Leading economic expert Jim Rogers traveled to 150 countries over 150,000 miles in three years – follow his adventures here on FentonReport.

In this video Jim visits Fremantle in Australia.

Fremantle (colloquially known as ‘Freo’) is a port city in Western Australia, located 19 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Perth, the state capital, at the mouth of the Swan River on Australia’s western coast. It was the first settlement of the Swan River Colonists in 1829. It was declared a city in 1929, and has a population of approximately 26,000.

The city is named after Charles Fremantle, the English naval officer who had pronounced possession of Western Australia and who established the camp at the site. The city contains well preserved buildings and other heritage sites. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is “Freo”.
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Fremantle lies on a series of limestone hills known by the Nyungar people as Booyeembara; the sandplain to the east is Gardoo. The original vegetation of the area was mainly Xanthorrhoea and eucalyptus trees, being fired annually (in late spring or summer) by the traditional owners.

Fremantle is the end of a train line that runs from Perth to Fremantle, run by the WA’s Public Transport Authority.

Fremantle is subject to weather and climate relative to seaside communities – to the point that the regular sea breeze is known as the Fremantle Doctor, as it has a cooling effect to provide relief from the summer heat.

On 25 April 1829, the ship HMS Challenger under the guidance of Captain Fremantle had arrived in the waters off the Fremantle coast to make preparations for the Swan River Colony.

On 2 May 1829, Captain Fremantle formally took possession on behalf of King George IV of the entire west coast of New Holland in a ceremony conducted just near the south head of the Swan River. A few days later a camp was set up in a bay just south of the head, and Fremantle has been occupied ever since.

A month later, on 1 June Captain James Stirling on the Parmelia arrived to officially set up the Swan River Colony. Perth itself was not settled until 12 August that year.

Captain Fremantle left the colony on 25 August after providing much assistance to Stirling in setting up the colony. It was then that Stirling decided to name the port settlement ‘Fremantle’.

In 1897, Irish-born engineer C. Y. O’Connor deepened Fremantle harbour and removed the limestone bar and sand shoals across the entrance to the Swan River, thus rendering Fremantle a serviceable port for commercial shipping. Fremantle still serves as the chief general seaport for Western Australia, though far greater tonnages are exported from the iron-ore ports of the Pilbara.

Fremantle has seen many industrial conflicts, the most famous of which occurred in 1919 when rioting broke out during “the lumpers’ strike”, resulting in one death and many injuries.

During World War II, Fremantle was the second largest base for Allied submarines operating in the Pacific theatre. There were up to 125 US, 31 British and 11 Free Dutch submarines operating out of Fremantle, until the Americans moved forward to the Philippines. The movements and presence of USS Sturgeon (SS-187) is a good example of such activity.