LEGAL ACTION SOURS COUNCIL BICENTENARY PLANS

COUNCIL approval of bicentenary plans for a First Nations-led vision for Arthur Head were overshadowed tonight when it was threatened with legal action by The Fremantle Society over offensive comments by Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge.
Cr Fitzhardinge used her attendance at the National Reconciliation Week breakfast on Victoria Quay on Tuesday to accuse The Fremantle Society of racism after president John Dowson wrote to councillors on Monday calling for a more positive and inclusive bicentenary plan for 2029.
Mr Dowson used question time to table a copy of the email contradicting Cr Fitzhardinge’s claim that he had called her disgraceful for including only Aboriginal people in a conversation about 2029 and a copy of legal advice Mr Dowson received today. Asked by the mayor whether they could be released publicly, Mr Dowson said, “absolutely”.
“In 35 years living in Fremantle I have never seen a mayor or for that matter any senior official come out using council servers, emails and Facebook and so on to attack an individual and to attack an organisation that has been around 53 years.”
Mr Dowson told StreetWise the ‘secretive’ Towards 2029 working group was established last year to explore how to celebrate the founding of WA, yet the only members invited to participate are Aboriginal.
The working group includes CEO Glen Dougall, Crs Hannah Fitzhardinge, Ben Lawver, Jenny Archibald (chair), Fedele Camarda and Jemima Williamson-Wong. Aboriginal ‘engagement’ officers include Brendan Moore and Ethan Kelly-Akee and local artist Turid Calgaret.
Mr Dowson said Towards 2029’s key principle, “is ensuring we are First Nations-led in our process”. The vision will include a strategic plan for a “Manjaree Hub” (Roundhouse and Arthur Head Reserve) and truth-telling led by the WRAP working group whose members have been invited to join Towards 2029. This vision includes a treaty between Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation and the City of Fremantle in line with its Walyalup reconciliation action plan.
Without Mr Dowson’s email tabled tonight, Cr Fitzhardinge turned to social media to falsely accuse Mr Dowson and the Society of being racist.
The post is still up on her Facebook and Instagram pages and is reminiscent of her 2022 post in which she falsely accused a councillor and local businessman of subjecting her mother to public criticism for parking illegally behind the Japingka art gallery in High Street.
The ‘engagement’ process approved tonight is expected to run from June for four to six weeks and will include individuals and groups including Whadjuk elders, tenants of Arthur Head, community groups (including historians), creative industry stakeholders and agencies including Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Rottnest Island Authority, Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Tourism WA and Lotterywest.
Cr Archibald said it will take time to bring everyone on “this journey” before proceeding to give a history lesson on 1829: “2029 is only important because some people came to our shores and set up a colony. The place prior to that was occupied for the First Nations people.”
Cr Wong said the item was a “fantastic document and very exciting and important piece of work”, which would create a balance between pre-1829 history and colonial settlement post-1829.
The mayor agreed: “The language here is about the language of celebration, of vibrancy. There is absolutely a need for acknowledging the full history of the place.”
Why the mayor made it personal at www.streetwisemedia.com.au.