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Fremantle Herald Official, Fremantle (2025)

13/11/2025

Fremantle tattooist Aaron Ashworth has made the jump to the art world with a thought-provoking exhibition on the perils of social media.

Featuring 11 large scale oil paintings, Over Exposure explores the psychological and emotional impact of social media through distorted portraits, fragmented colours and the bright chaos of modern life.

“I was lucky enough to have grown up before social media, giving me space to figure things out without the constant pressure to ‘perform’ and be ‘on’ all the time,” Ashworth says.

“Seeing how young people navigate identity, connections, and information through screens has made me realise how emotionally intense that experience can be.

“Over Exposure is my way of exploring that tension between visibility and vulnerability, hopefully sparking some honest conversations along the way.”

Ashworth is an experienced tattooist who has worked in the Freo area for nearly 15 years and is currently based at Golden Panther on Blinco Street. He started painting about two years ago.

“It was a way to experiment with different materials and further my artistic skill,” he says.

“I wanted to create art that exuded a feeling and created conversation; something that someone might hang in their house rather than wear on their skin.”

Read full story at www.fremantleherald.com.

12/11/2025

The Wardarnji Festival is back for its 27th year for an “incredible celebration” of Noongar dance and culture at Esplanade Park later this month.

The Festival, which will feature an “unforgettable evening” of Noongar dance, storytelling, and songs, as well as a plethora of food venues, has been celebrated by the City since 1998.

Festival director Karla Hart says this year’s instalment of Wardarnji will be a “really special” showcase of Indigenous culture to be celebrated “side by side” with the wider community.

“We are inviting people in and saying, come and be a part of this with us, come and see how beautiful it is, how powerful it is, how strong it is,” Ms Hart said.

“When you celebrate culture, you keep it alive, you see the importance of it to continue on… whether you’re Indigenous or not, you are a part of a collective that is finding joy in each other, and the joy from having one of the oldest living cultures here.

“It’s an incredible celebration of dance and culture, and the dancers that attend [range] from the little ones who are there for the first time to the senior dancers that are coming through… to see the look in these kids’ eyes, their strength and their determination and their joy in celebrating their culture.”

City of Fremantle Aboriginal engagement officer Brendan Moore says the continued pain of the Voice referendum’s result two years ago is no reason to subdue celebration of Aboriginal culture.

The Wardarnji Festival will be held on Saturday, November 29, from 4pm, at Esplanade Park in Freo.

For full story see https://tinyurl.com/4v34wbz9.

11/11/2025

Amnesty Fremantle will be holding its annual Write for Rights in support of journalists and activists worldwide at Clancy’s tomorrow.

Write for Rights, organised by the Amnesty Fremantle Action Group, allows attendees to write letters and sign petitions “calling for fairness and compassion” in “cases of injustice” around the world.

AFAG spokesperson Helen O’Brien says the event is a way for those with a “strong sense of fairness and justice” to “turn that compassion into action”.

“Every letter, every signature, every message of support adds up… when people take part, their words join thousands of others around the world, and together, they make it impossible for injustice to be ignored,” Ms O’Brien said.

“When governments see global pressure from thousands of ordinary people, they listen… that’s the beauty of Write for Rights, it proves that humanity and hope can still cut through bureaucracy and indifference.

“There’s something powerful about seeing a room full of people writing together for someone they’ve never met, it reminds you that empathy still matters.”

Write for Rights will be held at Clancy’s Fish Pub in Freo on Wednesday, November 12, at 6pm.

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/ycp8s5ue.

10/11/2025

A local resident has called for urgent action to clean up rubbish and control illegal camping at Woodman Point, saying the area’s “last bit of untouched coastal recreation beach” is being neglected.

“Why don’t you do a story on Woodman’s Point — the rubbish and illegal campers — it is getting worse,” long-time visitor Clayton Sullivan wrote to the Herald last week.

Mr Sullivan said he has reported the problem to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions but “nothing has been done.”

“Unfortunately due to residential and industrial development, Woodman’s Point at the rocks groin area is the last bit of untouched coastal recreation beach but it is not being managed by the government body,” he said.

“The rubbish, tyres, wooden pallets, drums of oil and other miscellaneous rubbish are in many places like the car parks and near the rocks at end of Woodman’s Point. It’s a pity this is happening and not cleaned up as it is the last pristine coast line left.”

Mr Sullivan said he has “regularly ridden [his] cycle there for last 40 years” and in recent years has noticed “more illegal campers and hence more rubbish; where do they do their business on the beach — it’s terrible.”

“I have noticed that ‘No camping’ signs have been put up and some deliberately ripped down,” he said.

“If this is not controlled it will be worse next summer as word of mouth spreads — I have seen it at South Beach carpark, it is big problem.”

