Rarely a Dull Moment – City Plan Making a Big Splash, Manjaree and Beyond, Soon We’ll Know How Many Holes it Takes to Fill the Victoria Hall

Council night. 28 May 2025. Time for home viewers to rug up and switch on the livestream for this Ordinary Council Meeting with a little winter warmer, if you fancy. I wonder if absentee audience members usually present in the room wisely joined me on the sofa tonight to pause and rewind as they please. Perhaps it’s the muscat talking but the video “lobby” music that preludes the start of the meeting is slowly growing on me. I emphasise slowly.

Quite a few interesting titbits this evening.

Allegations of defamation by the Mayor towards the Fremantle Society and threats of legal action, made by current society president John Dowson, alluding to a Facebook reel Mayor Fitzhardinge posted about a letter the Fremantle Society purportedly sent her, which Mr Dowson fiercely disputes and claimed was misquoted. The contents of this letter may be publicly revealed once the minutes of this meeting are released.

Not all doom and gloom this evening. Highlights included an endearing gift of a twelve-year old South Fremantle Football Club scrapbook from Cr Camarda to Cr Graham, citing Stephen Michael’s WAFL legacy from 1975 to 1985 as “the greatest WA player not to make the move east at the time” and a proud Noongar man. Good show.

And this week is National Reconciliation Week, with 1000 people attending the breakfast at the Fremantle Passenger Terminal on Tuesday which the Mayor lauded as a “beautifully done” event that was one of the best to her recollection. Achievements of the Reconciliation Action Plan Group were cited, alongside the Walyalup Aboriginal Centre and staff.

MANJAREE AREA – VISION, PURPOSE AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES

In the lead up to the bicentenary of the Swan River Colony’s formalisation, the area encompassing Bathers Beach | Manjaree to Arthur Head and the Round House warrants a holistic examination of its history and its future from both a post and pre-colonisation.

While the Round House is the oldest remaining European-constructed building in Western Australia, the precinct has a much longer history that hasn’t featured quite as prominently in the public eye until recently.

The report informs us:

“Manjaree is a key public site with significant cultural and historical importance in Walyalup | Fremantle. Manjaree includes areas known as Bathers Beach and Arthur Head, which have long been sites for ceremonies, kinship, and cultural exchange by the Whadjuk Nyoongar people. The headland and nearby islands form part of the ancestral songlines, offering a powerful vantage point to experience culture and heritage. Manjaree is where colonial history began in Walyalup | Fremantle. These deep and intersecting layers create opportunities for truth-telling, cultural continuity and shared understanding.

“The Manjaree area features the Round House, Western Australia’s oldest public building, and significant heritage sites, including the Whalers Tunnel, limestone walls, stairs, and buildings on Captains Lane, Mrs Trivett Place, Kidogo Arthouse and the J-Shed. The Walyalup Aboriginal Cultural Centre has operated in the Manjaree area since 2014.”

Here is an astonishing historic view of the precinct from the City of Fremantle archives:

Manjaree Area and View of Arthur Head Likely from 1905

Cr Archibald outlined a heartfelt account of the importance of this project, the engagement undertaken over the past ten years plus, and stressed that despite the assertations during Public Statement Time by the Fremantle Society, this “item is not all we are doing for 2029” but it forms an integral part of it.

The item formed a precursor to a protracted but optimistic account by councillors of recent reconciliatory movement by the WA community and particularly by the City in recent truth telling via open-minded and frank discussions. It was recognised that “Fremantle is leading the nation” during this week’s WA Tourism Conference.

The Vision, Purpose, and Guiding Principles will direct the City in its work to deliver and renew amenities within the precinct as “a place where life, heritage, culture, art and tourism coexist and thrive.”

Council unanimously resolved to adopt a slightly amended officer recommendation (to include historians) that it:

1. Adopt the revised vision, purpose, and guiding principles for the Manjaree area, which encompasses Bathers Beach and the Arthur Head/Round House precinct, as follows:

Vision

Manjaree will be a vibrant, inclusive, creative precinct where First Nations culture, colonial heritage, and contemporary arts and culture connect and thrive together through community-led initiatives supported by the City.

