A Perth local has pointed out an interesting detail about the Swan River, which has baffled residents.
The West Aussie recently took to a Google Maps-based Facebook group and shared that the Swan River actually appears to look like a swan, which had nothing to do with naming it.
“This part of the Swan River in Western Australia is shaped like a swan … nothing to do with the naming of it,” Tyrone told the group Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies.
The river was named by Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh in 1697, after the famous black swans that inhabit the area.
Interestingly, a birds-eye view of the river shows that it is in fact shaped like a swan and long-time locals have never noticed the coincidence.
The swan’s tail begins at Narrows Bridge, with the body going past the CBD and Langley Park before its curved neck wraps around Optus Stadium and Belmont Park, with its beak on the Graham Farmer Freeway.
“Born and bred in Perth and never even noticed that,” one person said.
Another commented: “I am 40 years old and never knew this either. Lived here all my life.”
The swan has become an iconic representation of Perth, spreading to the State’s flag as well as the much-loved beer Swan Draught.