Freotopia > Fremantle Society > campaigns >
Arthur Head
17 February 2022: Entrance to a Rubbish Dump
No, you are not looking at the entrance to a rubbish dump, but an entry point to the nationally significant Arthur Head Historic Precinct.
Arthur Head is a magical place with many great stories of significance. But who is telling the stories and why isn't the area being looked after ?
The disgraceful neglect by Fremantle Council of its heritage obligations in a heritage town doesn't get any better once you enter the "rubbish dump."
Straight ahead to the left of the unsightly coloured rock is the historic whaling area where all interpretive elements have been removed and not replaced following vandalism.
Ahead of that are the repairs to the crumbling cliff face and 1837 Whalers' Tunnel where Aboriginal art will adorn a colonial historic setting.
Inside the tunnel, artefacts telling the story of the area used to be displayed, but because Fremantle Council refused to look after them properly, they were removed by the owners, the WA Museum.
The history of the area is poorly interpreted and told on site, despite the coming 200th anniversary in 7 years of the State's foundation, and claim by Captain Charles Fremantle near this very spot of the whole of Australia outside New South Wales.
Council's 1984 commissioned report "Report on an Investigation into the Aboriginal Heritage of the Arthur Head Area, Fremantle" failed to find evidence of Aboriginal history at Arthur Head, but the report recommended more research into Aboriginal activity in the area following European settlement, which drew more Aboriginal people to the area.
Atop the cliff face sits the Round House, where extensive recent research by Dr Steve Errington has uncovered fascinating details of the many people locked up there since 1831. Included among the many hundreds were a minority of Aboriginal prisoners en route to Rottnest, where authorities of the time thought the natives would be better able to roam free instead of being locked in the tiny cells of Fremantle Prison on the hill behind the town.
Why the neglect of Arthur Head and so much of Fremantle?
10.4% Rate Increase!
Council should be reminded that they put up council rates by a massive 10.4% in 2009 to get money for maintenance AND YOU ARE PAYING THAT 10.4% EVERY SINGLE YEAR IN YOUR RATES BILL.
The Fremantle Society has been reminding you of these issues for a long time.
Perhaps you could contact your local councillor and ask for better maintenance, of Arthur Head, and the town. Councillors are paid $500 a week to listen to you. Contact ALL of them at: members@fremantle.wa.gov.au
The streets are becoming goat tracks and the footpaths are filthy. Fremantle's maintenance issues are widespread and serious.
John Dowson
President
The Fremantle Society
29 June 2020: Fremantle Society Arthur Head Campaign Goes National
2 April 2020: Can the CAT and Save Arthur Head
10 October 2019: Exciting Vision for Arthur Head
3 June 2016: Arthur's Head—Mismanagement of ratepayer assets - again?
References and Links
See also: Arthur Head, on this site.
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 25 May, 2018 and hosted at freotopia.org/society/campaign/arthurhead.html (it was last updated on 10 May, 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.