Fremantle - some buildings and sites.

[OZDUCK]

I and others have often mentioned Fremantle on here but I realised that there have only been a few photos of the port. Today my wife was going to look at an Art Exhibition down there so I took the chance to spend a couple of hours wandering around. I first became closely acquainted with Fremantle when I joined Customs in 1972 From then until my retirement in 2009 I worked in Fremantle for close to 30 years.

My first office. Customs occupied this building from 1907 to 1986. We moved into a 'new' building in time for the America's Cup Defence starting that year. As an aside this building was actually labelled as Custom House and not Customs House.



My second office. A new building was built inside the façade of an old Chain and Rope warehouse. The building was sold off a year or so ago and is mostly occupied by the The University of Notre Dame Australia - a name that will re-occur a lot in these photos as their campus is spread all across Fremantle. The main Border Force Building is now in Perth.



An older Customs House that was occupied from 1879 - 1903




The Shipwrecks Museum ( I assume the Giant Squid dragged them down into the depths) - part of the W.A Museum and formerly the Commissariat Building. Relics from the various Dutch East India Ships are displayed here - amongst other exhibits. It is one of many convict built buildings in Fremantle.





The Round House the oldest building standing in W.A. The tunnel underneath is the Whalers Tunnel dug in 1837 to enable access to the beach on the other side of the hill for the whalers. The red building on the right of the picture is the old Fremantle Tram Depot. You will notice that the Round House is not actually round. Also by now you may have noticed the substantial use of local limestone in many of the more historic buildings in Fremantle.





The time gun is fired at 1:00 PM every day. The small Island slightly to the right of the line of fire is The Stragglers reef and the larger one to the left is Carnac - home to Tiger Snakes and Sea Lions.



Looking out towards Rottnest Island - 18 km offshore

 

[OZDUCK]

Continuing on.

It was a lovely morning and lots of people were out on the water. That is Garden Island in the distance. Bathers Beach is in the foreground.



This piece of masonry in the water just in front of the Round House is a remnant of gun mountings that were built on the foreshore during the 'Russian Scare' in the late 19th C.



Looking down High St. The tower in the distance with the flag flying is the Fremantle Town Hall.



Walking down from the Round House you pass some lovely cottages that were formerly the Harbour Pilots residences.





The Boat Museum on the wharf is shaped like an upturned small boat on the beach.




There are still lots of signs of shipping related activity around. This building is opposite the 1907 Custom House and I worked in an overflow office in there for a year or two.




This was the Imperial German Consulate before WW1 when it was confiscated as 'enemy property''. In the 1970's it housed the Tarantella Nightclub - a very rough one at that. Coming to work in the early morning they were often wiping up the evidence of fights between seamen of many nations and also with the locals.



Some fine Late Victorian/Edwardian buildings in High St. I drank more than a few beers in the front bar of the P& O Hotel - closest to the camera. It is now student accommodation for Notre Dame University. The building with the blue verandah a few doors down is the Orient Hotel. It is one of the few hotels still operating as such in this part of Fremantle.



Further down High Road is the National Hotel. It has been rebuilt several times the most recently after a major fire when it had just been refurbished. I did not drink there very often.

 

[OZDUCK]

Another occasional drinking spot on High St (1907) - it was a bit downmarket compared to the other hotels in the area. Now more student accommodation for the uni.



Going a bit further away from the wharves.

These are the warder cottages for the old Fremantle Prison. They have been very recently refurbished and look very good at a little over 150 years old.







One of them is currently for sale in the "low Millions" - around $1.1M I have heard.



Just up the road a bit are the old Fremantle Court House (1899), court buildings and more cottages. These are currently being extensively refurbished.





I didn't have time to walk up to Fremantle Prison so all I took a photo of this time was part of the convict built walls at the back of Fremantle Oval.




The Fremantle Markets

 

[OZDUCK]

Some more of Fremantle.

Lionel Samson & Son were W.A's oldest company for many years - built C 1898.



