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St Peter's Church of England
Canning Highway, cnr Duke Street
St Peter's Church of England stood on the corner of Duke Street & Canning Highway. The Anglican Church purchased the land from James Pearse for £180 in 1903; the first service was held that year. Following the union of the parishes of St Mark and St Peter in 1963 the vestry decided to consolidate all buildings. The sale of the land was in 1969, and the final service was held in 1970.
The hotel in the distance is the Royal George, on the corner of George St. The street seen in the photo has since been transected by the Stirling Highway southern extension to High St.
Library:
East Fremantle Town Hall and St Peter's Church, Canning Highway, 1954
East Fremantle Town Hall decorated for the visit of Queen Elizabeth. Next to the left is St Peter's Church of England on the corner of Duke Street. The adjacent building was erected in 1908 for Dr A T White and later used as a presbytery for Roman Catholic Clergy. The ornate residence had attractive figures modelled by A Burvill.
Photograph 2411 from the Fremantle City Library Local History Photographic Collection, date 1954. Text from the Library entry.
Duke St used to meet Canning Hwy between the Town Hall and the church. The short street now there is called Council Place, as Duke St was altered by the Stirling Hwy southern extension. The whole block between Duke and Silas Sts, including the church, presbytery and Richmond Shopping Centre (formerly the Richmond Theatre) is now a large residential/commercial complex called Richmond Quarter, constructed from 2015.
The foundation stone of St Peter's Church was laid by the Governor, Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford (who was Governor 1903-09).
There was a basement under the church, where, among other things, the Cubs and Scouts used to meet. The inaugural Scout Masters of 3rd East Fremantle Scouts were John and Patricia Collyer. One of boys who attended was Martin Thomas who is today Chief Scout for Australia. (Robert McNab, personal communication) There is now a Fremantle Scout Hall in Jerrat Drive, East Fremantle: its sign says 1st Leeuwin Sea Scout Group.
The parish was effectively transferred to St Peter's and St Mark's Anglican Church, 2 Hammad Rd, Palmyra.
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 2 November, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/churches/stpeters.html (it was last updated on 7 December, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.