In response, a DBCA spokesperson said the Parks and Wildlife Service “undertakes various actions at Woodman Point Regional Park under the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 (CALM Act) to manage unauthorised activities such as illegal camping and littering".

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/4v34wbz9.

08/11/2025

A decision to remove hundreds of trees at John Connell Reserve in Leeming for a cricket pitch has been “kicked down the road” until next year.

The Leeming Spartans Cricket Club operates on the reserve and requested a second pitch, which would require a neighbouring patch of bushland to be cleared.

Councillor Clive Ross is strongly opposed to the tree removal but says the debate is “not about the cricket pitch versus trees”, suggesting a nearby tipsite could be transformed into a second pitch following remediation.

“The second cricket pitch can easily be accommodated on land further east which would need to be remediated… the Cricket Club could have had that two, three years earlier had they not insisted on wanting these trees removed,” Mr Ross said.

• Leeming Spartans Cricket Club president Peter Coombs says they’re having to turn away prospective players for lack of a pitch. Photo by Katherine
Kraayvanger
Remediating

“Remediating the tip site, which currently emits methane and other noxious gasses… is something that the City should do as a matter of priority, given it declared a climate emergency, and that means stopping the emission of noxious gasses; so cutting down 209 trees just because they’re in the way doesn’t make a lot of sense.

“The City has lost 84 hectares of green canopy cover over the last six years… to cut down another 209 mature trees that are part of the habitat for the black Carnaby’s, Baudin’s, red tailed black cockatoos is, in my view, rather a criminal activity – it’s vandalism.”

Spartans president Peter Coombs says the club has between 800 and 900 members and has been forced to turn away prospective players because there is not enough space.

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/yuhrpve8.

07/11/2025

Derelict police quarters on Queen Victoria Street are a “disgrace” according to North Fremantle residents campaigning for their restoration.

The 1898-built quarters had been held under the Department of Communities but were transferred to Lands, Planning and Heritage “recently”, according to North Fremantle Community Association convenor Gerry MacGill.

Mr MacGill says the quarters are an “important” symbol of the “streetscape of our original town”, which was cleared in 1966 for highway widening to service the expanded port.

“These quarters are a precious remnant of the container port’s expansion, when the wharves were created by moving the rail line and bridge east, then John Street and Tydeman Road re-routed north as a double carriageway, wiping out 300 homes, a substantial railway station and land, and half the thriving North Fremantle town centre,” Mr MacGill said.

“A coherent community that existed both sides of the rail line and south of Tydeman Road disappeared, along with many businesses, churches, beautiful buildings, and some of the most historic sites in the suburb.

“Their conservation, restoration, and return to use as a valued element in the streetscape of the North Fremantle Town Centre is absolutely essential.”

In a letter to the Association this week, Mr MacGill says the quarters have been “virtually abandoned” by the government and Heritage Council, given its vacant and derelict state.

“They have fallen into a state of total disrepair and are now crudely boarded up with plywood sheets and corrugated iron to prevent the intrusion by the squatters who have been their sole inhabitants for decades,” Mr MacGill said.

“They are a disgrace to the government that owns them and to the Heritage Council which has a duty to protect them.”

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/bdzma6h9.

06/11/2025

The Fremantle Carnevale is kicking off early this year with a fun and enlightening pre-show event at the Buffalo Club on November 8.

The colourful, satirical parade is held on the streets of Freo every February, but in Germany the build-up starts at 11:11am on November 11, so this year organisers decide to get the party going early.

The Secrets of Carnevale will feature live music from the Junkadelic Brass Band and The Dudes of Grace, a photo exhibition of the Carnevale by Tony Gajewski, carnevalesque portraits of local eccentric Horatio T. Birdbath, and ‘Carnevale in the Italian Countryside’ by Calabrian photographer Angelo Maggio, featuring the small towns of Southern Italy and the Northern Italian alps.

But the highlight of the day might be a performance by the mischievous and unpredictable Secret Harlequin Collective.

“Suspense is building, leaks are circulating and gossips are mongering,” says Fremantle Carnevale chair Sally Knowles.

“Spectators can expect to see revolts, rebellions and rat baggery.”

In the lead up to Secrets of Carnevale, a harlequin costume-making workshop was held at the Fibonacci Centre, so expect some eye-catching outfits.

On first glance the Fremantle Carnevale might seem like a chaotic romp, but it’s actually about masquerade, transgression and the lighthearted mockery of the establishment.

Its roots can be traced back to 2002, when Freo Carnevale founder and anthropologist Stephen Bennetts carried out doctoral research on the revival of Southern Italian folk traditions, including Carnival, in southern Italy.

