East Fremantle, Western Australia

East Fremantle Perth, Western Australia
The East Fremantle Town Hall, located on Canning Highway.
East Fremantle
Coordinates	32°02′17″S 115°46′05″E / 32.038°S 115.768°E / -32.038; 115.768Coordinates: 32°02′17″S 115°46′05″E / 32.038°S 115.768°E / -32.038; 115.768
Population	6,697 (2006 census)
• Density	2,160/km2 (5,600/sq mi)
Established	1890s
Postcode(s)	6158
Area	3.1 km2 (1.2 sq mi)
Location	17 km (11 mi) from Perth
LGA(s)	Town of East Fremantle
State electorate(s)	Bicton / Fremantle
Federal Division(s)	Fremantle
Suburbs around East Fremantle: North Fremantle Mosman Park Bicton Fremantle East Fremantle Palmyra Fremantle

East Fremantle (nicknamed East Freo in Western Australian vernacular) is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south-west of the central business district. The suburb is mainly residential, and is coterminous with the Town of East Fremantle local government area.

Previously serving as an outer, rural area of Fremantle, most of the present-day suburb was originally developed in the late 1890s and early 1900s as a result of the Western Australian gold rushes. Further development occurred in the late 1940s and 1950s to provide dwellings for new immigrants. Two major arterial roads – Canning Highway and Stirling Highway – pass through the suburb, which is also bounded to the north by the Swan River.

Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people obtained food and drinking water from the river edges and open grassy areas. Shortly after the establishment of the Swan River Colony, a track linking Perth to Fremantle was documented through the area.

In April 1833, a report spread that a "landing of 200 natives" had speared the ferryman, John Weavell, and his wife at their residence near Preston Point, which "brought nearly every male inhabitant of Fremantle to my house, some with guns without locks, some with guns without ammunition, others with ammunition without guns, some with pistols, others with bludgeons". It was later reported in the Perth Gazette that this was entirely false, with the Gazette decrying the "extravagant and absurd statements that are daily got up".

Initially, the area was dominated by agricultural activity, but after the 1890s gold rush, it became increasingly residential and suburban in character. The first area to develop was Plympton, in the southwest of the suburb, where workers' cottages were established largely between 1890-1910. Next were Woodside and Richmond in the south and north, which today contain many brick and tile homes dating from 1900-1940. The Preston Point area developed in the 1950s.