Fremantle...or Freo as the locals call it.

DH and I have ended up making 3 trips in total to Fremantle this holiday, but this post is about our first visit of the three. 

We caught the train...being Seniors, the fare was $1.90 each way...pretty good! 

There are some beautiful old buildings in Fremantle...

We rode the free CAT buses around the town getting our bearings...

We decided to visit the Maritime Museum first...we ended up staying for hours as there was so much to see! 

I'll just show some of it...

The statue honours the disadvantaged British children who were sent to Australia under the Fairbridge program. History has shown that these children often were not treated to a better life here. 

There was a large area of exhibit devoted to the cargo ships. I loved the sheep! 

One big exhibit was about immigration...and all those from the UK who came on the Fairstar...

Who could resist the chance to try out the periscope? 😉

Talking of submarines, there was a display of the remains of an old sub which was sunk in WW1 in the Dardanelles. 

There is also a submarine just outside the museum which can be toured...but all the tours were filled before we got there. So we stood on Level 1 of the museum and took photos.

And this pic shows the rest of the sub...

Australia's Americas Cup winner was there, complete with that controversial winged keel...

DH posed beside the 'Americas Cup'...

A slightly older vessel than the previous one...complete with diver! 

An even older vessel...fishing boat from around the Indonesia area.

There was a model patrol boat that took my fancy. It was a model of one version of camouflage that the US navy trialed in WW2...but it wasn't a success. 

Apparently it wasn't that effective as camouflage and the paint wore off rather quickly and was very time consuming to redo. So only one patrol boat was ever painted that way. Shame...it looks rather classy! Lol

After all those recent posts about the Sixties, when I saw this exhibit, I just had to get some photos. I think the maritime link must be the surfing culture that this van represented in Australia all those years ago????

A few memories there for some people but not for me! 

At the back of the museum...it looked a bit like the bow of a ship.

I zoomed in on that lighthouse...

Being in the museum, one didn't really see all the beauty of the design of the building. But a day or so later, we were on a ferry and were able to see the building from the river...

It was well after lunch time when we decided to catch a bus from the Museum and head off to a restaurant I'd read about on Bev's Kainga Happenings blog, called Raw Kitchen. We shared a delicious pizza and a salad for lunch.

And then it was back on the bus to check out Bathers Beach and then on to an old gaol, the Round House.

There were some other very old buildings adjacent to the hill where the Roundhouse was...

And some lovely art works, such as this one...

 Across the road from the Round House, were some buildings that were much newer but were built in such a way to blend in with the historical buildings...

Our next stop was at the Fremantle Markets where we walked around for a while...but it soon became obvious that we were feeling a bit tired, so we caught the CAT bus back to the station. 

Some places of historical interest seen from the Brisbane River...

Way back at the beginning of October, DH and I went on a cruise up the Brisbane River and I've already written posts here and here, about that day. But we saw so much that day, that there are at least another 2 posts I can write about it!

In this post, I'll share some photos of places that are part of the history of my city. 

Where we boarded the boat at Hamilton, we could see the old nurses' quarters of the Royal Brisbane Hospital high on the hill at Herston.  These 2 towers of 8 storeys each were built in the 1930s. As a child, I could see these towers (from the other side) from our house...and often wondered what it was like inside them...probably pretty spartan, despite their grand name of the Lady Lamington Buildings! lol 

 Needless to say, nurses' quarters haven't been needed for a long time and these heritage listed buildings are now used for other purposes including a museum of nursing. 

Using the zoom, the towers still stand out on their hilltop position on the left mid ground. 

Just like in many cities around the world, large rivers were used for wharves and docks, so too, Brisbane. Around the New Farm and Newstead Reaches of the river were many wharves for handling produce. 

Set back from those long gone wharves, there were streets and streets of warehouses...big brick buildings, most being woolstores. 

 These buildings are no longer woolstores...most have been converted into very swanky unit (apartment) blocks...

 Along the river bank, lots (and lots) of unit blocks have been squeezed in on the river bank after the wharves were demolished. 

Another old brick building...the old CSR refinery (sugar)...now redeveloped as units, with unit blocks built on the land that surrounded the refinery building. 

In New Farm there is another old brick building which is huge, but it's not a former woolstore ... it was a powerhouse, specifically power for the trams that used to run in Brisbane. 

This building now has cafes, restaurants and theatres...and magnificent views of the river!

The Powerhouse Complex is nestled beside New Farm Park. This space deserves the term 'historically significant' as it is the site of the 'new farm' in the days of the Moreton Bay penal colony. The first farm was the area which is now the Botanical Gardens in the city. As well as a farm, the area had also been used for horse racing with punters arriving by boat on the river. Trevor, from Your Brisbane:Past and Present blog wrote about the history of New Farm Park here. 

New Farm Park along side the Brisbane River...

The next photo is taken looking towards the northern end of the Story Bridge (Fortitude Valley end )...old docks and sheds are visible...

And there are more of the same on the righthand side of the bridge. These were originally old naval stores; a bit derelict apparently. During WW2 some air raid bunkers were built in this complex too. Not long after  DH and I spent that day on the cruise,  it was announced in the media that the redevelopment of this area would go ahead. 

The old dry dock area of South Brisbane is now the Maritime Museum...

 An old steamer which is part of the Maritime Museum...

Nearing the City Reach of the river, the beautiful old Customs House is on the northern bank of the river. There used to be wharves near here but now they are long gone. Customs House is now owned by the University of Queensland and is a very grand venue. 

The next photo shows an old gas stripping tower that was part of an old gasworks on the southern bank of the river at West End. 

Once again, Trevor has already written about this in his blog, so if you would like to know about this structure and see a closeup photo, go here. :-)

The next photo is farther up the river at Dutton Park...yes it's a cemetery. It opened in 1866 and was originally known as the South Brisbane Cemetery. DH has many family members on his mum's side buried there.  

The next photo is the old wharf at Seventeen Mile Rocks (or what is left of it) for the Queensland Cement and Lime Company. Behind this and hidden from view of those on the  river, is a big waterpark known as Rocks Riverside Park. A redevelopment initiative of the Brisbane City Council it is very popular with families of course. As well as the water park, it is possible to walk around and look at remnants of the infrastructure from the old cement works and the docks. DH and I did just that a number of years ago. 

The water park is completely hidden from the river ... 

I've already shown photos of Newstead House and Shafston, but they both played such important roles in the former colony...so once more, here they are seen from the river.

 So that's some of Brisbane's history seen from the river.