2023 Fremantle Carnevale

The 2023 Fremantle Carnevale went off with a bang on Sunday 19 February in the traditional Freo Carnevale Masked Mystery Ramble through the People’s Republic of Fremantle, and featured 2023 Fremantle Queen of Carnevale Methane Meg O’Neill (the CEO of Woodarse Energy). Her effigy (expertly constructed by Fremantle Carnevale artists) was paraded through the streets in her stylish blue Maserati to the beat of Drummers for Climate Action (as readers of the Worst Australian will remember, Meg’s Maserati was recently recovered by police following a theft by a group of joyriding eshay hoodlums).

Methane Meg’s existing relationship with WA Premier Mark McGowan was later formalised by Monsignora Emissiona in a Carnival Marriage and State Capture ceremony held outside the Fremantle Markets. As dowry the WA Premier provided Methane Meg with:

‘the entire State of Western Australia, its earth, air and sky, and all living creatures within its land, waters, and atmosphere [cough]. I’m even willing to thrown in for free the world’s oldest and largest outdoor rock art gallery, the Burrup Peninsula. And as a special token of my slave like devotion to Methane Meg and her Fossil Fuel Foolery, here’s a Social License to operate signed by me, the Premier of Western Australia, Minister for State Development Roger Cook, Environment Minister Reece Whitby and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti’.

The theme of this year’s Fremantle Carnevale was of course ‘Fossil Fuel Foolery’, and the celebrations continued at the Fibonacci Centre with another appearance by the Queen of Fossil Fuel Fools herself, Methane Meg and her lapdog Bark McGowan.

With the assistance of her WA heritage consultant Dodgy Steve, she then released the 2023 Fremantle Carnavale Manifesto.

Masked revellers then danced the night away to the music of Southern Italian divas Antonietta D’Elia and Nikki D’Agostino and long time Freo Carnevale favourites Junkadelic Brass Band.

For more spectacular images from the 2023 Freo Carnevale and other Carnivals around the world, head to this Carnevale Facebook page.

* Great street photographs by Lidia D’Opera

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