Fremantle, a popular tourism destination, is a port city located 25 minutes south of the capital city of Western Australia, Perth. It is well known for its heritage buildings, beautiful beaches, and restaurants. And it is home to the Fremantle Dockers AFL team.
Like many places in Australia, Fremantle was named after an Englishman. In this case Sir Charles Howe Fremantle, the Captain of the HMS Challenger. Captain Fremantle was sent to take possession of the west coast of Australia during colonisation. However, records also reveal a scandalous fact about Charles Fremantle before his arrival.
The 25-year-old naval officer is alleged to have raped a 15-year-old servant girl in April 1826. Records also state the reason he came to Australia was to escape persecution after witnesses and judicial bodies were bribed to keep the incident out of the papers.
In 2007, Jenny D’Anger from the Fremantle Herald interviewed Graeme Henderson, the previous WA Maritime Museum director and historian who addressed the incident. Henderson published his book Unfinished Voyages, describing the circumstances of Fremantle’s quick departure from England. He quoted other sources, including a UK book called The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, that covers the matter as a side story in a section about Charles Fremantle’s uncle, William Henry Fremantle.
While the charges against Charles Fremantle were “covered up” and there is no record of a conviction arising from them, these documents leave room for doubt about his innocence.
The discussion surrounding his questionable history raises the question of how the residents feel about living in a city named after an alleged rapist, especially when there is an alternative solution. It is the revitalisation of the original name given by the traditional custodians, the Wadjuk Noongar people. Long before European arrival, there was already a name; Walyalup.
Wadjuk Ballardong Noongar man Dylan Collard explains the meaning of Walyalup.
The phrase ‘up’ in place names in the South-West of Western Australia directly translates to ‘place of’. The phrase placed in front of ‘up’ symbolises what is significant to the area. Walyalup, for example, means the ‘place of the small kangaroo-rat’, a small mammal also called a walyu or woylie, that was once common there but is now listed as critically endangered. Walyalup can also refer to the lungs, crying and the wedge-tailed eagle.
He said that if the renaming of Fremantle back to Walyalup occurred, he would be proud and feel good. he explained that using Noongar language when referring to places and other circumstances, such as animals and plants, removes egotistical nuances put in place by colonisers. Walyalup carries more meaning and reflects the land rather than the character of a British Navy officer who was an alleged rapist.
An awareness of First Nations place names, such as words containing the suffix ‘up’, is significant in learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and language revitalisation. Destructive government policies, such as the 1905 Act that was in place until the 1970s, restricted and prohibited the use of Indigenous languages, therefore resulting in loss of culture and identity.
Collard also expressed his views on dual naming saying that dual naming has already occurred, and original place names and the Noongar language must now be empowered. The implementation of colonial names already creates a dual naming process because these places already had names before the arrival of the British. Noongar language is critically endangered, and increasing usage by calling places by their original name revitalises the language and empowers First Nations people.
Not only is it a city named after Captain Fremantle, but it is also an Australian Football League (AFL) team, known as the Fremantle Dockers, a professional AFL team that competes in the national competition. During the AFL Indigenous Round, the team uses the traditional name, Walyalup, to celebrate First Nations people and honour traditional custodians of the land. The team has thousands of supporters across the nation who, like Collard, may like to see the team’s name changed to Walyalup all year round.
The Place Names Maali Project is a recent reconciliation and truth-telling initiative by the Western Australia government land authority, known as Landgate. Place Names Maali collaborated with Wadjuk Elders to provide cultural knowledge and authority, educating the wider community about the names of original places, their histories, and the importance of their meanings for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Australia is home to the oldest living civilisations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who have had ancient connections to the land for over 60,000. Everyone can celebrate and be proud of Australia’s existing naming and language by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This article is part of a larger project called Where What Why. You can find the whole collection of stories about places and their names here.
