The official ceremony depicted in the image was held on a small hill overlooking the Swan River, in the immediate vicinity of the present Perth Town Hall.

The only woman to accompany the party so far up the river from Fremantle, Mrs Helena Dance, was invited to strike the first blow.

Other people depicted in the work include Lieutenant Governor James Stirling, Captain Charles Fremantle, Commander Mark John Currie, Major Frederick Irwin, Captain William Dance, the Colonial Secretary Peter Broun, Dr William Milligan and the Surveyor-General Lieutenant John Septimus Roe.

The Foundation of Perth 1829 has become an "enduring and influential image" (Gooding 1989) in the history of Western Australia.

Often the painting is not acknowledged as an historical reconstruction, and many people have incorrectly come to accept it as an authentic record of the ceremony.