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The recorded history of Fremantle extends from the first European settlement, in 1829, to the present day.

Prehistory

Fremantle was originally connected to Rottnest Island, but rising sea levels cut the island off from the Western Australian mainland approximately 7,000 years ago. The area around the mouth of the Swan River was inhabited by the Whadjuk subgroup of the Noongar people, who called the area Walyalup or Munjaree. The limestone hills upon which the present townsite was established were known as Booyeembara. Traditionally, the limestone bar at the mouth of the Swan River was the only crossing place between the coast and the area upriver near the present Perth CBD. Arthur Head was used as a camping site during the autumn due to its location on the coast and the presence of a mineral spring. Aborigines caught fish and crayfish using fish traps, as well as the occasional beached whale found on the shoreline. These sites were usually only temporary, as the sparse vegetation found on the limestone ridge could not support the larger marsupials which made up most of their diet. The North Fremantle and Beeliar Wetlands provided a greater food supply, and there were "well-worn tracks" from Fremantle to Bibra Lake, and farther south to present-day Rockingham and Mandurah.

European exploration and settlement

Early expeditions

The Swan River was first described by the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh in 1697, who named it the Swaart Swaene-Rivier. With a small number of his crew, Vlamingh sailed upriver as far as the mudflats near what is now Heirisson Island. The expedition produced the first drawings of the area. Although the original drawings have been lost, several copies were made, including the 1726 engraving by François Valentijn entitled Swartte Swaane Drift Op Het Eyland Rottnest. The next European expedition to explore the area was the French Baudin expedition of 1801, led by Nicolas Baudin in the corvettes Naturaliste and the Géographe. Phillip Parker King visited the area in 1822, but did not the area appealing for immediate settlement. Captain James Stirling, accompanied by the botanist Charles Fraser, in the HMS Success, explored the Swan River and Western Australian coastline in March 1827. Arriving back in England in 1828, Stirling lobbied for the establishment of a "free settlement"^[a] which was the prelude to the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829.

Swan River Colony

The site favoured by Captain Charles Fremantle for the new settlement was the beach at Arthur Head, later known as Bathers Bay. This site was clearly visible from the sea, with a mineral spring nearby serving as a water supply. Fremantle's first initiative was to construct a deep trench and palisaded wall around the camp, to serve as protection against a feared French or native invasion.

The barque Parmelia, carrying colonists, arrived via Garden Island in late 1829, with the military camp transforming into a shanty town. Much of the vegetation near the dune area was gathered for firewood and building material. A noted settler, George Fletcher Moore, described the townsite in 1830 as follows:

A bare, barren-looking district of sandy coast; the shrubs cut down for firewood, the herbage trodden bare, a few wooden houses, many ragged-looking tents and contrivances for habitations...a few cheerless, dissatisfied people with gloomy looks, plodding their way through the sand from hut to hut to drink grog, and grumble out their discontents to each other
— George Fletcher Moore, 1830

Reports send back to England of the first few months at the Swan River Colony were unfavourable The village of Fremantle had taken on its basic shape by 1831. Most activity centred on the area below the Round House, a prison built in 1830 and designed by Henry Willey Reveley. Settlement expanded firstly north-east along the river to Preston Point, and then eastwards, avoiding the many small lakes.

Goldrush

Recent history

America's Cup

Gage Roads was chosen as the host of the 1987 America's Cup yachting race. The city underwent a spate of large developments, including the re-opening and extension of the Fremantle railway line

Notes

^a As opposed to the penal colonies existing at New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Norfolk Island.