The Fremantle History Society was awarded a Citation in the 2022 History Council of WA Awards.
The entry was in Award Category 3: A significant contribution to the understanding or impact of, or advocacy for, local history in Western Australia
The Fremantle History Society (FHS) has been an active and energetic promoter and supporter of the extraordinarily diverse history of the Fremantle area for 28 years. Recognising the natural, Aboriginal and historic past come together to form and inform our knowledge and understanding of the culture and diversity of this significant historic town, the Society has worked closely with its members, other community groups and the broader history and heritage fraternity to build a legacy for the future.
Overview of Fremantle History Society
The inaugural meeting of the Fremantle History Society was held at the Reception Room of Fremantle City Council on the evening of Wednesday 12 October 1994 with an attendance of more than fifty people including Dianne Davidson who was the moving force in forming the society. Professor Bob Reece chaired the meeting and with some discussion the following objectives were recommended
- Encourage community involvement in the study of Fremantle history and cultural diversity through research, oral history and writing.
- Disseminate information Fremantle in a variety of ways, in particular through public forums and liaison with other history and heritage groups and schools in the area.
- Promote the identification and preservation of historical evidence relating to Fremantle.
- Encourage the commemoration of important events, places and people in appropriate ways.
- Arrange social gatherings for its members.
As indicated above the FHS aims to encourage the research, writing and publishing of Fremantle’s history and heritage and to make this accessible to a general audience both locally and for those interested in Western Australian and Australian history. Fremantle’s strong heritage credentials, arguably giving it national heritage significance, is also of interest to amateur and academic historians and heritage practitioners nationally and internationally.
From its inception, the FHS has been an active group with a high profile and strong connections to its local community. Membership grew quickly and has stayed constant at around 100. The 10 general meetings a year regularly attract 25 plus people who enjoy a varied program of talks, site visits and social gatherings at heritage places including the annual Pub Lunch which takes advantage of the exceptional number of historic watering holes so integral to the history of the town.
While the general meetings and quarterly newsletter keep members and locals engaged with the activities of the society and the history and heritage of Fremantle, it is Fremantle Studies Day, Studies Journal and the research scholarship that have been the most innovative and successful programs building a legacy of understanding of and advocacy for Fremantle’s rich and diverse history.
Members have been invited onto various local committees convened by the City of Fremantle and Fremantle Ports and various state government departments and comment and commentary are sought by the Fremantle Herald in relation to history and heritage matters.
From delving into the history of the few remaining connections to the early horse racing industry to supporting an oral history project to capture the voices of the remaining workers from the state engineering works, raising funds to rescue, archive and secure a permanent home for the records of one of Australia’s most innovative theatre companies and maintaining a vigilant eye on proposals related to some of the state’s most important heritage sites, are just some of the ways Fremantle History Society has made and will continue to make a significant impact on the protection of and love for this historic port city.
Fremantle Studies Day and Fremantle Studies Journal
The Fremantle History Society has published eleven volumes of Fremantle Studies Journal, 1999 – 2022. Volume 12 is currently being edited. Each volume of Studies contains papers from two of its annual Fremantle Studies Days and, on occasion, a particularly good paper from one of its general meetings. The journal is well illustrated, includes academic referencing and is fully indexed. As well as making important contributions to building the stock of published material, Studies Day, and the resulting journal, encourages the research and writing of Fremantle’s history and heritage and strives to make this available to a broad audience – one of the key objectives of the Fremantle History Society. Indeed, one of the main requests when approaching potential speakers, and therefore contributors to the journal, is to write for a general audience while maintaining scholarly rigour.
Fremantle Studies Journal is sold through the Fremantle History Society and bookstores locally and in Perth. It is also held in various university and school libraries and local, state and national collections. The volumes are promoted through a range of like-minded organisations and on the Society’s website and Facebook page. As new journals are released special offers are made by bundling back volumes. The journal has received recognition in the Fremantle and East Fremantle Heritage Awards on several occasions.
Fremantle Studies Day regularly attracts registrations of over 120 people drawn from the membership, local area and people interested in the topics being addressed. The event is held in historic sites adding to the enjoyment of those who attend.
Fremantle Studies has been published with assistance from the City of Fremantle, Fremantle Ports, the Western Australian History Foundation and by subscription/donation.
Quarterly Newsletter
The Fremantle History Society newsletter has been published since October 1994. In April 2013 the Society produced its 75th edition, recognition for this effort was gratefully received through a Fremantle Spirit of Heritage Award for the newsletter in October of 2014.
The newsletter is lively mix of stories and news about Fremantle’s history and updates on the society’s activities. It also includes updates on the collections and activities of the Fremantle History Centre and recently has added highlights for Trove relating to a current meeting topic or other area of interest.
The newsletter has been fully indexed by the City of Fremantle History Centre making it widely available both locally and online.
General Meetings
The FHS organises 10 general meetings for members from February through to November each year and this has only been interrupted in 2020 due to COVID.