Built C 1899 this was once another favourite drinking spot. Up until the 1970's it and a few other hotels around Fremantle were allowed to open at around 6:00AM to allow the wharfies to have a drink after night shifts etc. It was operated by the NZ Steinlager Company during the America Cup festivities and is now is part of the Notre Dame University.



Edwardian Streetscapes. The yellow 'paint' on the building in the first photo is a remnant of an "Art Installation" that was supposed to be easily removable - it was not.







Forecourt of Notre Dame Uni.



Most of the above buildings used to house businesses related to the ports operations being owned by ships chandlers, freight handlers etc.





I always find this memorial drinking fountain opposite the Railway station a bit affecting. It is constructed of glazed stoneware made by Doulton & Co around 1905. There is a horse trough on the other side.

 

[GarrettM]

Wow these photos actually make it seem like not the filthy hovel it really is.

 

[Daver6]

Wow these photos actually make it seem like not the filthy hovel it really is.

It's great during the day....night time is another story. Having said that, I've not ventured there at night in over a decade.

 

[Matt_01]

@GarrettM I assume you are from or live in WA, @Daver6 I know you are. Can I ask what is so wrong with Fremantle, I ask this an let me finish I years gone by I have transited in PER but never left the airport. Over the past few years have traveled to PER for work and these trips were fly in, go to office, meetings, dinner, back to hotel, work, morning meetings, go to airport, fly out. Earlier this year when WA opened the border for 5-10 minutes we snuck in a family trip and on one of the days took the train to 'Freo'. The weather on that day was not the best but I found it to be a very pretty place and looking at the photos @OZDUCK posted I have many similar from our day trip. Is there something that the outsiders should be aware of

 

[Daver6]

@GarrettM I assume you are from or live in WA, @Daver6 I know you are. Can I ask what is so wrong with Fremantle, I ask this an let me finish I years gone by I have transited in PER but never left the airport. Over the past few years have traveled to PER for work and these trips were fly in, go to office, meetings, dinner, back to hotel, work, morning meetings, go to airport, fly out. Earlier this year when WA opened the border for 5-10 minutes we snuck in a family trip and on one of the days took the train to 'Freo'. The weather on that day was not the best but I found it to be a very pretty place and looking at the photos @OZDUCK posted I have many similar from our day trip. Is there something that the outsiders should be aware of

My recollection of Freo at night (Fri/Sat night) is the streets over flowing with drunk people and lots of agro. Maybe it's been cleaned up but I doubt it. During the day is a different story. It's a fantastic place.

 

[GarrettM]

My recollection of Freo at night (Fri/Sat night) is the streets over flowing with drunk people and lots of agro. Maybe it's been cleaned up but I doubt it. During the day is a different story. It's a fantastic place.

Yes I'm being overly harsh. There's some good things in Fremantle. For kids and families.
It's also still got heaps of old buildings and architectural character, unlike most of the rest of Perth.
It's just full of feral types, and some dodgy stuff.

 

[OZDUCK]

I have been out of Internet range for the last couple of days in the bush so I am sorry to be a bit late in responding.

If you think Freo is a bit dodgy now you should have been there in the 1970's when there were still 50 or 60 crew on a merchant ship and they revelled in the the chance to unwind near the port area. It is far cleaner and more genteel than then. It was a real working port then - not quite the Amsterdam sung of by Jacques Brel but still far from salubrious. I am well aware of the ferals but have become somewhat inured to them over the years. Obviously I didn't wander around to take photos of some poor person sleeping rough but to be honest on this day there were far fewer unsavoury characters around than I was used to back in the day.

As GarrettM said it has '"heaps of old buildings and architectural character". I barely managed to cover about half the buildings I wanted to record in the time available that day. I missed out most of the convict built Fremantle Prison and didn't get near the , also convict built, Gothic Style Fremantle Arts Centre that was first opened as the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum in 1868. Plus there were quite a few other buildings I wanted to showcase.

I haven't really been down there at night much at all in the last 12 years so I am out of touch with what goes on at night now.

 

[Matt_01]

@OZDUCK I like the fact you posted the photos from post 3 photos 2-5 I remember walking past these row houses and thinking to myself I would like to own one of these.