Claremont

Claremont is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River. Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl. In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at Freshwater Bay (in modern-day Peppermint Grove) to attract travellers on the road from Perth to Fremantle. After the arrival of convicts in the colony in 1850, work began on constr... more

Claremont is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River. Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl. In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at Freshwater Bay (in modern-day Peppermint Grove) to attract travellers on the road from Perth to Fremantle. After the arrival of convicts in the colony in 1850, work began on constructing the Fremantle Road. The Government allocated land on the foreshore and at Lake Claremont (then known as Butler's Swamp) to 19 pensioner guards and their families, and a permanent convict depot was established on Freshwater Bay, operating until 1875. As the community grew, a school (1862) and church were built, and a community grew around what is now Victoria Avenue. In the 1870s, a number of influential men, including the Trigg, Sandover and Stirling families, bought land in the district and settled in what is now the Christ Church... less