A Hazardous Port: Fremantle 1600-1900 by Ian K Forsyth

Book Description

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The early history of the colonial Port of Fremantle and its critical role in developing the Colony of Western Australia. It takes the reader on a sprawling 'West side story' that spans over 300 years and emerges as a dramatic, integral part of the broader history of Australia.

It tells a story of the daunting discovery of a continent, tragic shipwrecks, tense geopolitics, and one man's ambition to become a person of history. To this, it adds a flawed experiment in colonisation, overwhelming challenges, muddled leadership and numerous costly errors of judgment.

Fremantle became a hazardous port of necessity rather than merit. During its colonial period, it witnessed at least 168 serious maritime accidents. The dangers of the port became a substantial impediment to the colony's growth, which fell well behind that of the settlements in East Australia. Not until the colony's final years was the quest to develop a safe harbour realised, just as it became a state in the new nation of Australia. (back cover)

Includes 80 photographs and 30 maps and charts.