Purpose

Manjaree will provide accessible spaces and opportunities for creative expression, cultural celebration, and community connection in Walyalup | Fremantle. It is a place of significant cultural and historical importance for Western Australia, where the local community, the wider state community, and visitors are engaged and welcomed. 

Guiding Principles

Ensure First Nations Leadership contributes to the development of the Manjaree area.  Whadjuk leadership and truth-telling are central to Manjaree’s identity.

Be a place to belong and contribute. An inclusive, welcoming, and respectful environment where diverse community members can contribute to and benefit from Manjaree’s development, fostering collaboration and a collective purpose. 

Be a place of cultural significance. Recognise, educate, and celebrate through creative and cultural programming which engages with the site’s significance to the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, colonial history, and contemporary creative communities. 

Be a place that thrives and evolves. Develop balanced economic opportunities that support creative and cultural industries responding to changing economic, environmental, and social conditions. Ensure Manjaree remains sustainable and responsive to the community’s aspirations.

Note that a community engagement process will now proceed; the process to develop an understanding as to how the groups and individuals listed below respond to the vision, purpose and guiding principles:

• Local Whadjuk Elders 20/59
• Current tenants of the Manjaree area
• Relevant State government agencies including but not limited to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH); Rottnest Island Authority; Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Tourism WA, Lotterywest
• Relevant community groups , including historians
• Relevant creative industry stakeholders
• The City will also put a call out through the City’s digital channels inviting any other interested parties to participate in the engagement process.

2. Note the Vision, Purpose and Guiding Principles will inform the development of a management plan, and any subsequent funding implications will be considered through the annual budget process.
3. Note that the Towards 2029 Working Group will be updated on the engagement process and next stages of work as they relate to 2029 objectives.

VICTORIA HALL EXPRESSION OF INTEREST PROCESS UPDATE

A long saga now for veteran readers and fans of the Hall.

As you already know, the City of Fremantle has been managing an Expression of Interest (EOI) process to lease the Victoria Hall for an arts and cultural activity that still maintains suitable public access by the community.

A few more facts were introduced the lead up to the Council meeting:

• Projected annual income from individual hires: $26,280
• Annual income from minor licence: $7,500 + 3% increase p/a (for the licence over the back room or lesser hall only and adjoining studio spaces but not the main hall)
• Existing resources from the City’s Creative Arts and Community and City Business directorates shall be utilised to manage the hall hire
• Required minor compliance works shall be funded by existing budget stores
• Planned and budgeted or recently completed works: $100,000
• Immediate to Short term works (within the next 3 years): $650,000
• Medium term works (within the next 5 years): $750,000
• Building Services works (including fire detection/electrical upgrades and air conditioning): $700,000
• Total estimated investment anticipated within next 5 years: $2.1m.

The officer report essentially provided an update on the process and recommended that Council:

1. Support the City lead management of Victoria Hall bookings for up to three years.
2. Support a licence with applicant 3 for the Lesser Hall and adjoining two studio spaces (excluding the main hall) for a term of 1+1+1 years for $7,500 plus GST per annum, increased annually by 3%.
3. Notes the closure of the Victoria Hall EOI process.

Council unanimously adopted the recommendation without further discussion.

CITY PLAN: CITY CENTRE DRAFT REPORT

In a nutshell: the City Plan is envisaged to complement the latest Strategic Community Plan by embarking on a bold future for the Fremantle CBD over the next 20 to 30 years.

The Plan will establish a spatial vision and strategic framework as the culmination of “the outcomes of research, spatial analysis and strategy development, early community engagement, scenario testing, precinct planning, and speculative design work completed to date.”

Provocative, adventurous and confronting “What If” 3D explorations of places including Victoria Quay and the Fremantle Malls greet readers and invite them to imagine a very different future that re-establishes the historic vibrancy of the City centre whilst adapting to pressures placed by climate change, destabilising economic trends, and new technology.

