Inns and Outs of Fremantle: A social history of Fremantle and its hotels from 1829 - 1929

By Allen Graham and Professor Peter Newman AO

There is no town in Western Australia which has a richer history and heritage than Fremantle. Established in 1829 it was where the first colonists to what was then called Swan River Colony first landed. However, the history of Fremantle cannot be told in isolation so any story about Fremantle is also a story about Western Australia and if storekeeping was the first occupation to be followed in the new colony, then hotel keeping was the next. Within six months of the colony being founded Fremantle had four hotels so this book traces the history of those early Fremantle hotels and how they, and the hotels that followed, shaped the culture and appearance of Fremantle today. To know the history of those hotels is to know the history of Fremantle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Sep 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369492628

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Copyright © 2023 by Allen Graham. 850978

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2023912945

Rev. date: 09/29/2023

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface and Dedication

Acknowledgements

Conversion Tables

List of Illustrations

Surveyor General Roe’s 1833 map of Fremantle

Key to hotels in the town of Fremantle listed in order of opening.

Location of inner Fremantle hotels from 1 January 1830

Introduction

Chapter 1 Fremantle’s foundation and its first hotels 1829 - 1830

Chapter 2 Hard times and duelling colonists 1830 - 1834

Chapter 3 Improvements to Fremantle, problems with grog and hotel names. 1833 - 1834

Chapter 4 Fremantle in decay but helped by whaling. 1835 – 1837

Chapter 5 Farewell Governor Stirling, welcome Governor Hutt. 1838 - 1840

Chapter 6 Depression: economic and emotional. 1840 – 1845

Chapter 7 New Governors and old prejudices. 1846 - 1848

Chapter 8 The convicts arrive. 1849 - 1852

Chapter 9 Rivalry and ambition. 1852 - 1854

Chapter 10 Governor Kennedy and the Public House Ordinance. 1855 – 1856

Endnotes

Bibliography

INNS AND OUTS OF

FREMANTLE

A social history of Fremantle

and its hotels from 1829 - 1929

Part One: Early Fremantle Hotels 1829 - 1856

FOREWORD

‘Pubs and Freo,’ what a great topic for a book or two. Pubs are still a good reason for people to come to Fremantle. And anyone with a hint of interest in history would know that Pubs have been a basic feature of civilization for thousands of years.

Civilization? Really?

Yes, Pubs matter a lot for at least three good reasons.

1. Pubs remind us that we need clean drinking water as it was not a regular commodity for most of human history – except in the form of beer and wine. Thus, Pubs could be a reliable and healthy way to avoid major diseases. The Temperance Unions had no hope until purified drinking came along with chlorination. People travelling know that Pubs are still the safest way to move around the world.

2. Pubs remind us that we live in communities, not just for ourselves. This is where we meet our friends to catch up, relax, and talk about how the world should be. I reckon the Greek philosophers planned how to do democracy in a Polis from a Pub 2,500 years ago.

3. Pubs remind us that we cannot just work and sleep, we need a life that includes recreation. The 888 sign above the Old Trades Hall opposite the Esplanade Hotel, was all about that campaign in the 19th century for a better balanced life. And the Pubs were central to creating the revolutionary fervour needed to win this issue. The Pubs of Europe were part of many such revolutions. We can look back now and see that we owe them a lot for stirring the pot on such social change.

Pubs are a legacy place to savour, and it helps to know the story of each.

Well done, Allen, you have done a great job compiling our Fremantle history through the eyes of each Pub and its rollicking crews. May their role continue to be significant.

Peter Newman AO

Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University, and longtime Fremantle resident.

PREFACE AND DEDICATION

This book is the first in a trilogy of books that record the first hundred years of hotel-keeping in Fremantle from 1829 to 1929, which also means it is the first hundred years of hotel-keeping in Western Australia. However, it is just not a story of Fremantle’s hotels for it is also a chronicle of Fremantle’s history during that period of time.

What started out to be a coffee-table book of hotels with a bit of history accompanying the pictures gradually grew into something much bigger over time. When I started on this project with the coffee-table idea in mind, I would go into the Battye Library hoping to add to the history of a hotel; but one golden nugget of information would inspire a search for another. That accumulation of information compounded over time to a level where I had more material than needed for a coffee-table book and before long I had more information than was necessary for one book (and so it went on) and now that story of Fremantle and its hotel will be told in a trilogy of books.

This book covers the period 1829 - 1856 and closes with the end of Fremantle’s first golden age of hotel keeping at the end of 1856. The second covers the period 1857 - 1890 and closes at the time that Western Australia moved from being a colony of Britain to becoming a self-governing state. The third covers the period 1891 - 1929 which spreads across some of the most exciting times in the history of Western Australia. It covers the magnificent period of the gold rush; the early years of the twentieth century with its prosperity and plagues; World War One; and the Roaring Twenties and ends just as the world enters the Great Depression.