Meetings can be talks provided by local amateur and professional historians as well as visits to sites of interest in and around Fremantle. The Pub Lunch was an early addition to the annual program recognising the importance of these institutions in a working-class town.
Meetings are well attended and include a light supper ensuring those who attend have the opportunity for building knowledge and understanding, reinforcing a strong sense of place, extending friendships and networks and providing vital social contact for a broad demographic.
Deck Chair Theatre Archives
The Deck Chair Theatre company produced plays in Fremantle c.1985 – 2012. This innovative and award-winning group was one of only two companies dedicated to commissioning and showing new Australian works and had a proud history of producing outstanding contemporary Australian theatre, launching and nurturing the full gamut of trades associated with the industry.
In 2012 the theatre was forced to close due to a lack of funding. At the time Cathy Hall, a FHS committee member and past Board member of Deck Chair, took on the task of ensuring the history of this important group was not lost. With assistance from staff at the History Centre at the City of Fremantle, a sub committee was formed from FHS committee members and volunteers and an application for a National Library Community Heritage Grant for a Significance Assessment was sought and awarded in the amount of $4000. The final statement of significance indicated that the archives were not only of State but also of National Significance.
The sub committee set to work to organise the dispersed and haphazard records over a period of seven years including the digitisation of analogue materials which was funded by a grant from the WA History Foundation. The archive was eventually donated to the State Library of WA in 2020 ensuring the history of this important company is retained and made accessible for future researchers and scholars.
Support for oral history program at the Fremantle History Centre
Over the years the FHS has had a very strong relationship with the Fremantle History Centre providing funding for recording equipment for staff and volunteers to conduct oral histories of individuals and organisations in Fremantle. In 2011 the FHS provided a grant of $1500 to employ an oral historian to work on a project to interview refugees from places such as Afghanistan and East Africa.
Ron and Dianne Davidson Scholarship
In 2014 the FHS decided to provide a biennial scholarship to further support the writing of new research of Fremantle’s history and to encourage and support historians, particularly early / mid career. Since that time four scholarships in the amount of $2000 have been awarded.
Awardees are required to undertake new research on a topic relating to Fremantle’s past and to present their findings at the annual Fremantle Studies Day. They are also required to prepare the paper for publication in the relevant volume of Fremantle Studies.
In 2021 the name of the scholarship was changed to recognise the extensive contribution of Ron and Dianne Davidson to the success of the FHS over more than twenty years and their tireless commitment to the protection and understanding of Fremantle’s history and heritage since the 1970s.
Topics to date have included a history of South Fremantle as a seaside playground, the Fremantle Chamber orchestra, a history of the State Implement and Engineering Word of North Fremantle and most recently, a history of Fremantle artists.
Websites and Facebook
The FHS has a website at Fremantle History Society which provides members and others access to online versions of our newsletter and journals from a another website at Freotopia, as well as keeping people updated on society
activities.
The FHS also has an active Facebook page here.
Advocacy
The activities noted above are tangible outcomes of the History Society's work that we are proud of, but there are also the less tangible aspects of our endeavour. The History Society has taken a strong stance on some important local issues, scoring some significant wins and, of course, some defeats. When the future use and management of the decommissioned Fremantle Prison was being looked at by a firm of outside consultants in 2002, the Society set up its own committee under David Hutchison to prepare a submission and was congratulated for its input to the Fremantle Prison Heritage Precinct Master Plan. The Society subsequently called for proper community representation on the Fremantle Prison Trust, something which is still a vexed issue. FHS has continued to be an active contributor to various projects and reports associated with Fremantle Prison.
As well as reviewing several proposals and draft registrations for the Western Australian Heritage Council, in more recent times, the History Society has taken a strong public stand on such issues as the Esplanade skate park, heritage classification of the amenities building at Victoria Quay, master planning for Victoria Quay, the naming of Kings Square / Walyalup Koort and the recently proposed tavern at Arthur Head's J Shed. This activism has not endeared it to Fremantle City Council, but the Society is not beholden to it or any other body when decisions are made that affect the whole Fremantle community and impact on its significant heritage.
Award Criteria
Impactful achievement(s)
- Deck Chair Archives
- Support for oral history
Adds to understandings of WA history
- Fremantle Studies Day
- Fremantle Studies
- Newsletter
Advocacy for WA history
- Ron and Dianne Davidson Scholarship
- General meetings
- Fremantle Prison Masterplan
- Heritage classification of the amenities building at Victoria Quay.
- Website and Facebook
For almost 30 years, the FHS has maintained an active voice and presence in its local community. Through a range of innovative programs and regular contact with its constituents it has achieved much in its bid to build a deeper, richer and more nuanced understanding of one of Western Australia’s more colourful and historically significant towns.
Local history is a way of reaching beyond the family to some sense of community. Humans are social beings and history marks how successful they have been in achieving that experience of community. Bob Reece 2017, 'The Fremantle History Society, 1994-2014', Fremantle Studies, 9: 79-87.
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 4 November, 2022 and hosted at freotopia.org/fhs/citation.html (it was last updated on 29 July, 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.