BATHERS BEACH NEEDS PROPER PLANNING

It is highly likely that the State Government will approve the application for a grant to install a shark enclosure at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach, but that alone is not enough. It is essential that Fremantle Council starts having a big picture approach to what else needs and could be done at our inner city beach. The small improvements that have been made there have been in drips and drabs, without proper long term planning for the area. That is not very good city planning by Fremantle Council.

The most important development has to be public toilets. It is not fair that Fishing Boat Harbour traders have become de facto public toilets for the general public, and not just their customers. The toilets on the Esplanade are too far away and require people to cross the railway line, and no one is going to do that in their bathers.

It might be a good idea for our councillors to re-visit the idea of partly developing the J Shed area at the northern end of Bathers Beach. There were plans in the past for a cafe with an alfresco deck, overlooking the beach, and of a small function centre for weddings, that are very popular in the historic West End. It could become a small bar in the evenings, so that people can enjoy the sunset while having a quit drink.

Council should however not go off the rails, as they did years ago, when they approved a tavern and outdoor music venue at J Shed, to the outrage of the community. That silliness was only stopped when the State Government ruled that it was inappropriate development for an A Class reserve.

I realise that changes to the reserve might upset some of the J Shed artists, who all are my friends, but we need to have out of the box thinking when it comes to activating Bathers Beach and the stunning West End of our city.

There have been many talks and plans for the area, for as long as I have been living in Freo, which is over 30 years, but very little has been done. It’s time for a rethink, because a shark enclosure on its own won’t do the job of drawing many more people to that end of town.

It would also be good to have a small sign at the entry to the Whalers Tunnel to indicate it is going to Bathers Beach. And could we also have some directions painted on the path, showing visitors that it is leading to Victoria Quay and the Maritime Museum. That should be very basic tourist information, but somehow the City of Fremantle appears incapable of doing the basics very well.

Roel Loopers

1.5 MILLION WA VOLUNTEERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

The Western Australian State of Volunteering report shows how dedicated people in WA are. More than 1.5 million people, 15 years and over, volunteered last year, donating 398 million hours of their time to the community. That is amazing! And all that free work created a massive $ 63.9 billion for WA. Wow!

I volunteered for about nine years as tourist guide at the Fremantle Roundhouse and loved the interaction with people from all over the world. It is great to be an ambassador for Fremantle and tell people about our city’s history and give them tips of places to go. The Shipwrecks and Maritime museums also have volunteers, and of course the City of Fremantle volunteer tourists guides are always out and about, walking the streets, and in the Visitor Centre and the Port Passenger Terminal, to assist tourists. The Victoria Quay tours at Fremantle Ports are also conducted by volunteers.

St Patricks and the Flying Angel also rely on their generous volunteers, who can also be found at hospitals, Vinnies, Salvation Army, etc. shops. There are generous Freo people everywhere trying to make a difference, and that is heart-warming to know.

Volunteering is very rewarding and uplifting. It is good for the heart and soul to assist other people. For those who are retired or unemployed, it gives you a purpose in life and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I highly recommend it!

Volunteering WA– http://www.volunteeringwa.org.au can help you to find the right organisation to volunteer at. There are many of them and they need our support.

Roel Loopers

FAMILY HISTORY LIVING IN THE ROUNDHOUSE

The WA State Library posted a lovely story with photos on Facebook about a woman who lived in the Fremantle Roundhouse.

Her father was a police officer and there were ten children in the family, so they lived in the old jail.

The top photo is of South Beach 1905, the centre ones of the Fishing Boat Harbour in 1905 and 1960, and the bottom one is of High Street, taken from the Roundhouse in 1903.

HENRIETTA BEAN WHO LIVED IN THE FREMANTLE ROUNDHOUSE – PART ONE

The following interview with Henrietta Stella Bean was recorded in 1975.

Eighty-eight years ago, I was born Henrietta Powers.

