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America's Cup
Alan Bond's syndicate's yacht Australia II won the America's Cup race series at Newport RI in 1983, which led to its defence being sailed in waters off Fremantle in 1987. The international interest this generated, together with the number of visitors to the port city and the length of time they stayed, led to significant changes, particularly to such buildings as hotels.
The fortieth anniversary of the defence will be marked in Fremantle by exhibitions/events at the Maritime Museum, the home of the actual yacht Australia II. A major event: the staging (in the Museum) of a new production of Ingle Knight's play Taking Liberty.
It is worthy of note that the original America's Cup trophy was bought by Henry Paget, the Marquess of Anglesey, after whom the immigrant ship Marquis of Anglesea was apparently named (despite the differences in spelling).
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The Oddfellows Hotel in 1851
The Newcastle Club Hotel, for example, was renamed the Newport. The Freemasons Hotel became the Sail and Anchor and was renovated; while the Oddfellows Hotel lost more than half of its structure in its 'renovation' and acquired its current name: Norfolk Hotel. The Fremantle Hotel became the temporary 'home' of the New Zealand syndicate, with Steinlager beer on tap. His Majesty's Hotel was also renovated, and reverted briefly to an older name, His Lordship's Larder.
The Norfolk Hotel in 2014
The Maritime Museum on the South Wharf was built partly as a place to show Australia II - and it is still the principal exhibit there.
References and Links
Macbeth, Jim, J. Selwood, and Sarah Veitch. 2012. 'Paradigm shift or a drop in the ocean? The America's Cup impact on Fremantle.' Tourism Geographies 14 (1): 162-182.
Veitch, Sarah 2013, Tourism as Rationale and the Resident-Tourism Relationship as Democratic Practice: The Politics of Tourism in the city of Fremantle, Western Australia, PhD disssertation, Murdoch University.
Veitch, Sarah 2013, 'Mythology as hallmark event legacy: the endurance of America's Cup mythology in the city of Fremantle', Journal of Sport and Tourism, vol. 18, no. 2.
Webb, David & David Warren 2005, 'America's Cup gave drinking a new flavour', Fremantle: Beyond the Round House, Longley, Fremantle; 54-55.
Wikipedia page for 1987 America's Cup.
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 13 January, 2017 and hosted at freotopia.org/events/americascup.html (it was last updated on 27 September, 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.