If there’s one thing Perth can be very proud of, it’s the public transport. Free buses drive round the CBD, doing four different routes – what a great service. We took the free Red Cat bus to Perth Station, and boarded the train to Fremantle, which cost us $4.80 each for a 35 minute ride, quite a bargain, we felt.
Perth Station
The modern train whisked us through quite a number of stations until we reached our destination. Right in the centre of town we came across some well known Aussie icons, kookaburras sitting in a tree.
Kookaburra
What better thing to do than board the Fremantle Tram Tour to show us the sights, and save our legs.
Hop-on Hop-off Tram Tour
Our laid back tour took us through town with lots of interesting older style buildings, and down to the harbour, past both old and new housing, parks, schools and the hospital. Many of the former wool warehouses have now been turned into apartments.
Hotel in the middle of town
Fremantle was founded in 1829 and established as a “free settlement” with the arrival of 400 settlers. But as the years went on there was not enough labour to get the town up and running. The decision was made regardless of the public opinion against, and in November 1849 it was officially announced that The Swan River Colony as it was known back then had been ‘constituted a penal settlement’ to accelerate the economic growth. The first 75 convicts arrived in 1850 to be followed by over nine thousand more convicts before 1868.
Fremantle Prison was built as a convict barracks in the 19th century and remained in continual use until 1991. The Prison was a place of hangings, floggings, dramatic convict escapes and prisoner riots. Inmates included imperial convicts, colonial prisoners, enemy aliens, prisoners of war and maximum-security detainees. Fremantle Prison is one of the largest surviving convict prisons in the world today and is now a World Heritage Site.
Our tour took us up to Monument Hill Memorial Reserve to view the handsome War Memorial.
The United States Submariners Memorial was erected in 1967 to honour the bravery and sacrifice made by US Submariners stationed in Fremantle during WW11.
Memorials on Monument Hill
Fremantle has a busy harbour with many fishing and pleasure vessels docked. But the harbour and the Royal Perth Yacht Club will forever be remembered for defending the America’s Cup against Dennis Connor in 1987. Sadly the Aussies couldn’t hold on to the cup, but Fremantle was put on the world stage during the racing.
Down at the harbour
After a light lunch in “Cappuccino Strip”, chock full of cafes and bars, we caught another free Cat bus back to Fremantle Station for our return trip back to Perth.
Fremantle Station
Half an hour or so later we were back in Perth, weary feet taking us back to the hotel to take our shoes off, put our feet up and have a cuppa – oh, the relief.
Our train at Perth Station
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