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Pearse Street
North Fremantle; originally known as Mason Street
The George Pearse (1839-1914) for whom the street was named was the second son of William [Silas] Pearse (1808-1866) the patriarch of the clan in WA. This George had a son whom he named George: George Ernest Pearse (1878-1946) was also an important person, especially in East Fremantle, so the two may be confused. George Pearse the elder was a member of the Town Council (under his father's chairmanship) 1871-72 and 1875-82, and founder of the Pearse shoe and boot factory in Swan Street, North Fremantle, which he owned together with two of his brothers.
Albert Hall, at 3 Pearse St, is a significant building.
Heritage Council:
The majority of Pearse Street was created as part of a circa 1890 subdivision by William Edward Marmion of Fremantle and James Grave, Edward Keane, Edmund Gilyard Lacey and Frederick Charles Monger of Perth. The subdivision occurred when North Fremantle was experiencing rapid development and there was a demand for inexpensive housing close to industry and the railway line. Originally called Mason Street after local land developer and jeweller, Frederick Mason, the street was renamed Pearse Street in 1922/23 (only a year after Mason died) in recognition of George Pearse, Fremantle Councillor (1875-1881) and founder of the Pearse shoe and boot factory in Swan Street.
Many of the street's original occupants were working people who had jobs in nearby industries. Homes were modest in scale of brick, stone or weatherboard. Many of the buildings were owned by absentee landlords who leased the cottages to long and short-term tenants. The street has suffered from a poor reputation during its life, at one time known colloquially as 'Pong Alley'. The short, narrow street has remained a residential street since its formation. Heritage Council.
References and Links
Heritage Council page
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 17 October, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/streets/pearse.html (it was last updated on 19 November, 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.