I lived a very secluded and pleasant life with my grandparents in Victoria until I was seven years old. They had servants and I was spoilt. But when I came to Western Australia, I was a stranger to all members of my family and became more or less their servant. It was a shock.

We lived in Lord Street, Fremantle in a terrace house until my father joined the police force. As there were no police quarters large enough to accommodate our family of ten children, we were permitted to move into the Roundhouse which was empty at the time.

I can remember the Roundhouse very clearly.

The front door was double and painted red. Once it was bolted on the inside no one could open it from the outside. It opened into a large dining room with lino on the floor. Upstairs there were enough bedrooms for the ten of us.

The courtyard off the kitchen consisted of large flagstones and all around the yard in a circle were ten cells.

Two cells were full of rubbish and the cats would get in there to catch rats.

One cell was used to store our toys and the one next door was our playroom.

Another cell was occupied by my grandfather who lived with us and next to that my father kept his tools, and as he was good at carpentry, the finished work was kept in the cell next to that.

One cell was used as a smoke room where we smoked fish. I remember we girls would also often slip out underneath the Roundhouse archway to buy fish at threepence a dozen, herring, and mullet, from the fishing boats as they came in. Then father would smoke them.

We kept our ducks in another cell. We always kept ducks as we preferred duck eggs to hen eggs. We would have fun letting them out when we flooded the yard. We’d fill bags with sand and put them over the drain so no water could get through. Then we’d turn on the taps until the water was deep and we’d take off our shoes and stockings, and paddle.

The ducks loved it and so did we.

We used to go down to the ships when they were in the harbour. One captain used to would invite my father, mother, my elder sister, and myself down of an evening. He would have parties on board for the people going on a journey, mostly to the Northwest.

One night I can remember him asking different ladies to sing and they wouldn’t because they’d left their music at home. We were all sitting looking at each other and at last, the captain said to my mother:

“Mrs. Power you’re the mother of a big family I’m sure you can give us something.”

To which my mother replied “I’m sorry I haven’t any music with me. The only thing we play at home is hymns.”

“Well Mrs. Powers” beamed the captain, “that’s one of my favourite music forms.”

The captain found the Sankey Sacred Songs Book and I can see him now, walking into the salon with it, taking my mother’s arm and walking her to the piano. Oh, what a voice he had, you could hear him above everyone else.

We would play on the beaches and Fremantle foreshore, but I would never swim or even paddle or even go near the water. This was because when my younger sister had typhoid fever and I had to nurse her, which involved every night at six o’clock, taking everything that came out from inside her in a bucket and emptying it into the sea.

I’m of a sensitive nature and throwing the buckets of slops into the sea started me thinking about all the other rubbish being thrown in. So I never put my foot in the water after that, not even to paddle. My sister on the other hand became a champion swimmer.

I started going to a State School when I was eight years old. I had a great big “Pommy” woman for a teacher. She had a ruler about a quarter of an inch thick and she was pretty rough. I was nervous and shy. I still have a lump where she smashed me on the head once and no hair will grow on it.

Mother took me straight up to the Head of the Education Department in Perth but all he said was “Take her home she must have deserved it, or she wouldn’t have got it”. So, my mother took us away from the school and paid for us to go to St Joseph Convent nearby.

I liked it very much at St Josephs. There was a park nearby where we’d eat lunch and play. The park was near the mental asylum and one day we saw somebody jumping over the asylum wall! The sisters ran out to us and took us quickly back to the school.

Stay tuned for PART ONE.

SOURCE – [Interview with Henrietta Stella Bean] [sound recording] / [interviewed by Jean Teasdale].

Bean, Henrietta Stella, 1889-?

Oral History | 1975.

Available at 2nd Floor Oral History Stack (Call number: OH73 Audio (Access) 1 cassette) plus 3 more

OUTDATED FREMANTLE TOURIST INFORMATION

The Woolstores shopping centre closed on October 17, 2021, and the Fremantle Post Office closed in November 2022, so why are they still displayed on the City of Fremantle tourist information signs?

