page_title: Fremantle
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Fremantle / Politics
caption_attribution_description: Town Hall, Fremantle, Western Australia.
context_page_description: Fremantle is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. In 2016, Fremantle had a population of approximately 29,000. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is Freo.
  Prior to British settlement, the indigenous Noongar people inhabited the area for millennia, and knew it by the name of Walyalup. Visited by Dutch explorers in the 1600s, Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829, and is named after Captain Charles Fremantle, an English naval officer who claimed the west coast of New Holland as British territory. The settlement struggled in its first decades, and in 1850, with the advent of penal transportation to the colony, Fremantle became Australia's primary destination for convicts. The convict-built Fremantle Prison operated long after transportation ended in 1868, and is now a World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: The Fremantle state seat was continuously held by the Australian Labor Party from 1924 until 2009, when it was lost at a by-election to Greens candidate Adele Carles. The seat was returned to Labor (Simone McGurk) in the 2013 state election. The federal electorate has returned Labor members continuously since 1934, including former Prime Minister John Curtin, and is represented by Josh Wilson.
  The local government of the City of Fremantle consists of a mayor and council. Brad Pettitt has been the mayor since the 2009 local government elections.
  Fremantle has been represented by some significant Australian political figures. John Curtin served as Prime Minister during the Second World War, and is often described as one of the nation's greatest political leaders. The state's largest university and a major secondary school in Fremantle are named after him, and his statue stands in Kings Square near the Fremantle Town Hall. A long-serving mayor of the town, Sir Frank Gibson (1919–1923 and 1926–1952), was also a Liberal parliamentarian from 1942 to 1956. Gibson, a pharmacist with a shop in High Street, was admired by all sides of politics for his civic leadership and tireless work for the city, especially during the Second World War, when he is said to have visited every ship that called at the port. He was a leading figure in many civic organisations and his stepson, Dr Roger Dunkley, was medical officer with the 2nd/2nd Independent Company during the Timor campaign in the Second World War. Carmen Lawrence, the first female premier of an Australian state, later represented Fremantle in the federal House of Representatives.
  Fremantle has seen many industrial conflicts, the most famous of which occurred in 1919 when rioting broke out during the Battle of the Barricades, resulting in one death and many injuries.
  On 10 November 2006, Australian state and territory attorneys general met in Fremantle to sign the Fremantle Declaration, a restatement and affirmation of legal and human rights principles in Australia. In 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Fremantle as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011, held in Perth 28–30 October.
caption: Fremantle Town Hall
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