Where in the world is Global Penfriends?

Global Penfriends is a family-run club, and our home is Perth, in Western Australia — one of the most remote cities on Earth. That remoteness is not just a fact of geography. It is the very reason Global Penfriends exists.

Map: Perth, Western Australia — alone on the south-western edge of the continent.

The third most isolated city in the world

Perth lies on the far south-western edge of Australia, with the vast Indian Ocean on one side and thousands of kilometres of outback on the other. It is widely ranked the third most isolated city in the world — the nearest city, Adelaide, lies 2,136 kilometres away. For the people who live here, staying connected with the wider world has always taken a little extra effort, and a little extra heart.

It began on the banks of the Swan River

Western Australia’s story as a colony began in 1829, when settlers founded the Swan River Colony and built their first homes along the banks of the Swan River. They had travelled to the other side of the world, and the loved ones they had left behind in England were now many months away by sailing ship.

There were no telephones, no telegrams and no internet. The only way to share the news of a new life — a birth, a harvest, a quiet longing for home — was to sit down, take up a pen, and write a letter. That letter would travel by ship for months before it was read, and the reply would take just as long to find its way back.

Letter writing is in our DNA

Those early colonists kept their most precious relationships alive across the greatest of distances, using nothing but paper, patience and care. Generation after generation, Western Australians have understood a simple truth: distance need not mean disconnection.

Global Penfriends was born from exactly that spirit. We are a club from one of the world’s most remote places, built on the timeless idea that a letter can carry friendship anywhere — no matter how far.

Today, we proudly carry that heritage forward while embracing modern ways to connect. Alongside traditional letter writing, our members keep in touch through secure on-site messaging. And we take our responsibility seriously — working hard to be socially responsible and to build a safe, welcoming and genuinely connected community for members of every age, right across the world.