The Municipality of Fremantle was established in 1871 when it replaced the Fremantle Town Trust as the main governing body of the city.
A further step forward was taken in 1883 when Fremantle was raised to the dignity of a corporation presided over by a mayor, Barrington Wood being the first to occupy that position.
In 1929, the centenary year of the colony, the Municipality became the City of Fremantle.
Mayors
The following gallery shows the mayors of the municipality.
-
Barrington Wood 1883-1885 -
Daniel K. Congdon 1886-1888 -
Elias Solomon 1889-1891 -
William Frederick Samson 1892-1893 -
Daniel K. Congdon 1894 (2nd term)
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George Alfred Davies 1895 -
Elias Solomon 1896-1898 (2nd term)
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James McHenry Clark 1899 -
Elias Solomon 1900 (3nd term)
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Edward William Davies 1901 (removed from office)
1902 - Lawrence Alexander
1903 - Tom Smith
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]]1904-1905 - [[../people/cadd.html|Frank Cadd]]
1906-1907 - [[../people/samsonmichael.html|Michael Samson]]
1908-1909 - W.A. Murphy
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]]1910 - [[../people/fothergill.html|Edward H. Fothergill]]
1911 - W.A. Murphy
1912 and 1914 - J.F. McLaren
1915-1918 - [[../people/wraywe.html|William Ernest Wray]]
1919 - W. Montgomery
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]]1920-1923 - [[../people/gibson.html|Frank Gibson]]
1924-1926 - John Cooke
1927-1928 - [[../people/gibson.html|Frank Gibson]]
1929 - [[../people/gibson.html|Frank Gibson]]
Town Clerks
It will be noted that a number of those above wore the mayoral robes for several terms. Much shorter than the list of mayors - that of successive town clerks is as follows. (Hitchcock)
1871-1874 - George Thompson (Clerk of the Town Council)
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]]1874-1904 - [[../people/humble.html|George Bland Humble]] (Clerk of the Town Council and then from 1883 also of the Municipal Council)
1904-1910 - S.J. McMillan
1910-1921 - H.T. Haynes
George Thompson was an ex-solicitor from England and afterwards founded the firm of Thompson, Sendy and Company. For the first 15 years of his term as town clerk G. B. Humble also held the position of headmaster of the Government Boys' School, and for 25 years of his term he was also secretary of the Fremantle Building Society. [[../hitchcock.html|Hitchcock]]: 89, 91.
The Wikipedia entry incorrectly states that the Chairman of the Town Council had the title of Mayor from 1871. Hitchcock indicates explicitly (above) that the title of Mayor was not conferred until the accession of B.C. Wood to the chair of the Municipal Council in 1883. Barrington Wood was the first Mayor of Fremantle.
John K. Ewers, 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948] Appendix 7: 215-216.
Wikipedia:
In 1848 a Town Trust was formed comprising a chairman and a committee of five. For the next twenty-three years they set about constructing roads and many fine public buildings with the use of convict labour. By 1870 the population of Fremantle had reached 3,796 and was a moderately flourishing town. There was a move among the colonists to secure greater control of the management of their affairs and in 1871 the Fremantle Town Council was formed, with a chairman and nine councillors. Two of the major achievements of the Town Council were a reliable supply of pure water and a more efficient system of sanitation. By 1928 Fremantle had a population of 22,340 and an annual revenue of £73,354 - enough to warrant a claim for city status. City status was conferred upon Fremantle on the 3 June 1929 as a centenary honour in 1929.
North Fremantle, originally part of Fremantle, broke away in October 1895 to become an independent municipality. The first mayor of North Fremantle was Daniel Keen Congdon. The two municipalities were reunited by an order of the Governor in Executive Council as from 1 November 1961. Wikipedia page for City of Fremantle
References
[[../books/battye1924.html|Battye]], JS 1924, Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Ewers, John K. 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948].
- Joseph Keane Hitchcock The History of Fremantle: The Front Gate of Australia, 1829-1929 1929 (Fremantle City Council)
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 7 October, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/council/municipalcouncil.html (it was last updated on 20 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.