The city centre and Northbridge were originally divided in 1881 when the fledgling Swan River colony stumbled towards its first economic prosperity - the 1890s gold rush. By the early 1900s, the demand for the transportation of passengers and freight was so great the central railway precinct had mushroomed into a formidable barrier, difficult to cross safely.

The ingenious engineering solution to the difficulty of crossing the mass of rail lines was the 1903 construction of a horseshoe-shaped bridge. The Horseshoe Bridge is now a significant part of Western Australia's built heritage.

In 1911, Government Architect George Temple-Poole produced a sketch using the railway reserve land for a series of civic buildings to create "Perth as it should be", relocating the railway further north, but the plan was not implemented.

Today, The Link is the opportunity to deliver the long-awaited reconnection of the city centre and Northbridge.