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Don's Tram Tour
Fremantle Heritage Festival, Saturday 4 June 2016, 2pm and 3.15pm
The tour starts and finishes at the Asylum (Fremantle Arts Centre) entrance. Click on the map for a larger version.
The tour is conducted by Don Whittington, former President of the Fremantle Society, and former Deputy Mayor.
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The Asylum itself is the first point of interest, being a building complex that was only just saved from destruction by people including Professor George Seddon, Marshall Clifton, Ray Oldham, Town Clerk Noel McComb, and the Mayor, Sir Frederick Samson. A tour of the Asylum in this year's Heritage Festival, Saturday 28 May, was conducted by the architect responsible for its restoration in 1972, Rob McK. Campbell, and Fremantle Society President John Dowson.
Proceed down Finnerty St and turn right to go across to Queen Victoria St and turn left into it.
Queen Victoria St is the Fremantle street most obviously undergoing rapid and radical change. It used to be a street of luxurious houses like Villa Maria. The only remnants are the houses in the row of terraces at 20-26.
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Villa Maria, Carl Ratazzi's house, Queen Victoria St - now Shacks to Officeworks
Passing the Proclamation Tree and Marmion Memorial, proceed into Adelaide St. This is a street of churches - but one is missing. The Johnston Memorial Church has been replaced by the Johnston Court block of flats.
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Johnston Memorial Congregational Church, Adelaide St, 1877-1968 - now Johnson [!] Court flats
Prospect House was the gracious home of Captain William Jackson, Rottnest Superintendent, and used to be on the corner of Adelaide and Point Sts, where there is now a trivial retail building.
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Prospect House, Cnr Adelaide and Point Streets, 1886-1967 - now Ferrari Formalwear clothing hire shop
Turn right into Queen St, left into Cantonment Street, and left again into Market St. On that corner is the Wesley Church, next to which used to be the 1841 Wesley Chapel and Hall.
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Wesley Hall and the 1841 Chapel, Cantonment St - now shops
Turn right into High St, to observe the aspect towards the Round House, and also to note the former TAB building on the left, showing the disastrous setback planned at the time.
Turn right into Pakenham St which passes next to Pioneer Park and the State Ships building - now the Spare Parts puppet theatre.
On the corner of Short and Pakenham Sts, a new apartment building is under construction - on the site of Manning's Folly.
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Manning Hall, aka Manning's Folly, cnr Short & Pakenham Sts, 1858-1928 - now a building of many apartments
Turn left into Phillimore St, and observe opposite the two fire stations, the older one of which was saved by the FS. Note the Railway Station to the right, partly saved by the Fremantle Society. Only half of it was built, and none of it would have existed, perhaps, if the railway closure of 1979 had continued.
Passing the older Customs House on the right - now the home of the WA Circus School, and noting the weighbridge in the middle of a large roundabout, turn left into Cliff St, arguably the first and most important street of foundation Fremantle.
Near that corner The Residency would have been noticeable, until it was demolished in 1967.
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The Residency]], aka Government Cottage, Arthur Head, 1856-1967 - now a car park
WF Samson's house used to be on the corner with High St. The site is now a carpark.
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WF Samson house]], cnr Cliff & High Sts, c1885-1955 - now a carpark
The facade is all that is left of the Liebler Building. Where most of it stood is now yet another carpark.
[[liebler.html|lieblerLiebler Building]] facade, aka Reckitt & Colman Building facade, 21-29 - only the facade remains; there is a carpark behind it, where the rest of the building used to be until it was demolished in 1967.
The Pier Hotel once stood on one corner of Croke St.
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Pier Hotel, Cliff St, 1873-1955 - site was an NDU carpark, now Tannock Hall, School of Education, NDU
The Cliff St Post Office was on the other corner. The first site now has Tannock Hall on it, and the other has been a carpark since the post office was demolished in 1967.
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Cliff St Post Office, 1889-1967 - site has been a carpark behind the Sailors' Rest for many years, now used by NDU students
Return via Marine Terrace (Water Police Station and Quarters, Freemasons Hall, Esplanade Hotel), Norfolk St, Parry St (Fremantle Markets - another success story, Victoria Pavilion), High St - noting Dalkeith House on the left, and up to Hampton Rd to see where Ivanhoe used to be.
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Ivanhoe]], 8 Ord St, near corner of High St, 1889-1966 - now block of flats
Passing along Ord St, note that this was only the middle of the 45 acre grant of Fremantle Park, which has now shrunk to the section on the left. The area on the right is now mostly under the control of the Education Dept, as John Curtin school.
References and Links
FCC page for the tour
See also: Lost Buildings, Saved Buildings, (all) Buildings, Streets, (all) Stuff.
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 30 April, 2016 and hosted at freotopia.org/buildings/tramtour.html (it was last updated on 14 April, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.