The lack of care for these basic things is really very annoying. You can and must do better than that, Fremantle Council. Step up. Get your act together!

And when people Google about the Roundhouse they get this information. The photo attached to it is of Fremantle Prison. According to my info the Strawberry Farm in Albany is the oldest building in WA, while the Roundhouse is the oldest public building.

Roel Loopers

TRUTH TELLING AT FREMANTLE ROUNDHOUSE

I am over the moon to hear that the Fremantle Volunteer Heritage Guides at the old Roundhouse jail have received another Lotterywest grant for the next stage of new interpretive displays in WA’s oldest public building.

It has been a very long time coming, with plans for new displays starting over a decade ago, and an initial grant from Lotterywest in 2015. Historic content research has been done, and twenty Aboriginal Elders were consulted.

One of the major improvements of the displays will be truth telling about the Aboriginal history at Arthur’s Head and the connection with the awful Quod prison on Rottnest Island. The current displays do not tell any of that important history.

I can’t wait for the new displays to being installed.

Roel Loopers

VISITORS ENJOYING FREMANTLE

Plenty of people in Fremantle on this Thursday morning, enjoying the many good things our city has to offer. Great to see!

Roel Loopers

FLOATING FRANGIPANIS AT ARTHUR’S HEAD

I am far too old and cynical to be prone to exaggerations, but there are probably not enough superlatives in the world to adequately describe Louise, who created this stunning bowl of floating Frangipanis at the Glen Cowans Photo Gallery, next to the historic Roundhouse on Arthur’s Head. So let’s just say that she is wonderfully perfect.

Louise also makes beautiful Sea Drops Jewellery, with an ocean theme, so check out the gallery at Captain’s Lane, next to the old prison. The photos of her husband Glen are absolutely amazing and stunning. Great Christmas presents!

Roel Loopers

WHERE ARE THE WHALERS TUNNEL DISPLAYS?

There are not many things that annoy and frustrate this grumpy old blogger more than the neglect of historic Arthur’s Head. Fremantle Council does not have the money to properly maintain it, and the State Government is not interested in funding the care of the historic Fremantle precinct.

The three nooks inside the Whalers Tunnel used to display historic artifacts, but they were removed by the WA Maritime Museum about a decade ago, and never replaced. The nooks are now no longer lit up and look neglected. That is so disappointing.

There are many badly faded and damages tourist information signs all around Fremantle, which is due to the City neglecting to maintain or replace them. A sign we don’t really care about our history and tourism in good old Freo.

Roel Loopers

FASCINATING TIMEBALL ART SHOW AT PS ART SPACE

There is a fascinating exhibition by Rob Kettels in PS Art Space. It is part of the Signals Fremantle Biennale.

Boxes on the wall contain hundreds of small images that are constantly rotating at speed, depicting a story of the timeball and early seafarers.

In Fremantle the timeball is lowered behind the Roundhouse at 1pm every day, when the cannon is also fired. This was done in the past so that ships at berth could reset their chronometers. Having the correct time was essential for navigation, hence timeballs were common around the world.

The art is as intriguing as the story it tells, so head to Pakenham Street to have a look at the exhibition.

Roel Loopers

LOOPY’S LONG LIFE OF LOVE

I am 75-years-old today on October 25, so I allow myself the indulgence of reflecting on my life. It feels uncomfortably close to writing my own obituary, but who else knows as much about my life.

I was born in the Hague, Netherlands as the middle child of five, with two older sisters and a younger sister and brother. Like all, but one, of us I was born in our home behind the corner shop of my parents in a workers suburb in the inner city, close to the major hospital. The shop was originally a tobacconist, but because of the proximity to the hospital my parents also started selling magazines, softdrinks, sweets, etc.

Our home was very small and had only two bedrooms and no bathroom, so I shared a room with my three sisters until my mid teens. That was very educational, as it taught me respect and consideration.

