FSN - Freo Life

Philippa O’Brien is an Australian artist and writer. She was educated at the University of Western Australia and Hornsey College of Art in London and has had a wide-ranging career in the arts and her work is in many collections and public spaces. She has been a member of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.  Philippa’s latest book is quite like no other. No Stone Without a Name (publish...

Nellie Crawford grew up in the Jarrah and Karri Forest Country of south-west Australia. After graduating from university in 1978, she spent the following 19 years teaching in schools and technical colleges throughout Australia and Christmas Island, also spending time travelling and working in Europe. In 1998, after many years of painting on a part-time basis, and studying with recognised artists i...

In October just over a year ago, the parishioners of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Beaconsfield, Western Australia welcomed a new Priest-in-Charge – the Reverend Gemma Baseley. Gemma was commissioned as a priest in the Anglican Church of Australia by Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy at St Paul’s on Monday 4 October 2021. Gemma emigrated to Australia from Hartlepool, a world away from Freo on the northeast...

Bill Hare  is the CEO and Senior Scientist at  Climate Analytics  and a climate advocate extraordinaire. He is just back in Fremantle after attending  COP27 at Sharma El-Sheik, Egypt . Bill has had a long and impressive career as a climate advocate in Australia and internationally. At COP27, Bill was part of the delegation for Grenada, a small West Indian island state in the Caribbean. Bill and Cl...

Dr Michelle McKeough is an historian working in Western Australian history, especially Fremantle history. In 2000, Michelle wrote Rescues, Rogues and Rough Seas, 150 years of Water Police in Western Australia. In 2012, she was a contributing author of Voices of the West End. For her Ph D thesis at Murdoch University in 2016, Michelle examined three times of crisis in Fremantle during the twentieth...

For the first 25 years of his life, having been brought up and educated a Catholic in Northern Ireland just north of the border between Belfast and Dublin, Francis Campbell’s life was quite different from the next 25 when he found himself working as a Foreign Office specialist in the No 10 Downing Street Office of British PM Tony Blair and watching the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland being...

Gerard McCann is a noted Fremantle architect – one of the famed Fremantle School. In his early professional days he worked closely with the renowned Brian Klopper. While Gerard grew up and was schooled in the Western Suburbs, he found his way to Freo because it was the place where he most felt at home. What people didn’t know was that Gerard, from the age of 10, was sexually abused by the local pa...

For the past 14 months, Jason (last name withheld at his request) has been homeless in and around Fremantle. By accepted measures, Jason would be regarded as ‘chronically homeless’ as he has ‘slept rough or in emergency accommodation for the past 6 months. In recent times, Jason’s situation has come to the attention of many Freo people, especially those doing their shopping at Peaches and IGA and...

Norm Marinovich – better known around Fremantle and especially Fremantle Hospital as Dr Norman Marinovich OAM – is a long time Freo Person. If anyone were entitled to be called ‘Dr Fremantle’ it would be Norm. Not to be confused with the famous ‘Fremantle Doctor’ summer sea breeze! Norm’s parents, a decade apart, migrated to Western Australia from the country then known as Yugoslavia before the Se...

Bob Williams is a most interesting guy. Plainly, Bob’s mind is in a constant state of motion. Bob was born in Melbourne, Victoria and has lived all over the world, including here in Western Australia, the Middle East, the UK and the Far East, before returning to Australia. He now lives in Fremantle. Bob is well known for being the construction inspiration behind the Harry Seidler classic QV1 offic...

Jane Hammond kindly agreed to speak with our editor, Michael Barker, about her career, her films, her mission, and the forthcoming film, Black Cockatoo Crisis. Until 2012, Jane was a senior journalist with The West Australian newspaper in Perth and before that with The Australian newspaper, Australian Associated Press and a raft of regional and community newspapers. Jane’s freelance work has been...

In The Sawdust House, just published by Fremantle Press , David Whish-Wilson, in his ninth novel, has produced an astonishing work of literary art. In some ways it follows on from his 2018 historical fiction, The Coves, also set largely in San Francisco. But it is much more. The novel, a historical fiction, focusses on James ‘Yankee’ Sullivan, a real life boxing star in mid 19th century US. Yankee...