When I started work on this project in the early 1980s I was a single man; but since then, a lot has happened in my life. I have married, raised two sons, been a councillor with the City of Fremantle, completed a master’s degree, built three houses, and unfortunately became a widower. Nonetheless, there were many years when my late wife, Deidre, was very supportive of me spending Saturday afternoons at the Battye Library, so, while she is no longer here to see that early research materialise into this book, it is with pleasure that I dedicate this book to the memory of Deidre.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When it has taken over forty years to complete a book like this, it is difficult to know, or more particularly to remember, who to thank. In many respects, the writing of this book has been a very solitary experience with many stops and starts along the way. With that said, I will do my best to remember those people who have helped me over those forty years.

The very first person I need to thank is Larraine Stevens who was the Local History Librarian at the City of Fremantle when I first started on the coffee table book idea in the early 1980s. That thanks also extends to Betty McGeever, the then Fremantle Librarian, and other library staff who were at the Fremantle library between 1982 and 1990. More recently I need to thank Stewart Alger, the current Local History Engagement Officer for his help with the pictures that appear in this book and in the following books in this trilogy.

One of the stops along the way was when I moved to a new job at the City of Cockburn and so I was no longer the regular visitor at the City of Fremantle Library that I had been, but then I discovered the Battye Library which became my weekend retreat. This was a time of reading the old newspapers on the microfilm rolls and while I cannot remember any names of the library staff from that time, I do know that I received great help from the staff who were looking after the level three enquiry desk during the 1990s and into the early years of the 21st century.

There have been several drafts of this book over the years, and I have asked friends to read those drafts and to give me some comments on what they had read. Accordingly, I need to thank Bob O’Malley, Richard Johnston, Lance ‘Blackie’ Black, Debbie Hindley, Jenny Stedmon, and Jenny’s mum for their time and encouragement. Thanks also goes to Gerry Nolan, another good friend (and a surveyor) who helped with clearing up some of the Lot numbers of some of the hotels. A special thanks also goes to Gerry’s colleague, Scott Wittber of MNG, who prepared the very impressive map of the hotels that is on the cover of this book.

More recently I have to thank my two sons, Matthew, and Connor, who have reminded me that I am not getting any younger and they have pushed me into getting the book published. I had started this book before either of them was born so they, more than any other people, know how many hours I have l spent on it. I even encouraged Connor to play for a north of the river water polo team, just so I could take him to training at Beatty Park on a Saturday afternoon so that I could get to the Battye Library for a few hours of research. (As a south of the river person I should be embarrassed about admitting that I allowed him to play for a north of the river team!)

With that push from my sons, I made it a goal to get this book published in 2023 and another person I need to thank is Garry Gillard, a name well-known name in Fremantle history circles with his own website Freotopia. Garry contacted me when I was looking for somebody to give me a fresh assessment of the book, but Garry went further than that by doing a thorough proofreading of the draft, as well as other editing suggestions which proved invaluable and took me a step closer to getting the book published.

The last people I need to thank are the team at Xlibris for their help in making the book a reality. After forty years, I think it has been worth the wait.

CONVERSION TABLES

Imperial to Metric

1 inch = 2.54 centimetres

12 inches or 1 foot = 30.5 centimetres

3 feet or 1 yard = 0.91 metre

1,760 yards or 1 mile = 1.61 kilometres

1 acre = 0.41 hectare

1 pint = 0.57 litre

8 pints or 1 gallon = 4.55 litres

I gill = 5 imperial fluid ounces = 142 ml

I nip (or shot) = 30 ml

I hogshead = 54 imperial gallons = 245.5 litres

1 ounce (oz) = 28.35 grams

16 ounces = 1 pound (lb) = 0.45 kilograms

14 pounds (lbs) = 1 stone = 6.35 kilograms

One ton = 1.02 tonnes

100⁰ Fahrenheit = 37.8⁰ Celsius

One penny (1d) = 1 cent

One shilling (1/-0): 12 pence = 10 cents

One pound (Ł1): 20 shillings = 2 dollars

One guinea (Ł1 1s) = 21 shillings = 2 dollars and ten cents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

SURVEYOR GENERAL ROE’S

1833 MAP OF FREMANTLE

(SROWA, cons 3868/109)

1%20-Surveyor%20General%20Roe%27s1833%20%20map%20of%20Fremantle.jpg

KEY TO HOTELS IN THE TOWN

OF FREMANTLE LISTED IN

ORDER OF OPENING.

