The Western Australian Museum celebrates Western Australia’s maritime history in a location that has witnessed a significant part of that story – Fremantle Port.
The port of Fremantle has a long history. Aboriginal people call this place Manjaree (Gathering place) and it was to become a meeting place of cultures.
The entrance to the Swan River was depicted in the first known landscape painting of the Australian coast (Willem de Vlamingh’s voyage, 1696-97). Captain Fremantle raised the British flag nearby in 1829, signaling the beginning of the Swan River colony. During World War II, the harbour supported the biggest Allied submarine base in the southern hemisphere.
Fremantle was the western gateway to Australia. Millions of migrants arrived by sailing ship, steamship, naval vessel and ocean liner. Many of these migrants made Western Australia their home, while others stepped ashore here en route to new lives in the eastern states.
The State of Western Australia pays tribute to those migrants from many lands and cultures who have played such a huge role it’s social, economic and cultural development.
Welcome Walls Office