Wharfie Time?

Peter Newman* suggests Wharfie Time is not about magic, but struggle and has other frontiers to face.

The lead up to the AFL Grand Final was full of history, symbols and myths. This season Fremantle had right on its side and somehow that was symbolised by ‘Wharfie Time’ when the AC/DC bells went off like a deep Cathedral bell calling us to war. Each time it had been like magic, turning the game around and leading to Fremantle beating the opposition.

Now, we have much of the post-match discussion saying we should ban it forever. I think it has deeper value that should be recognised for the club and the city.

In the days before the Grand Final, we heard much about how the Fremantle Dockers’ history had been like the wharfies’. The Dockers had to fight for every scrap of opportunity, no easy way to success like Brisbane with its extra funds and high priority draft picks. We had to fight our way up with sheer hard work and creative football management, as well as clever picks. Our footy was symbolised by significantly more use of indigenous footballers with their skills and determination to win.

The actual wharfies in history undoubtedly had to fight like that. Incumbents on the wealthy side of our city and across Australia had to be fought at every step to provide justice and opportunities for wharfies. Fremantle’s history of wharfies does not show any magic solutions, just hard, persistent, creative work.

So, the Dockers played on 26 September with the power of history behind us. We fought with amazing determination and creativity, and we ‘deserved to win’ – as even the coach of the incumbents, Brisbane, admitted. Until 4 minutes and 18 seconds before the end when Wharfie Time bonged out across the game.

There was no magic.

Fremantle players seemed to stop and watch expecting something from others as had happened before. The incumbents switched on to seriously beat those expecting magic. And they swept us aside.

Maybe there is a lesson here for Fremantle. We have not finished on the quest for a first flag, and nor has the city completed a lot of our work in this city. Maybe Wharfie Time can remain a reminder of what we have done and what remains to be done.

Perhaps we are expecting our future in urban Fremantle to be easy ‘as we deserve it.’ Our urban history is full of amazing achievements in the past 30 to 50 years, showing Perth how to do urbanism, transport, environment, climate change, indigenous memorials (not Captain Cook Day) and many more good things in our city…

We showed how to do it, but we never forgot that our roots were set in struggle, not magic.

Credit Luke Ellis-Craven for Unsplash

We are about to undergo some deep changes as we redevelop our port city. We have incumbents from above telling us what is important. They tell us that apparently:

• we will need to build a freeway through North Fremantle and down to southern destinations, starving us of the opportunity to rebuild North Freo to its former glory before containers ruined it;

• we won’t need the last bit of Metronet from Cockburn to Fremantle, or the light rail along South Street, or even a CAT bus;

• we won’t need to make our streets more pedestrian and cycle friendly;

• we won’t need to prioritise fixing the homeless crisis;

• we won’t need to change our name to Walalyup and truly provide indigenous cultural equality and ‘voice’, even with 2029 approaching.

We deserve better. As do the Dockers.

But, there is no magic. We have ‘4 minutes 18 seconds’ to finish many of these things and show how to create a better future.

*By Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University

~ For more articles on FSN by Peter Newman look here

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –