First regular steamship service established by James Lilly on the coast by placing the SS Rob Roy, under the command of Captain Craig, on the run between Geraldton and Albany, with Fremantle as her headquarters. Lilly may be considered to be the pioneer of steamship services in this State. The Rob Roy was followed by the Otway, and in 1882 the Adelaide Steamship Company purchased those vessels and placed the South Australian, in charge of Captain Laurie, and the Victorian, in charge of Captain Lockyer, on a regular run from Fremantle to the eastern colonies.
Good Samaritan Lodge of the Sons of Temperance opened in Fremantle in 1878.
Star of the Sea Lodge of the Hibernian Catholic Benefit Society founded.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 6 August, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/timeline/1878.html (it was last updated on 19 December, 2018), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.