Fremantle offers travellers different ways to explore cultural history: the Round House, tours about the history of the prison, and a museum with a free gallery tour. Fishing Boat Harbour is also one of the defining features of the area: it is a tourism and leisure destination as well as an active maritime area. An annual tradition adds to this picture. When planning your trip, it may help to ask: are you most interested in a place’s history, a guided introduction, or the connection between leisure and maritime work?
Buildings and their history
The Round House at Arthur Head Reserve is the oldest surviving public building in Western Australia. As a popular tourist attraction, it tells visitors about the difficult and complex history of Arthur Head Reserve. Both the historic building and the history of the place are therefore in focus. If you are interested in this topic, you can consider both aspects together: the surviving building and the history of the Reserve, which the Round House presents.
The Fremantle Arts Centre offers a different historical focus. The building was originally built as a “lunatic asylum” in the 19th century. Its former use gives the topic of architectural history a distinct direction. At the Round House, the history of Arthur Head Reserve is explicitly linked to the attraction; at the Arts Centre, the building’s original use is the particular historical connection. Comparing the two topics therefore brings visitors to different questions about Fremantle’s past without reducing them to a single story.
History through guided tours
Fremantle Prison offers a range of tours that explore the prison’s history. Here, the history of the prison itself is the focus, while the Round House also tells visitors about the history of Arthur Head Reserve. The tours on offer may change. So check which tours are available for your travel dates before you visit.
The WA Shipwrecks Museum offers a free tour of its galleries. It runs daily, except during school holidays. If you would like to plan for the tour, check the dates for your travel period, especially if you are travelling during school holidays. This lets you factor the offer into your plans without assuming that the prison tours follow a fixed or unchanging programme.
Fishing Boat Harbour and a recurring tradition
Fishing Boat Harbour is a major tourism and leisure destination while remaining an active maritime area. Both functions are part of what defines the harbour: leisure and tourism sit alongside its maritime working role. Since 1948, the Italian tradition of the Blessing of the Fleet has been held annually in Fremantle; the procession ends at Fishing Boat Harbour. The harbour is therefore relevant not only as a leisure and maritime destination, but also as the procession’s endpoint. If the event is important to your travel plans, check the specific event dates in advance.
Choose the focus of your stay
When searching for hotels in Fremantle, you can first decide whether guided introductions to history, architectural history or maritime topics should be the focus of your stay. This gives your choice of destination a specific purpose. When planning, also bear in mind that the tours offered at Fremantle Prison may change and that the WA Shipwrecks Museum has an exception during school holidays.
Discover more destinations: The Vines, Stoneville, Gosnells, Mahogany Creek, Secret Harbour, Bentley, Millendon, Rottnest Island
For the broader travel overview: Perth.