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/yc66nakb.

05/11/2025

At the Herald we welcome robust debate; but with the privilege comes the responsibility.

Please be respectful with comments and don’t sink to name-calling or finger-pointing.

Apart from the risk that you’ll end up with lawyers at 10 paces, it turns people off and a valid point might go begging.

Be bold, be imaginative, even be provocative, but do it with a smile on your face and a warmth in your heart.

05/11/2025

Former Fremantle mayor and Greens MLC Brad Pettitt has lashed a “disappointing” contingency plan for the traffic bridge closure next year.

Recently transport minister Rita Saffioti announced a raft of efforts to encourage commuters onto public transport, including a free-travel zone, additional free parking around Fremantle Station, and additional bus and train services.

“We know there will be disruption and congestion created by this bridge closure, but this comprehensive package of initiatives will help ease those impacts,” Ms Saffioti said.

Dr Pettitt says the announcement was “rather modest” and will not do enough to get drivers who would otherwise use the traffic bridge across the river.

“The Stirling Bridge, which currently carries about 39,000 vehicles a day, will potentially see a 60 per cent jump in traffic as the 24,000 vehicles that use the old Fremantle Traffic Bridge potentially shift across during the 12-month-long closure,” Dr Pettitt said.

“To put this another way, we need to give more than 20,000 people each day better travel options than trying to cross the one remaining bridge in their car… did the announcements this week do that? In short, no.

“Just 100 extra car parking bays at Fremantle station, two extra trains in each peak, some extra buses, and free public transport along South Terrace in South Fremantle… while these are a good start, there is no way these are going to shift the travel habits of 20,000 people each day.

There was “disappointingly” little for walking and cycling options, according to Dr Pettitt, which he says is “low-hanging fruit” for the government to incorporate into the contingency plan.

“This is despite Main Roads’ own survey showing…an extraordinary 82 per cent of people said that they would walk, wheel, or ride more if there was ‘better facilities and on-road safety features’, i.e., better infrastructure,” he said.

“Despite this, the only new walking and cycling infrastructure to be delivered is a ‘new path behind the bus stop at the intersection of Canning Highway and East Street’.

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/mtmtmpy3.

04/11/2025

Staying afloat, Fremantle’s Navy Club is still open despite the recent sale of its building.

President Mark Croom says Freo folk seemed to believe The Navy Club had closed and shipped out.

“It’s been misrepresented and we have definitely not ever been closed completely.

“We’re up and running… come in and see us,” Mr Croom said.

The club has traversed some turbulent waters resulting in the sale of its 64 High Street address.

However, the club is still operating out of the corner of High and Packenham Street while searching for a new place to lay down anchor.

The building’s new owners intend to turn it into a hostel, but have thrown the club a life buoy by allowing them to stay in the building for the time being.

Thanks to the offload of its 64 High Street address the debt free club now has the wind in its sail.

“Things have turned around and will be run differently,” Mr Croom said.

“I can tell you we’ll be doing the right thing… It’s my military background… you spend 20 years in the army, you do as you’re told.”

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/de837aab.

03/11/2025

Before achieving stardom as one of the pioneers of Britain’s pirate radio stations, Colin Nichol had already earned his place in Western Australian history as the voice that brought it rock ’n’ roll.

Mr Nichol died on Tuesday following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.

The Bibra Lake resident started in radio in 1957, signing up as an announcer with 6PM (as Hit 92.9 was known back then) just as the waves from Bill Haley and Elvis Presley’s first seismic chart-toppers were being felt around the world.

As the state’s leading DJ in 1959, he was chosen to run a WA chapter of the Coca-Cola Bottlers Hi Fi Club, a radio club originating out of New York – Bert Newton headed up South Australia’s version.

The club gave Nichol’s program access to interviews from international artists and competitions, but most crucially for listeners, access to records from the emerging rock ’n’ roll scenes in the UK and US that weren’t otherwise available in Australia.

It led him to booking out ballrooms, theatres and town halls across the state, his dances attracting thousands who were introduced to acts once household names and still etched in the country’s Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame; Johnny O’Keefe, Col Joye and Johnny Young.

Having taken on managing bands, in 1963 Nichol gave up his WA gig and headed to England for a tour with friends Terry Walker, Tony Tyler and Jim Sheridan, who became The Times.

Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/yxz5uznk.

03/11/2025

As the days get longer and the weather warms up, there’s no better time to rediscover some of the area’s most beloved dining spots: Ruocco's Pizzeria E Ristorante, Coogee Boathouse Eats & Sips and Om Nom Nom Pizza & Pasta Bar.

You can read our full feature here: https://wp.me/p2Np7f-GCj

Fremantle Herald Official

13/11/2025

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