The key issues and drivers of the Plan include:

• “Responding to and aligning with the Strategic Community Plan: The City Plan responds directly to the Strategic Community Plan’s actions, particularly by supporting urban development and population growth in the City Centre. It also serves as a spatial companion to the Strategic Community Plan, providing high-level direction across a broad range of issues including culture, heritage, urban development, economic development, affordability, accessibility, urban greening, and transport.
• Building on past work: In particular, extending the strategic planning and urban design frameworks set out in Freo 2029: Transformational Moves and the planning scheme changes made more than a decade ago through Amendment 49 [to the Local Planning Scheme], which focused on supporting redevelopment of key sites around Queen Street, Cantonment Street, and Kings Square (Walyalup Koort).
• Unlocking obvious potential: Despite Amendment 49, many sites within the City Centre remain undeveloped. The City Plan seeks to better understand and address the barriers to development across these and other strategic sites.
• Responding to strategic shifts: Especially recent State Government work around the potential future redevelopment of Fremantle Port, and the implications for Fremantle’s City Centre.
• Protecting and activating heritage: Facilitating significant urban development while protecting Fremantle’s invaluable heritage, particularly in areas like the West End and around Fremantle Prison.
• Supporting culture and identity: Protecting and enhancing Fremantle’s vibrant cultural life—its arts, events, performance venues, bars, and creative industries—while promoting mixed-use development where residential, cultural, and commercial uses coexist rather than compete.
• Responding to community needs: Addressing issues such as housing affordability, the desire for increased urban greening, and improved efficiency and accessibility of public transport into Fremantle.
• Promoting a 24/7 City Centre: creating a City Centre that is active day and night—a place to live, work, and visit—supporting a thriving, seven-day economy.”

Did you participate in the City Plan engagement? The draft Plan advises that during the three month comment period in mid-2024, the City received “over 250 contributions through six workshops, online surveys, and interactive maps, engaging approximately 1,350 participants.”

A momentous volume of work. And we heard the quote of the year recognising the painstaking efforts this team: “All our work is thorough!” Hear hear.

Not all are convinced it’s enough yet from a community engagement standpoint, however, with extensive councillor dialogue on this item leading to an amended Council resolution for the purpose of allowing the community ample opportunity to continue to have their say on it.

Cue a friendly debate, statements possibly disguised as questions, Cr Thompson extolling the amended recommendation on the merit of a verb (witty!) and questions over how quickly staff can mobilise to bring it back to Council.

Council unanimously resolved that it adopt a heavily modified recommendation to:

1. Authorise the Chief Executive Officer to release the draft City Plan: City Centre Report (Draft – Phase 2 Community Engagement May 2025)’ as provided in Attachment 1, for the purpose of extensive community consultation.
2. Notes that any submissions received during the consultation period will be presented to Council for consideration.
3. Request the Chief Executive Officer initiate a structured process to facilitate a thorough elected member review of the plan prior to the presentation of a final draft to Council for consideration by the end of August 2025.

IN OTHER NEWS

I hope that most readers managed to celebrate WA Heritage Week in some fashion. If you missed it, don’t despair. The WA State Heritage Conference presentations were free to view and most have generously been uploaded to Youtube. And if you’d like a neat video exploration of the history of the Fremantle West End and how it could respond to climate change, I’d encourage everyone to view the recording of it and many other fascinating presentations held earlier this month.

As for the rest of the OCM, Council unanimously agreed to waive the planning fee of $5000 for Circus WA and Fremantle Press who intend to retrofit and move into the premises at 10 Parry Street, Fremantle. That doesn’t pre-empt the outcome of the planning application, although it would be unfortunate to go to that length if it only came to a refusal.

Councillors ducked behind closed doors to discuss the confidential item (Event Sponsorship Agreement), and then cue the deafening musical conclusion to the evening if you had the volume jammed up to hear our softly spoken councillors.

See you in June, RADM readers!

By Gayle O’Leary. If you’d like to catch up on more by Gayle here on Fremantle Shipping News, look right here!

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