(Suburban hotels of Fremantle are not listed)

LOCATION OF INNER FREMANTLE

HOTELS FROM 1 JANUARY 1830

(Listed in order of opening)

2%20-Map%20with%20location%20of%20hotels.jpg

INTRODUCTION

It is ironic that what we now know as the state of Western Australia, which covers one-third of the oldest continent on Earth, was one of the last places on the planet to be touched by the hand of European settlement. That irony is amplified by the fact that while Europeans, and initially the English, have only lived on this land for no more than 200 years, its indigenous people, the Aboriginals (who are the oldest civilisation on Earth) have lived on the land for 65,000 years. Accordingly, this book acknowledges and respects the Aboriginal clan groups of Western Australia as the traditional owners and custodians of this ancient land. This story of Fremantle and its hotels is told from an Anglo-European perspective, but it is in no way intended to diminish, or disrespect, any of that Aboriginal history.

It had always been thought, or imagined since the age of antiquity, that there was a great land mass to the south of the known world, but it was not until 1606 when Willem Janszoon, the captain of the Duyfken, or Little Dove, first set foot on the Australian mainland at the Pennefather River in the Gulf of Carpentaria. This proved that there was a substantial land mass in the southern oceans and during the 17th century, Dutch explorers and lost sea captains were to add considerably to the world’s knowledge of this southern continent. It was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who in 1644 named the continent New Holland, although the full extent and shape of the continent were not known at that time.

The Dutch at the time were the most active seafaring nation in the Indian Ocean as they sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and proceeded north to what was then known as the East Indies, or the Spice Islands, but which are today known as Indonesia. The capital of the East Indies was Batavia which is today known as Jakarta.

The seafarers of this time were always looking for more efficient trade routes, and it was in 1611 that a Dutchman by the name of Henrik Brouwer trialled a new trade route which significantly reduced the sailing time it took to get to the East Indies. The route proposed by Brouwer required a ship’s captain, on rounding the Cape of Good Hope, to continue sailing in a straight easterly direction at about 36 degrees latitude until they reached that degree of longitude which would place them in alignment with the Sunda Strait, at which time they would turn north and sail onto the East Indies.

While that mid-ocean point was a long way from the west coast of New Holland, a miscalculation of longitude, or the strength of the prevailing westerly breezes could blow a ship close to the New Holland coast. The first authenticated Dutch connection to Western Australia was in October 1616 when Dirk Hartog landed on what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island located in those waters known as Shark Bay.

From that time onwards many Dutch ships had close encounters with the New Holland coast and while many navigated it successfully, others were wrecked on the unforgiving coast. Over the next hundred years, the Dutch became very familiar with this coastline and the unexplored Swan River was known to the Dutch as early as 1619.

The Dutch were not interested in exploring the river at that time and it was not until 1697 that the river was first explored by Dutch sailors, who were under the command of Willem de Vlamingh. De Vlamingh was leading an expedition of three ships that were searching for a missing Dutch trader, and it was at this time that de Vlamingh named the river the Swan due to the abundance of the black swans that inhabited it. de Vlamingh also named the coastal island Rottnest.

The 17th century was the golden age of the East Indian spice trade, but the 18th century saw a downturn in the trading fortunes of the Dutch East India Company. Consequently, there were fewer Dutch ships following this trade route and there were fewer tales of shipwrecks, or voyages of exploration along the western coast of New Holland at this time. The Dutch had no interest in claiming this large and barren land mass for they were only interested in the riches of the East Indies, and when de Vlamingh’s expedition left the New Holland coast, one of the expedition’s ships, the Nijptangh, fired off three cannon shots ‘as a signal of farewell to the miserable Southland.’¹

It was not until the late 18th century and early years of the 19th century that the Europeans, notably the French and the English, rediscovered their interest in New Holland – for that name now only applied to the western side of the continent as the eastern side had become known as New South Wales in 1770 when Captain Cook gave that name to that part of the continent.

One of the most prominent of the French explorers was Nicholas Baudin who undertook a large natural science exploration along the lower southwest and southern coast of New Holland. This expedition was undertaken during the years 1801-1803. The sailors and scientists of this expedition sailed on two ships, with Baudin captaining the Geographe, and Felix Hamelin skippering the Naturaliste. For much of their time in the southern oceans, the ships sailed alone, and while Hamelin spent two weeks exploring the Swan River, they could find nothing good to say about it.

Baudin bypassed the Swan River at this time but returned to it in 1803. However, he chose not to do any more exploration of the river, for after hearing what Hamelin, and others from the Naturaliste, had said about the river, he wrote that it ‘was not worth the trouble of stopping there.’²

The next European to explore the Swan River was Captain James Stirling who explored the river in March 1827 and whose report was influential in leading to the establishment of the Swan River Colony.

