Virtual Visit #49 - Defending the Port of Fremantle

In the days of the Long Jetty and the North Jetty prior to the discovery of the Kalgoorlie Boulder Goldfields, commercial shipping through Fremantle was considered inadequate to merit the cost of fixed port defences. Proposals for Martello Towers and similar fortifications were beyond the means (and interest) of the colonial administrators. A volunteer unit, however, required minimal government expenditure for weapons and only the issue of some items of uniform. The result was the formation in 1879 of the Fremantle Naval Artillery Volunteers as a volunteer artillery unit to help provide for the defence of the port of Fremantle.