Stand on the resort's upper terrace today and the Swan bends politely around manicured lawns. A century ago the same view was smokestacks and clay pits — the peninsula earned its keep the hard way long before it earned its stars.
Clay, bricks and the making of Perth
Through the early twentieth century the Burswood flats supplied the clay that built much of Perth. The brickworks ran around the clock, and the peninsula's name was synonymous with industry rather than leisure.
When the kilns finally quietened, the land spent years as a tips yard and informal parkland while the city argued about what a riverfront peninsula should become.
The peninsula earned its keep the hard way long before it earned its stars.
The resort era begins
The decision to build an integrated resort on the peninsula in the 1980s redefined Burswood permanently. A casino, hotel towers and a theatre turned a working landscape into the state's entertainment address almost overnight.
Successive renovations layered in what guests now take for granted — the dining promenade, the lagoon deck, the salon wing — while the river slowly reasserted itself as the resort's best asset. Our heritage timeline maps each era in detail.
What's preserved
Remnants survive if you know where to look: heritage brickwork in the service lane, the old jetty alignment, and three river gums that predate the brickworks entirely — protected in the resort's grounds plan.
The botanic walk passes all three, with plaques noting the peninsula's industrial past alongside the planting records of the resort era.
Field notes
- The oldest river gum on the grounds predates the brickworks — find it on the botanic walk.
- Ask the concierge for the peninsula heritage map; it marks the old kiln line.
- Archival photographs hang in the lobby corridor behind the reception desk.
- Sunset from the upper terrace shows the same river bend the kiln workers saw.
