South Fremantle, Western Australia

South Fremantle is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Fremantle.

South Fremantle
Perth, Western Australia
Coordinates32°04′18″S 115°45′16″E
Population3,398 (SAL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)6162
LGA(s)City of Fremantle
State electorate(s)Fremantle
Federal division(s)Fremantle
Suburbs around South Fremantle:
Indian Ocean Fremantle Fremantle
Indian Ocean South Fremantle Beaconsfield
Indian Ocean North Coogee Hamilton Hill

History

The first development in the area may have been when Richard Goldsmith Meares established a lime-burning kiln in 1831. Meares had arrived at the Swan River Colony with Thomas Peel in the previous year.[2]

As the area was adjacent to the relatively safe harbour of Owen's Anchorage in Cockburn Sound, the area began to be used as an alternative destination point for ship arrivals.

In 1898, a railway was built from Fremantle to Robb Jetty.[3] At that time, an abattoir was built for slaughter of livestock arriving from the north-west of the state including the Kimberley Region. Livestock were unloaded from the ships onto a jetty. Extensive pasturing for the animals as well as small market gardens were established in the region around the abattoir.

The Coogee Hotel was built in 1901, and in 1903 the railway was extended to Woodman Point. Commercial lime kilns were established during this period to provide for the construction boom and population growth which had been brought about by gold discoveries. The Newmarket Hotel on the border of Hamilton Hill and South Fremantle, was often identified as being in either of the suburbs.[4]

The area steadily became the centre of much of Perth's heavy industry and comprised the coal-fired power station, railway marshalling yards, abattoir as well as numerous skin drying sheds. From the 1980s however, pressures brought on by demands for residential housing triggered a process of removal of the various facilities.

South Beach

South Beach is an area of beach and adjacent land in South Fremantle. The beach and the disused railway station are parts of the South Fremantle community history.[5][6][7]

Industrial heritage
Area of the old marshalling yards

Railway marshalling yards

A large marshalling yard with signal box tower was built by Western Australian Government Railways in the 1960s during the standard gauge railway line project from Kalgoorlie to Leighton.[8]

The yard was decommissioned in the Westrail era in the 1990s.

Robb Jetty Abattoir
See Robbs Jetty Abattoir
Cattle being unloaded from a ship at Robb Jetty in the 1920s. Livestock were shipped from the Kimberley.

Public transport

South Fremantle is serviced by bus routes 511, 530, 531, 532, 533, 548, 549, 998 and 999 [9]

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "South Fremantle (Suburb and Locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  2. "Assessment documentation – Three Lime Kilns, Cockburn" (PDF). Heritage Council of Western Australia. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
  3. Gunzburg, Adrian; Austin, Jeff (2008). "Table Construction of the W.A Government Railways network, 1879–1931". Rails through the Bush: Timber and Firewood Tramways and Railway Contractors of Western Australia. Perth, Western Australia: Rail Heritage WA. pp. 208–210. ISBN 978-0-9803922-2-7. OL 12330925W.
  4. "Drinkers May Have To Take own Glass". The Daily News (HOME ed.). Western Australia. 10 January 1947. p. 9. Retrieved 20 January 2020 – via Trove.
  5. "South Beach, Fremantle". The Daily News. Vol. XXXVI, no. 13, 092. Western Australia. 27 January 1917. p. 11 (Third Edition). Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "South Beach, Fremantle". Truth. No. 298. Western Australia. 13 March 1909. p. 3 (City Edition). Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "South Beach, Fremantle". The Daily News. Vol. XXX, no. 11, 118 (Third ed.). Western Australia. 30 January 1911. p. 8. Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. http://www.sigwa.info/robb-jetty--2-.html part explanation of the Fremantle - South Fremantle - Robb Jetty rail systems
  9. Transperth web site

Media related to South Fremantle, Western Australia at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.