As the area was adjacent to the relatively safe harbour of Owen's Anchorage in Cockburn Sound, the area began to be used as an alternative destination point for ship arrivals.
In 1898, a railway was built from Fremantle to Robb Jetty.[3] At that time, an abattoir was built for slaughter of livestock arriving from the north-west of the state including the Kimberley Region. Livestock were unloaded from the ships onto a jetty. Extensive pasturing for the animals as well as small market gardens were established in the region around the abattoir.
The Coogee Hotel was built in 1901, and in 1903 the railway was extended to Woodman Point. Commercial lime kilns were established during this period to provide for the construction boom and population growth which had been brought about by gold discoveries. The Newmarket Hotel on the border of Hamilton Hill and South Fremantle, was often identified as being in either of the suburbs.[4]
The area steadily became the centre of much of Perth's heavy industry and comprised the coal-fired power station, railway marshalling yards, abattoir as well as numerous skin drying sheds. From the 1980s however, pressures brought on by demands for residential housing triggered a process of removal of the various facilities.
South Beach
South Beach is an area of beach and adjacent land in South Fremantle. The beach and the disused railway station are parts of the South Fremantle community history.[5][6][7]
^Gunzburg, Adrian; Austin, Jeff (2008). "Table Construction of the W.A Government Railways network, 1879–1931". Rails through the Bush: Timber and Firewood Tramways and Railway Contractors of Western Australia. Perth, Western Australia: Rail Heritage WA. pp. 208–210. ISBN978-0-9803922-2-7. OL12330925W.
^"South Beach, Fremantle". The Daily News. Vol. XXXVI, no. 13, 092. Western Australia. 27 January 1917. p. 11 (Third Edition). Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"South Beach, Fremantle". Truth. No. 298. Western Australia. 13 March 1909. p. 3 (City Edition). Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"South Beach, Fremantle". The Daily News. Vol. XXX, no. 11, 118 (Third ed.). Western Australia. 30 January 1911. p. 8. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.