Stirling, a Scotsman, was born in 1791 and saw action in the Americas during the War of 1812. In 1815 at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, he was retired on half pay. During the time that he was on half-pay, he married Ellen Mangles, the daughter of James Mangles, who was a director of the East India Company. After their marriage, the couple lived close to her family, and Appleyard and Manford in their book The Beginning suggest that Stirling and James Mangles ‘must have discussed the possible implications of the western part of the Australian continent being unclaimed and that when it was claimed, Swan River would be the most likely place to establish a settlement.’³ Those discussions no doubt sowed the seeds for the ambitions he later held for establishing a colony at the Swan River with him as the governor.

In February 1826 Stirling was recalled to active service when he was given command of a new ship, HMS Success, and was assigned the task of carrying supplies and coinage to New South Wales. It took a number of months to prepare and load the ship for the long trip out to New South Wales and the ship finally left on its mission on 9 June 1826.

After being delayed by some calm weather and some layovers at the Cape of Good Hope, and Mauritius, the Success finally rounded Cape Leeuwin on 4 November 1826. Pamela Statham-Drew in her biography of Stirling writes that ‘it was probably around this time that his plans to explore the west coast above Cape Leeuwin finally took definite shape.’⁴ More likely his head was swirling with ambitious thoughts much greater than just exploring that part of the coastline. Consequently, from this time onwards the Swan River, with all its prospects, real, or imagined, was to consume all of Stirling’s energies for the next twelve years.

But Rome was not built in a day, so before any grand colonial ambitions could be realised he had to first secure permission to explore the Swan River, and by the time Success sailed into Port Jackson on 26 November Stirling had already prepared a report in which he sought permission to undertake an exploration of the Swan River and the ocean around it.

The report outlined the many advantages that the British government would benefit from if they were to establish a colony at the Swan River. While some of them may have been wishful thinking, one point that grabbed the attention of Governor Darling in New South Wales (and later the Colonial Office and the British Admiralty) was the very real, but unwanted prospect that the French may lay claim to New Holland ahead of Britain.

However, there were things that were not known to Stirling (or the powers-that-be) and they were, did the Swan River possess fertile soil and fresh water in sufficient quantities to support a settlement, and did it possess a safe anchorage for naval and merchant ships?⁵

Those questions could only be answered by exploration, so it was not long before Governor Darling gave permission to Stirling to lead an expedition to the Swan River. Accordingly, Stirling sailed from Port Jackson on 17 January 1827 and after delivering currency to Hobart, he then sailed west and reached Rottnest on 5 March 1827.

Stirling remained at the Swan River until 25 March, undertaking both land and ocean exploration. At the end of those three weeks, and contrary to what had been found by the Dutch and the French, he was satisfied that any colony at the Swan River would have a plentiful water supply, could provide good agricultural land, and have a safe harbour in what he named Cockburn Sound. However, it has to be said that neither the agricultural land nor the harbour proved to be as good as Stirling made them out to be.

Stirling used the time that it took to return to Port Jackson to write his report on what he had found at the Swan River and to begin his campaign for a settlement to be established there. While that was a decision that remained to be made by the British Government, he must have been getting confident that a decision agreeing to it would at some time be made and so he optimistically wrote to Lord Bathurst of the Colonial Office seeking for himself ‘the honour of its Superintendence and Government’⁶ should it be agreed to establish a settlement at the Swan River.

By now Governor Darling was fully committed to the idea of establishing a colony at the Swan River and in his covering letter that accompanied Stirling’s report to the Colonial Office he not only urged ‘that no time should be lost in taking the necessary steps’⁷ but also put in a good word for Stirling when he wrote ‘I beg to be permitted to mention him as an Officer highly deserving Your Lordship’s approbation and the confidence of His Majesty’s Government.’

The rest, as they say, is history, for from the time that Stirling returned to England on 7 July 1828 he worked tirelessly in urging the British Government to establish a colony at the Swan River. Clearly, that was no easy task, so one cannot help but admire his tenacity when it is considered that it only took five months between the time of his arrival back in England to the time that it took the Government to commit to the formation of a colony at Swan River. Furthermore, there was only another two months to pass before the first colonists left Portsmouth on the voyage of a lifetime, and it is from that point in history that this story starts.

CHAPTER ONE

Fremantle’s foundation and its first hotels

1829 - 1830

T he history of hotel keeping in Fremantle begins with the very first colonists to Western Australia, or more appropriately, the Swan River Colony as it was known in 1829 at the time that Captain Stirling (who also held the office of Lieutenant Governor) and his first fleet of settlers arrived to settle the western third of Australia. Captain Stirling and his small flotilla of two ships, if two ships can be called a flotilla, left Portsmouth in February 1829 to sail for the Swan River where they were to establish a colony on behalf of the British government.

He, along with his expectant wife, their one child, and about one hundred other settlers sailed in the Parmelia, while a lesser number of settlers sailed in the companion ship HMS Sulphur. The passenger list of the Sulphur was made up of soldiers from the 63rd Regiment and their wives and families under the command of Captain Frederick Chidley