I was not sure what to do with my life after school, but I had always loved photography and had my own darkroom, so when a call came from Germany that a daily newspaper in Nuremberg was looking for a photographer I was keen to give it a try.

So as a twenty-year-old I moved to the south of Germany in 1969 and started my career, working for one, then for another newspaper, plus shooting for the press agencies Deutsche Presse Agentur and UPI and AP.

I loved the excitement of news photography and learned so much about taking good photos and about other people and myself. I changed from a shy young man to an outgoing, assertive and confident professional.

After a few love affairs and broken hearts I met Brigitte, the woman I then lived with for twenty years. We traveled a lot in Europe, Africa and Asia, and on a visit to friends in Sydney, we decided to migrate to Australia, which we did a year later, in March 1982.

We did not know much at all about our new country, and definitely not that there was a recession in 1982, so finding a job was very hard. I worked as a kitchenhand and waiter, and did market research interviews with international tourists at Sydney airport.

But slowly photography work came up. I took photos for Rugby League Magazine, the Housing Commission of NSW, builders, etc

On an Easter holiday to Perth we liked it so much that we moved to WA in September 1985 and bought our first house, a little new villa, in Como. That year in December we also became Australian citizens.

We only knew two people in Perth, so it was a huge surprise that our photography business established so fast, with assignments for the State Energy Commission, graphic designers, advertising agencies, the mining industry, architects, the state government, etc.

Life was so good that we soon bought a lovely Californian bungalow in Swanbourne and built an extension to it. It was also our office and where I had my darkroom.

In the early 1990s Brigitte and I decided to split up, so I moved to Fremantle, where I bought a nice home in Bolton Place. But disaster, well kind of, struck and I entered a huge life-threatening depression. I saw only one way out to survive, and that was to sell everything I had, buy a 4×4 and aimlessly explore Australia.

I was emotionally as lost as one can be, but connecting with this wonderful country and our Aboriginal people, got me through-just.

Early 1996, after a 58,000km trip, I returned to Freo and rented a townhouse in Swanbourne Street, where I lived for ten years. I picked up where I left, added Fremantle Ports to my clients, became the photographer for WA Governor Gordon Reid, and flew from one mine site to the next for annual report photography.

I wrote my very first letter to a newspaper-the Fremantle Herald-about the racism against Aboriginal people I had witnessed during my trip, and became an avid letter writer to editors.

A few more love affairs, with a Canadian, a Serbian, a Tamil, and an Australian woman only got my heart more badly broken, so I had my fill of love.

Sadly, just over a decade ago, the depression raised it ugly head again and I went down in that deep dark hole, from which there seemed no escape. I came through it again though, but was financially at the end.

I nominated for Fremantle Council twice, but was not elected. I was awarded Fremantle Senior Citizen of the Year in 2013. I had several exhibitions of my photography in Perth, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Geraldton, Albany and Germany, one of them as large projections on the Fremantle Ports building during FotoFreo. I also curated shows, the most memorable one Sight Unseen at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, where I had asked blind people to take photos.

I decided five years ago that I had worked long enough and retired. Well, kind of. I started this Freo’s View blog 14 years ago, so that has given me a purpose in life and a reason to get out of bed every morning, to take photos, talk to people and write articles. It helps me to connect deeply with the Freo community.

I was a founding member of the Fremantle Aboriginal Reconciliation Group, volunteered at the Fremantle Roundhouse as a tourist guide for many years, was a long-time committee member of the Fremantle Society, and sat on Fremantle Council working groups for Aboriginal reconciliation, age-friendly city, etc.

I love people. I love it how different, but also how similar we are. Life is never boring. I have probably been more content in the last five years, on the government pension, than I was the previous ten years. I am aware that I probably won’t have too long to live, as so many people I know have passed away recently, hence this synopsis of my wonderful life, that had all the exciting ups and downs.

I’ll keep trying as long as the body allows me to make a positive difference to the city and community I love.

I love you, Freo! Thank you so much for making me feel so at home here! 🥰

Roel Loopers