Reproducing temples in Fremantle

Abstract

This paper explores the production and reproduction of a sacred-soliciting built environment in the Western Australian port town of Fremantle, drawing attention to temple iconography produced in the first century of European settlement and its preservation and reproduction at the hands of local and national heritage movements since the 1970s. I show how Fremantle’s High Street solicits a sense of the sacred in its visitors, operating in a similar fashion to temple complexes such as Sukuh in Java. From purifying passage through the Whalers Tunnel under the Round House (the temple’s porch), the visitor will be guided up High Street through an assemblage of neoclassical facades to Kings Square (the temple’s house) with its mix of artefacts for Anglican, Masonic and nation-building narratives. The reading continues up High Street to the War Memorial on Monument Hill (the temple’s Holy of Holies) for which a draft conservation plan was released in 2010.