WHEN DID ARTHUR HEAD BECOME MANJAREE?

IN 1829, British naval officer James Stirling on his way to found the Swan River Colony stopped in Hobart Town for a cuppa with George Arthur, Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). Stirling founded the capital of WA and named Arthur Head in Fremantle in honour of his host’s generous hospitality. The name stuck.
Nearly two centuries later, Arthur Head has taken a back seat to its Indigenous origins under a City of Fremantle ‘revised vision’ it wants the community to support as part of its 2029 bicentenary ‘celebrations’. This revisionist program council adopted in May is called Manjaree, or gathering place of ‘fair exchange’ where Aboriginal people for thousands of years met to trade, hunt and conduct tribal law. Where young people hooked up on what is now Fremantle, or Walyalup, place of the walyo or woylie, or brush-tailed bettong. The 200th birthday of WA is understandably controversial.
By definition, 1829 should be a ‘celebration’ of 200 years of WA’s growth and development since Stirling named the city after Captain Charles Howe Fremantle or a ‘commemoration’ for generational trauma and grief caused by the killing in violent clashes of both European and Aboriginal people since 1829. Either way, 2029 has nothing to do with pre-1829 history dating back more than 50,000 years except in the context of how it got there and who the ‘first’ peoples were before the first Europeans occupied the west coast and Walyalup where they interacted with Indigenous people since the early 19th century.
Instead of a balanced and unbiased approach to WA’s post-1829 shared cultural heritage, Mayor Fitzhardinge last week published online a short video from Walyalup Aboriginal Cultural Centre to celebrate, “10 years of operation down here at Manjaree”.
She said consultations indicated, “we need to put indigenous perspectives front and centre”, and added the City’s vision is, “reflected in our draft version and principles for the Manjaree/Arthur Head area”.
The name Manjaree has in the past few years without community debate or support crept into council literature and public signage at Arthur Head including Manjaree Trail and Manjaree ‘Neighbourhood’.
StreetWise is unaware of a name change and checked with Landgate which confirmed: “To date there has been no application or enquiries for any naming action relating to Arthur Head in Fremantle. We have the name Manjaree as an alternative name for Point Marquis.”
Manjaree encompasses the southern end of Bathers Bay including Anglesea Point named after the Marquis of Anglesea, the second ship to leave Britain for the Swan River Colony. She arrived on August 23, 1829 and was wrecked on September 4, serving as a prison hulk and temporary governor’s quarters believed to have disappeared in the shallows off Anglesea. Point Marquis has been flattened and built over.
The City states: “Manjaree will be a vibrant, inclusive, creative precinct where First Nations culture, colonial heritage, and contemporary arts and culture connect and thrive together through community-led initiatives supported by the City.” Importantly, it states: “There has been significant consultation and assessment of the Manjaree area for activation since 2012. The Vision, Purpose, and Guiding Principles that the City has now developed takes into account all the work gathered to-date.”
The City says groups and individuals consulted on the Manjaree ‘project’ included local Whadjuk elders, current tenants of Arthur Head, community groups, historians and relevant State Government departments and agencies including Tourism WA and Lotterywest.
That’s news to Fremantle Society president John Dowson who says the City had adopted Manjaree by stealth without proper consultation with the aforementioned groups and groups including Fremantle Society.
“It’s shocking and unauthorised,” he told StreetWise. “We have 200 years of Arthur Head and suddenly Manjaree takes over with no explanation or justification.”
Mr Dowson said this was why he blew his stack when the Manjaree ‘vision’ was brought to council on May 28: “Suddenly we see council table this item with no dual naming, it just says Manjaree, with no indication of where it came from.”
Mr Dowson said whatever people think about Stirling, Fremantle or Arthur, “you just don’t cut up history and throw it in the bin”.

Name change consultation

THE State Government says, “Any change to an existing approved name is discouraged”. Changing a name, “merely to correct or re-establish historical usage”, is not a reason to change a name.
Once a name is selected, local governments are ‘strongly’ advised to seek comment from residents, ratepayers and businesses in the area affected by the change.
The City of Fremantle has not applied to change the name or ever asked the community to do so. It simply adopted Manjaree/Arthur Head, a rewrite pursued by former mayor Brad Pettitt as part of the council’s reconciliation action plans which led to the renaming of King’s Square to Walyalup Civic Centre.
There are only a few references to Manjaree by the City including April 10, 2019 when council endorsed a 2017 feasibility study for a new Indigenous Cultural Centre as part of the South Quay redevelopment at Victoria Quay. The ‘visioning’ report presented to council in 2019 recommended as the preferred location, “J Shed, Manjaree site at Arthurs Head”.
The City stated that the preferred location of the Manjaree Boodja site is “where the J Shed is currently located within the Arthurs Head location”. Notably, Cr Doug Thompson introduced an amendment to include “community consultation” in the process.
Previous suggestions to change the name have included Arthur Hill and Jail Hill (or Gaol Hill) recognising the prison built there.
In 1989, former city planner Jeremy Dawkins said the name Arthur Head was highly political as the new reserve to be vested in the City encompassed several named places but had no name of its own.
“It had never been a single place or piece of property, and it had no single form. Oddly, even the hill on which the Round House sat had never been officially named, instead being referred to at various times as Jail Hill and Lighthouse Hill. These days it is commonly referred to as Arthur Head after a little headland some distance away (and now only a remnant under a wharf) called Arthur’s Head by James Stirling for his friend in Van Dieman’s Land.”
Mr Dawkins suggested names for the reserve including West Head and Manjaree: “This caused a minor storm. Members of the history establishment and heritage circles signed petitions and called on the mayor – proving that ‘Arthur Head’ does indeed carry a strong political message, and hang the historical validity of the name. They won.”
Mr Dowson told StreetWise former mayor Peter Tagliaferri suggested when he was a councillor that because of Arthur’s infamy the site should be renamed ‘West Head’, but WA historians opposed the name change.
Asked whether the WA Government had a vision for 2029, Heritage Minister Simone McGurk said: “I am pleased the City of Fremantle is including the site in its preparations for 2029.”
She said an extensive and detailed interpretation plan for the Round House was completed in 2022 by the Fremantle Volunteer Guides with funding from Lotterywest.
“I understand Lotterywest has indicated that further funding may be available subject to a contribution also being made by the City.”