27/07/2025
The Fremantle Municipal Tramways began operations in 1905 with tracks laid down High Street and in the attached little AI video on Market Street past the post office expanding to North Fremantle in 1908, and into Melville in 1915 along Canning Highway as far as Stock Road. The North Fremantle line closed in 1938 and was replaced by diesel buses. The rest of the network reached its peak usage during World War II.
On 15 December 1915, simultaneously with its opening of the extension of the East line to Stock Road, Bicton, the Melville Roads Board opened a second new route, to Point Walter in Bicton. The opening of this route helped to develop Point Walter into a popular resort and place of entertainment. Along with the trams came electric lighting, and, soon afterwards, well patronised shops and restaurants. Entertainment at Point Walter included McNamara's Band. There were also panoramic views of the Swan River, frequently dotted with the sails of racing yachts.
Over time, increasing numbers of motor car owners chose to seek entertainment further away from Fremantle than Point Walter. As a result, the Point Walter resort fell into disrepair, and patronage on the Point Walter line declined. In 1939, the line was closed.
After World War II, the system operated quite profitably for the Council. using their own power from their plant on South Mole. However, the decision of the Western Australian State Government to nationalise the southwest electricity systems from private and council ownership to the newly formed State Electricity Commission in the early 1950s meant that the price of power to the trams increased markedly, to the extent that supply was extremely costly to the Council.
As a result, and without any fanfare at all, the whole system was closed after the last tram ran into the Carbarn on High Street on a Sunday night in November 1952.
Trams were palmed off to camping sites, caravan parks around the state with some saved and preserved by the Perth Electric Tramway Society, at its heritage tramway in Whiteman Park.
