William Hooper

Authority control:	Wikidata:

Hooper's Building c.1897, from Henry Street.

Horologist William Hooper traded in premises on Town Lot 106, High Street (now no. 49) from 1881 to 1940/41. A large clock extended out over the street from the building's facade. It would not be legal now.

William Hooper supplied and installed the Town Hall clock, which arrived from England aboard the SS Port Darwin on 4 April 1888. (Library)

July 1949:

HE STARTED CLOCK 61 YEARS AGO

Father Time has been kind to Mr. William Hooper who 61 years ago installed Fremantle Town Hall's clock.

This week the old watch repairer with the pink, unwrinkled face and white imperial beard celebrated his 88th birthday.

For many years he was responsible for keeping both Perth and Fremantle town hall clocks running.

From his shop in High-st. Mr. Hooper watched the building of Fremantle's town hall in celebration of Queen Victoria's jubilee.

He reckoned a clock would be needed to top it off so he wrote to a famous Birmingham firm for details.

Thus he secured the tender and in 1888 installed the present clock with the 4-quarter Cambridge chimes.

Contract price for the clock was £748/10/.

Mr. Hooper says, provided it has proper attention, the clock should still be giving Fremantle citizens the time in another 100 years.

References and Links

Freotopia

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 16 February, 2023 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/hooperwilliam.html (it was last updated on 28 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.