Mark Naglazas, the former movie editor and chief film critic for The West Australian interviewed many of the world’s leading producers, writers, directors and actors. He now hosts a monthly film event at the Luna Cinemas, Movies With Mark, and writes for the arts magazine Seesaw. In 2021 he won the WA Media Award for the best arts story for his series of articles on the proposed WA movie studio. M...

Margo O’Byrne is the author of a wonderful book, Left Unsaid – A triumph of sibling love over institutional care and parental neglect , published in 2009. In it and in this podcast, Margot explains how she and her brother navigated their way through traumatic childhoods, including as wards and in care, and how moving to Fremantle as young adults ultimately provided an opportunity for them to flour...

Frané Lessac is an author and illustrator, having created beautiful illustrations for more than fifty books. She was born in New Jersey and lived on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat and later London before eventually finding her way to Fremantle. Travelling is a major source of inspiration for her work as she renders her impressions of a country in her illustrations. In this podcast, Frané discu...

Anya Brock, for a young woman, has led a very active and varied artistic life. Once a fashion designer, with her own label, now an abstract artist. Here  is the original Shipping News article with photographs. Support the show

Bill Hare is a climate warrior extraordinaire. He has contributed actively to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement in 2015. He was a Lead Author for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He led the influential World Bank Turn Down the Heat reports series in 2013-2014. For his work with non profit...

Peter Rowsthorn’s webpage describes him, accurately, as a high-energy, fast-paced stand-up comedian one minute and a measured character actor the next. It adds that he is a masterful MC of corporate and private functions, who has been performing his slick & blistering stand up for three decades. He’s also a Fremantle person of note. A little while back he caught up with our editor Michael Bark...

Between 2009 and 2016 Josh was as a councillor of the City of Fremantle. Between 2011 and 2016 he was the Deputy Mayor. In 2016, Josh was elected as the Labor Member for Fremantle in the Commonwealth Parliament. Since the 2019 election Josh has been the Shadow Assistant Minister for the Environment. Our editor, Michael Barker, had the good fortune to interview Josh and here’s the podcast. Enjoy! Y...

Georgia Richter is the publisher and editor at famed Fremantle Press. Our editor, Michael Barker, had the good fortune to sit down and talk with Georgia about the Freo based publishing house, and about her very readable, recent book advising authors on the finer points of the business of being a writer. You won’t want to miss this, especially if you’re an aspiring writer. View the original article...

Iain Grandage is a very accomplished guy. Musician. Composer. Holder of an honorary doctorate. And artistic director of the famous Festival of Perth. Hear Iain discuss all this and more with our editor Michael Barker. You can view the original article on Fremantle Shipping News here . Support the show

Robby Lang is a complete Fremantle institution. Known to all. Originally a Scot, he passed through California on his way to sunnier Fremantle. And stayed. While now a fully credentialed Freo person, he proudly retains his Scottish accent. Listen up as Robby recounts his story and gives us his take on Freo in this interview with our editor Michael Barker for Freo Life. View the original article on...

In this podcast, our editor Michael Barker speaks with the 22nd Harbour Master for the Port of Fremantle since 1829 - Captain Savio Fernandes. The Harbour Master is a Master Mariner with an extensive career in maritime operations, at sea, in technical ship management and port management. He commenced his career in 1991 as a junior officer and spent the last four years of his sea-going career as a...

Gillian O’Shaughnessy retired gracefully from her presenter spot on ABC Perth 720 Radio a little while ago, but before she did, she was interviewed by our Michael Barker about her Freo life and times. And she played her ukulele for us too! Listen in as GillO explains all. View the original article on Fremantle Shipping News here . Support the show

John Da Silva arrived in Fremantle from the island of Madeira, Portugal in 1969 on his 13th birthday. He later worked on a crayfishing boat as a deck hand and then built and owned the Bell-Vista group of companies that became leaders in the fresh produce and ship supply industries. Amongst other awards, John has been awarded the prestigious WA Citizen of the Year Award for Industry & Commerce...