Here's the final installment to the Ultimate Maritime Trip series - the Welcome Walls outside the famous WA Maritime Museum. In our previous post, I walked along the O'Connor Landing and Victoria Quay, and spotted the famous Leeuwin II. This post is a continuation to the previous post in a way - as the WA Maritime Museum is situated at the end of the trail.
The WA Maritime Museum's a really awesome place - right now there's an exhibition on Antarctic expeditions, but I haven't caught it yet - I intend to do so when I return in March. After all, I have student discounts, and the Maritime Museum's such a wonderful place to be in! This museum is one of my favourite places other than the Shipwreck Museum and the other heritage places I visited. Hence Fremantle's my favourite hangout place in Perth - it is so rich in culture and history, and is just gorgeous!
What I like most about the museum - its unique architecture. It can be seen from a number of locations, including the Fishing Boat Harbours and Bather's Beach. Of course, it can be seen from the E-shed Markets, as it is located very near the E-shed Markets. It's very easy to get to, from Fremantle train station. I'd just walk there.
Anyway I discovered a viewing deck on the 2nd floor of the Maritime Museum...
Which let me take pics of part of the exterior...the part facing the open sea...
And it gave me a marvellous view of the O'Connor Landing, the A-sheds, Victoria Quay and the Welcome Walls! You can also see the Leeuwin II ship in the background, just next to the A-sheds. The Welcome Walls are towards the foreground.
Shifted my camera a little away from the water, and now the A-sheds are more towards the centre. The tall building on the right is the Customs House, and you can see a bit of the museum in the corner.
While walking down, I couldn't resist taking pictures of the reflections! The sky was very clear that day, and it made the glass windows appear even more blue. Trust me, I didn't use any photoshop, just a polarising filter and my 18-55mm lens, and that's what I got!
View of the museum from ground level, after I walked down the winding stairs.
Now to the main focus of today - the Welcome Walls. There're so many of them, all located in front of the Maritime Museum. Here are a few pictures depicting where they are located...
I went closer to examine some of the messages left by the migrants. A lot of migrants have braved treacherous conditions to come to Australia, and many have landed in Fremantle and Albany. As part of a commemorative effort, the Welcome Walls were set up. I really salute these migrants - who have undergone so much just to come over for a better life! Books like "We Came By Sea" and others illustrate the efforts these migrants went through. Read more about it on the official website: http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls/.
The Welcome Walls were made with a mixture of materials. Some had names carved on steel, while other names were inscribed on glass. The glass walls were newer - and the names are kind of easier to read from the glass walls.
I think both the glass and steel walls are equally well-designed! The walls provide some descriptions of conditions on board the ships, as well as photographs. The list of names were really, really long, and arranged in alphabetical order.
And here they are, in front of the Maritime Museum and the A-sheds. There were so many of them! Shows how many families and people chose to come over to Australia for a change - typically a change for the better.
No blue filter was used when I was taking this picture - it's a reflection of the A-sheds and a commemorative statue of child migrants!
Here we go - playing with reflections from one of the windows. I took a few attempts to find the best angle, and my favourite pictures are the second and third ones. They're actually QUITE different, believe me!
Tried the same trick on the cafe too! I've eaten at the cafe before, and they serve really good tea! Went with Steph and Jenny during their Epic Perth Trip (documented in October)!
I couldn't resist taking more pictures using different angles. I'm actually happy that they turned out pretty decent!
This is a complete reflection of the commemorative statue of the migrant children...
And here's the original view! The pic above is definitely a reflection of the pic below - minus the intense blue tint. To be honest I like the blue tint and how it is emphasised by my polarising filter.
Here's a view of the sheds (A-shed on the right) and the Maritime Museum, and this is what you see when walking away from the E-shed markets.
At that point in time, just as I was turning out of the carpark, a tourist approached me for directions, and I decided to take him down Phillimore Street - to direct him to the train station. As I was walking towards Phillimore Street, I couldn't resist taking a pic of the Customs building. The statue in front of it is the C.Y. O'Connor statue - erected in 1911. C.Y. O'Connor was the engineer responsible for the development of Fremantle as a port - and his efforts have since paid off. Right now, Fremantle is one of the busiest and oldest ports around.
After the tourist went on his way, I decided to cross Phillimore Street and take a huge de-tour to walk around Fremantle even more. After all, I knew it was my last trip around this area for now, and I wanted to make full use of it!
At that point, I noticed that one of the buses had accidentally rammed into another! The victim was a minibus while the other was a Blue Cat bus - a free transit bus that brings us around Fremantle. Let's just say that both buses were BUS-TED by me :D It wasn't a serious accident - fortunately, and both parties settled it peacefully, with no road rage or anything. I guess both buses escaped with some scratches here and there...but I'm glad all was settled in the end!
I was also relieved that no road rage occurred. Road rage is kind of epic...but dangerous.
The Phillimore Chambers - where the two buses collided.
Decided to walk down Cliff Street to get back to High Street...
And I found a wedding party trying to squeeze into the space of one of the walls! This wall was initially a building, but it's actually emptied out behind. Now it serves as a decorative wall for a carpark...and for wedding pictures of course.
Being inquisitive - as I usually am - I stopped by for a quick look.
And then I ended up on High Street - overlooking the Roundhouse - which you can roughly see in the background. I did many posts on the Roundhouse!
Instead of walking down High Street, I decided to de-tour back to Phillimore Street via Mouat Street, and passed by this bed and breakfast inn (left side of the picture). This inn is kinda famous - I mentioned in this post that someone commented, "This is the third time in these 2 days that I've seen someone take pictures of this B and B!"
Honestly I am still trying to figure out what's so special about this B and B. I guess it's gorgeous and has a rich past - although I'm still not too sure what it was initially used for.
Playing with reflections - again! I was really in the mood for playing with reflections that day!
One of the cafes I intend to try - the Pasta Addiction Cafe. From what I saw on their menu, their pastas are fresh, hand-made, and sound delicious!
Well - to me - pasta is mostly delicious! I'll put this cafe on my list for now and will go visit it when I next return! For now I'm going to focus on catching up with Singaporean food!
Behold - a rare sight! Horse-drawn carriage down Phillimore Street, turning into Mouat Street, where I was. Horse-drawn carriages are common in Melbourne. Did a post on city sights in Melbourne here.
Seeing pics of Melbourne gives me a tinge of nostalgia...but seeing pics of Perth makes me feel a tad nostalgic too, nowadays. After all, I've now lived in 2 Australian cities - Melbourne and Perth. I wonder where I will be next?
Phillimore Street is parallel to High Street, and intersects with quite a number of streets. Here's a view of Pakenham Street - which is parallel to Mouat Street.
I did a post on Fremantle when I went back for the first time in Semester 2, and focused a lot more on Phillimore Street then. Just some trivia - a "Chamber of Commerce" refers to a business network to cater for businessmen. The first "Chamber of Commerce" was set up in France in 1599, and subsequently other countries followed suit and set up their own.
Anyway here I am, walking back to the train station via Phillimore Street.
Dinner at Kardinya Park - a major shopping centre situated around 15 minutes away from my place. I stopped 2 stops earlier so that I could enjoy this big plate of noodles!
Felt so much better after eating - I was so famished after the walk around Fremantle!
Gosh - this series is one of the longest so far! The longest is probably the USA one I did in late 2010/early 2011. This is probably the second longest or the third longest! Another one is the Melbourne trip I did in the middle of 2012.
Anyway we've now come to the end of the Ultimate Maritime Trip series! I'll be posting more pictures of Fremantle in the near future!