Places/obelisk.html
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Obelisk Hill
Obelisk Hill—now Memorial Park, Monument Hill, War Memorial.
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The obelisk. Image 'colourised' by Muzza Giuttisti (Murray Barnard, ozebook, made available in Facebook).
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Fremantle Library c. 1910 photograph by Izzy Orloff, no. 300:
Panoramic view of Fremantle looking east from Town Hall up Knutsford Street. Terrace houses built c. 1898 at 18-30 Holdsworth Street can be seen. Distant view of two-storey houses in Ord Street. The obelisk on Monument Hill can be seen, erected 1867 and demolished in 1924. In the foreground, the warehouses in Newman Street were demolished and replaced by Myers (1985 Boans), opened 1.08.1972 and Woolworths (now Coles), opened 3.06.1972. Harris Scarfe and Co. Ltd. demolished c. 1971. J.C. Hutton building demolished February 1967. W.H.J. Hardie occupied this building 1910-1930. At the corner of High and Queen Streets (left) is Marlborough House, which was used by Henry Briggs as a boarding house for country scholars. This was originally the Rose and Crown Hotel, built before 1849 and demolished in October 1937. See: 728.5 Miscellany File. Terrace houses 19-29 Holdsworth Street, towards Ord Street, classified by the National Trust c1900. Police Quarters Henderson Street. Contract let to J.Pringle, July 1903 for 3790 pounds, plans prepared by P.W.D. Victoria Hall, High Street, built 1896. Fremantle Prison. Warders Quarters 3-9 Holdsworth Street built 1897.
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Photograph (n.d.) courtesy Fremantle Library no. 1372.
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Library:
Looking South East from the Australia Hotel
From a post card. In the left background is the Obelisk on Monument Hill. In front of it and slightly to the right is Ivanhoe (1889), the large house on the corner of Ord and High Streets erected for James Lilly. Ellen Street runs across the picture, edged with large houses overlooking Fremantle Park. The old Catholic Presbytery is at the extreme right front next to the Proclamation Tree and Marmion Memorial. In the left foreground is a shingle roofed cottage in Victoria Road, occupied by the Nelson family (J W Nelson was a general carrier). A small tram is on the corner of the Princess May School playground. Photograph, taken 1909, from the Fremantle City Library Local History Photographic Collection: 1775. (Text from the Library entry.)
Wikipedia:
Location
The obelisk was located on what is now called Monument Hill, approximately 43m above sea level. The hill overlooks Fremantle Harbour, Garden Island, and Rottnest Island to the west, and the Darling Ranges to the east, and is the highest natural point of elevation between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Ranges. It was identified early as one of the best vantage points in Fremantle.
History
The obelisk was constructed in 1874 for use as a trig point by surveyors and navigators. In an 1870s planning map of Fremantle, the obelisk was shown under the name "Obelisk Hill", which remained in use until its demolition prior to the construction of the war memorial in the 1920s. The area around the hill comprised limestone outcrops and low scrub. After the Western Australian gold rushes in the 1890s, a number of shanty towns, commonly referred to as "canvas towns", came into existence on the outskirts of Fremantle, including on Monument Hill. The reserve was vested as a public park on 20 July 1904, under the name "Obelisk Reserve". Under the specifications of Fremantle's town engineer, quarrying of the limestone outcrops commenced shortly after, and was used by a number of local companies, including the Fremantle Tramways. Various landscaping works were carried out between 1904 and 1910, including the planting of trees, and construction of footpaths, drinking fountains, and fixed jarrah seats.
References and Links
Hutchison's Walk 9: Memorial Park, Monument Hill.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 7 March, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/places/obelisk.html (it was last updated on 10 March, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.