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The armorial bearings were granted to the City of Fremantle by the Kings of Arms on 20 April 1971.
The ‘blazon’, or heraldic description, runs as follows:
ARMS: Vert on a Pile reversed throughout barry wavy Argent and Azure an Australian Black Swan naiant proper in chief two Bezants pendent from each a Cord nowed and tassel led Or. CREST: Issuant from a Mural Crown proper a demi Sea Lion Gules the tail proper crowned with a Naval Crown and supporting a Trident Or. Mantled Vert doubled Or.
SUPPORTERS: On either side a Sea Lion Gules the tail proper the dexter gorged with a Mural Crown proper pendent therefrom by a ring Argent a Round Buckle Or the sinister gorged with a Naval Crown pendent therefrom by a ring Argent a Round Buckle Or each supporting with the exterior paw an Anchor Azure.
MOTTO: Nec prece nec pretio ('Neither by entreaty nor bribery’).
NOTES: The Pile (or wedged-shaped area coloured silver with wavy blue lines alludes to the position of Fremantle on a river estuary. The black swan identifies the river as the Swan River, and at the same time symbolizes Fremantle’s connection with Western Australia.
The Pile divides the shield into two triangular areas which represent an open cape, or mantle. The tassellcd cords are not joined, and the result is an heraldic pun—a free mantle. Such arms are known in hcraldy as ‘canting’ (or punning) arms.
The fish-tails of the Sea Lions symbolize Fremantle’s fishing industry; and the Anchors, the City’s Naval connections, as also does the Naval Crown in the crest and on the sinister (or left-hand, as viewed by one carrying the shield) Sea Lion. Such Naval Crowns are used in the arms of distinguished sailors and naval towns of consequence.
The gold buckles occur in the arms of the Stirling families, and so commemorate Captain James Stirling, R.N., the first Governor of Western Australia.
The Sea Lions, in supporters and crest, allude to the Lions of England and to the crest of the Fremantle family. Two red Lions also occur in the arms of a family by the name of Samson; thus a happy allusion is obtained to the Fremantle family of Samson.
The arms were designed by Conrad Swan, Esquire, Ph.D., M.A., York Herald of Arms.
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 July, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/ewers/crest.html (it was last updated on 7 July, 2021), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.