DescriptionLatitude 32° 03' ; Longitude 115° 44'. 14m above sea level. Av. Temp summer (Jan) 18.3-27.7°C ; Winter (Jul) 10.2-17.6°C. Av. Annual rainfall 775mm. Though the residents of Albany would claim that theirs was the first settlement in Western Australia, the people of Fremantle feel they have a right to that honour. Indeed, Albany was the first settlement though it was established as a military outpost and not a colony. The first colonists who arrived with Captain Stirling in 1829 camped on Garden Island until preparations for their arrival on the mainland were completed. They started coming ashore in August 1829 near Arthurs Head, camping in the shelter of that hill on the south bank of the Swan River. Though many colonists continued up river with Stirling to what was to become Perth, many stayed by the coast to establish Fremantle, the port of the City of Perth and colony of Western Australia. Stirling named the port in honour of the master of the escort ship HMS Challenger, Captain Charles Howe Fremantle. He was the son of a British Admiral and younger brother of Baron Cottesloe of Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire, England. Fremantle, like Perth, had humble beginnings. The first allotments were taken up in September 1829. Five years later a daily mail service was commenced between Fremantle and Perth. Fremantle produced the colony's first newspaper, the handwritten 'Fremantle Observer', in 1830. The town's growth is reflected in the growth of the colony. In the 1890's the Perth to Fremantle railway was completed and the inner harbour of the Port of Fremantle was conceived and commenced by the great Engineer, C.Y. O'Connor. Many of the buildings of early Fremantle have been saved from the demolition hammmer thanks to the foresight of the City Council who have encouraged the restoration of old buildings in Fremantle as a heritage for the people of Western Australia.
