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Fremantle People Walk - High Street Mall
The walk commences at the Town Hall and concludes one block away at the National Hotel.
The mad mayor, Edward Davies (1855-1904), comes from his mayoral chambers in the Town Hall to say how unfair it was that he was thought to be a drunk when he was actually psychotic. He was elected Mayor of the Municipality of Fremantle in 1901, but was removed two months later on the grounds of insanity. His grave monument inscription: "I have suffered. I will lay down in peace and take my rest."
Opposite the Town Hall for many years were the premises of Charles May, the jeweller. May converted to Judaism in order to be able to marry his second wife, Esther Masel.
His uncle Frederick Mason, also a jeweller, had changed his name possibly to disguise the fact that he come here as May, a convict. Mason built two halls in North Fremantle, Mason's Hall and the Albert Hall, both of which were used for theatrical productions among other things. Example from 1895:
This evening the Innisfail Amateur Dramatic Company will reproduce the successful Irish drama, The Shaughraun, at Mason's Hall, North Fremantle. The performance will be given with the object of assisting the widow and children of the late John Irvine, who was killed by the recent explosion at Rocky Bay. The West Australian, Wednesday 20 February, 1895, p. 5.
Norm Wrightson (1924-2020) speaks on the subject of his band playing at the Victoria Hall (also in High Street but on the other side of Kings Square) on Saturday nights, and the hundreds (thousands?) of heads of hair he cut at Norm Wrightsons Hairway, which became a different barbershop only about a month ago. Norm died at about the same time, aged 93.
Right on the bend of the corner of William Street turning into High Street (now the Mall) was the dental surgery of Colonel Thomas Flintoff, who tells how he got the war injuries which eventually killed him.
Between Flintoff's corner and the Majestic Theatre Izzy Orloff had his photographic studio. He talks about the photos he took and the immigrants he assisted.
In the middle of the Mall we meet the manager (name/s unknown to me) of the Majestic Theatre giving a spiel for the 1936 film Happy Days Are Here Again (dir. Norman Lee). The Majestic was a cinema 1916-1938.
On the southeast corner of Market and High Streets is Barney Silbert coming out of his shoeshop to tell of his journey from Bialystock to 55 Ellen Street.
Highams Buildings still stand opposite. Mary Higham's husband died when he was only 40, so that she had to carry on the very successful business herself, tho she wasn't allowed to attend meetings of businessmen, and had to send her son.
The National Hotel is on another corner. Mary Higham's son, J.J. Higham sold the hotel in 1891 to James Hagan. He was the grandfather of actor James Hagan. His brother Patrick, found a huge gold nugget on the goldfields.
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 31 August, 2020 and hosted at freotopia.org/westend/walk3.html (it was last updated on 3 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.