Hay Street, Perth


Hay Street is a major road through the Perth central business district, Western Australia and adjacent suburbs. The street was named after Robert Hay, the Permanent Under Secretary for Colonies. Sections of the road were called Howick Street and Twiss Street until 1897. One block in the central business section is now a pedestrian mall with extremely limited vehicular traffic, so that it is necessary to make a significant detour in order to drive the entire length of Hay Street.

Route description

Orientated east-west, the road starts at The Causeway travelling west through the suburbs of East Perth, Perth, West Perth, and Subiaco, where the road originally terminated at Subiaco. Unusually, the street numbers reset to 1 when Hay Street crosses Thomas Street and enters Subiaco.
A subway under the Fremantle railway line was constructed in the early 1900s, replaced when the railway line was moved underground through Subiaco in 1999. From that point it becomes Underwood Avenue through Jolimont, Floreat and ends in Swanbourne.

Buildings

A number of buildings are along the road, including:
  • Gledden Building
  • His Majesty's Theatre
  • London Court
  • Melbourne Hotel
  • Perth Town Hall
  • City of Perth Library
  • Carillon City
  • Piccadilly Theatre and Arcade
  • Plaza Theatre
  • QV1
  • Regal Theatre
  • Ross Memorial Church
  • St Georges Hall
  • Subiaco Hotel
  • Walsh's Building

    History

In 2024, the City of Perth commenced work on converting Hay Street back to a two-way street between Bennett Street and Victoria Avenue.

Pedestrian mall

The Hay Street pedestrian mall was the earliest conversion from street to mall in Perth, introduced in 1972, despite the road being a major thoroughfare. Through traffic was initially diverted to either Murray Street or St Georges Terrace.

Cathedral Square

Hay Street between Pier and Barrack streets defines the northern boundary of a block, that has evolved in name from the Cathedral precinct to Cathedral Square, in which the Perth Town Hall, and the City of Perth Library are situated on the Hay Street side of the square.

Major intersections

In popular culture

A photograph of the Hay Street pedestrian mall taken in the early 1980s was used as the cover art for Perth-based psychedelic rock band Pond's 2017 album The Weather.