In developing the Excursions project we have devised a structure that is something like a web-based catalogue of Tours, each of which tells a story illustrating an aspect of Perth’s urban and architectural setting. Each Tour is an episode, and it is experienced through virtual or real travel (on foot or bicycle, by car, by boat etc) as well as through the text-based ‘storyspace’ on the website and through a series of interviews that we are in the process of conducting.

The project is driven by a database of buildings, landscapes and precincts that we are slowly completing, but the primary interface for users presents the opportunity to take one of our curated tours, organised by a set of themes, starting with Enterprise. Under Enterprise, we have created our first three tours: “Land for Sail”, “The Wetland Enterprise” and “Domestic Speculations”.

We have recently had material from our first tour published in the Future West journal, under the title “Land for Sail”. This explored the places impacted by Alan Bond’s America’s Cup yachting enterprise…how a yacht race turned Perth’s coastal landscape green.