Eastfremantle/easttownhall.html
East Fremantle Town Hall
In 1899, Sir John Forrest laid the foundation stone for this building designed by architect J.F. Allen, and additions housing the Library and Mechanics Institute opened in 1902. Many different educational and entertainment programmes took place in the hall, occasionally including moving pictures, but it was never used as a regular film screening venue.
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East Fremantle Town Hall and Plympton Post Office
Library:
A four horse dray stands in Canning Highway in front of the Plympton Post Office (name changed to East Fremantle in 1899); which opened on 14.03.1898. The first Post Master, J. Adams, was appointed in March 1898.
Next to the left is the Police Station, Quarters and Lock up. Then the Fire Station: a shed next to the Police Station. In the centre is the East Fremantle Town Hall. The architect for this building was Joseph F. Allen and the foundation stone was laid by Sir John Forrest in 1899.
Photograph #707 c. 1906, from the Fremantle Library Local History Collection. Text from the Library entry. Signage on the former post office indicates that it was an antique shop, but it is long closed. The corner with Stirling Highway is now immediately after that building to the west.
Thanks to Peter Vinci for finding this photo showing the fire station shed next to the town hall.
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East Fremantle Town Hall and St Peter's Church
Canning Highway, 1954
Library:
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.
References and Links
Charlesworth, Helene 1997, Small but Strong: a Pictorial History of the Town of East Fremantle 1897-1997, Town of East Fremantle.
Ewers, John K. 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948].
Hitchcock, JK 1929, The History of Fremantle, The Front Gate of Australia 1829-1929, Fremantle City Council.
Lee, Jack 1979, This is East Fremantle (The story of a town and its people), East Fremantle Town Council.
East Fremantle Heritage pages.
Heritage Trail.
Museum of Perth's Streets of East Freo website.
ammpt.com.au.
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, 2020 and hosted at freotopia.org/eastfremantle/easttownhall.html (it was last updated on 21 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.