Town of Claremont Thematic History: A Heritage Reference Framework

Architecture, development and heritage of Claremont, Western Australia.
pp. 46 illusts #310322 (Uncommon item.)
Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl.

In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at Freshwater Bay (in modern-day Peppermint Grove) to attract travellers on the road from Perth to Fremantle. A wetland became known as Butler’s Swamp (later Lake Claremont). After the arrival of convicts in the colony in 1850, work began on constructing the Fremantle Road. The government allocated land on the foreshore and at Butler’s Swamp to 19 Pensioner Guards and their families, and a permanent convict depot operated at Freshwater Bay (until 1875).

A state school (1862) and church were built, and a community grew around what is now Victoria Avenue. A settler named James Morrison acquired a property at Swan Location 702, and named it Claremont Estate, after his wife, Clara (née de Burgh). During the 1870s, a number of prominent families, including the Triggs, Sandovers and Stirlings, acquired land in the district, around the later site of Christ Church Grammar School; some of their homes were later bought and used by the school.

In 1881, the railway line from Perth to Fremantle was built, along with a station at Butler’s Swamp; the name of the station was changed to Claremont in 1883. The focus of the community shifted to the area between the railway line, Fremantle Road (Stirling Highway) and Bay View Terrace. The Freshwater Bay school ceased to play a central role; it became a boarding house nicknamed “’Appy ‘Ome” in 1892 (and in 1975 a museum).

Land speculators bought in the area and subdivided blocks at varying sizes, leading to a wide class diversity within the suburb. By about 1903, the entire suburb, other than a dozen or so streets, had been subdivided, and by the Second World War, the community was firmly established.[2]

The Municipality of Claremont was created on 17 June 1898 out of parts of the Claremont Road District. On 1 July 1961, Claremont became a town following the enactment of the Local Government Act 1960.[2]

As of 2021, 824 places are heritage-listed in the Town of Claremont,[6] of which 20 are on the State Register of Heritage Places, among them the Claremont Teachers College, the Claremont Post Office and the Claremont Railway Station.[7]