Fremantle Town Hall
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Fremantle Town Hall is a town hall located in the portside city of Fremantle, Western Australia and situated on the corner of High, William and Adelaide Streets. The opening coincided with the celebration of Victoria's Jubilee and occurred on June 22, 1887.
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[edit] Plans
On June 7, 1876, Councillor E. H. Higham suggested that the Council should approach the Colonial Secretary to have a Government Reserve, on the corner of South Terrace and Essex Street, set aside to build a Town Hall. The use of the site was approved by the Governor of the time, Sir William Robinson, who offered convict labour for the construction as well as free design and specification preparation by the Government Engineer and promised to seek a liberal grant from the Legislative Council for the construction project.[1] The Government Engineer drafted plans that did not survive to this day.
On 11 July a ratepayers meeting talked of the funds needed to build the Town Hall and W. E. Marmion unsuccessfully suggested that a more central site in High Street be purchased instead. Plans did not go ahead as funding could not be met.
The more central site that had been previously suggested was bought by the Council after the Church of England decided to demolish the church located on High Street to rebuild elsewhere.
In April 1881, the Chairman of the Council again raised the matter of the Town Hall. He proposed a building to cost no more than £8000. Attempts to raise funds locally failed, and the architect behind the plans was rejected for the plans of Melbourne based architects Grainger and D'Ebro.
[edit] Building Stage
Tenders were called in 1884 but none were chosen as they all exceeded the budget. After further modifications to the design, tenders were recalled and only one builder, Edward V. Keane, put forward a tender with four separate price ranges. These ranged from £19,832 to £12,400. The Council decided to accept this builder but decided only to go ahead with the auditorium, supper room, kitchen and vestibule.
Another ratepayers meeting was held and the Council was urged to go ahead with the plan for the entire building.
The foundation stone was laid on September 10, 1885 by Governor Frederick Napier Broome. The opening was set for June 22 to coincide with the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee, after a seven month delay. Building commenced on May 28, 1885 and the original finishing date was to be November 28, 1886.
The opening ceremony was followed by a day of sports and a ball in the evening.
[edit] The death of W.J. Snook
The following evening, a children’s fancy dress ball was held in the Hall. The Town Supervisor, W. J. Snook, and two other men had some trouble in keeping a group of rowdy men out of the Hall. Amongst the group was the landlord of the National Hotel in High Street, W. Conroy who gatecrashed the supper just after midnight, as the Mayor was congratulating the stewards and officials on the 'happy conclusion of the Jubilee'. It was past 1 a.m. when Conroy was seen in the courtyard and soon after a shot was heard. Allegedly, Conroy had shot Snook because Snook would not let him in. Despite his injuries, Snook lived for 3 more months before passing away in September. Conroy was tried for the crime and has the distinction of being the last man to be hanged at Perth Gaol.
[edit] Architecture
The architects, Griffiths and Considine, described the building thus:[1]
The overall treatment to the elevation is a confident Victorian free style interpretation of classical architecture...(the facades employ a multiplicity of classical elements including pediments, rusticated floor, Corinthian pilasters, pediment windows, urns, string courses, heavily moulded architraves and bas relief decoration - all rendered to appear stone...at the roof level "classicism" give way to an exuberant array of towers not encountered in classical architecture.
[edit] Trivia
"Town Hall", a song by Perth alt-country band The Jayco Brothers, is about the Fremantle Town Hall. The song was nominated for a West Australian Music Industry songwriting award in 2006.
