at Perth this 18th Day of June 1829. James Stirling Lieutenant Governor". The only contemporary information on the source of the name comes from Charles Fremantle 's diary entry for 12 August 1829, which records that they "named the town Perth according to the wishes of Sir George Murray".

Since 2019, the Noongar name Boorloo has been recognised as denoting the central business district, the local government area, or the capital city in general. The name Boorloo was initially recorded by Robert Menli Lyon as Boorlo in 1833, which was interpreted as "Perth, properly Point Fraser" (a location in East Perth). He also gave the name Byerbrup for "the highland stretching along from Mount Eliza through the centre of the town of Perth". In 1947, Ludwig Glauert posited that Lyon may have misunderstood his sources and that "boorloo" or "belo" (now transcribed as "bilya") is simply the Noongar word for "river". Another source has interpreted Boorloo to mean "big swamp", describing the chain of lakes where the central business district and Northbridge are situated.