The Dark Stories true crime walking tour of Fremantle was an entertaining and fascinating way to explore Fremantle’s darker history. The tour commenced at Pioneer Park, directly opposite Fremantle Train Station, making the meeting point extremely convenient and easy to find.
Our guide, Nigel, was funny, knowledgeable and highly engaging throughout the tour. He brought each story to life while maintaining an enjoyable pace and atmosphere. The tour featured ten true crime stories, all connected to the locations we visited around the historic town of Fremantle. Hearing the stories in the places where the events occurred created an immersive experience.
The first story, the Case of the Broken Bottles, featured on the mystery death of a young American sailor in 1947 who after a boozy night out in Fremantle, was found dead early the next morning. Without giving too much away, I was quite impressed that the detectives were able to find who the killer was by painstakingly piecing 3 broken bottles that were smashed in the location that the sailor was killed.
For our next story, we didn’t have to move too far because it involved wharfies, once known as lumpers, across the road where the Fremantle Maritime museum now stands. This is quite a significant one for the history of Fremantle, with a statue of Tom Edwards erected to honour his death. It concerned the Fremantle Lumpers Union, the police, the Scabs and a not so popular WA Premier at the time, Sir Hal Colbatch, who only served for one month as Premier.
I’ve only mentioned 2 stories, but they were all fascinating, and, as the name suggests, they all involve dark history.
What I really loved about the experience is that all the stories had actual pictures and photos so you could put face to the names in the stories. You could follow along on your phone with a QR code that took you straight the pictures but Nigel also carried a book with all the pictures for those who prefer old school.
The tour was just under two hours. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in true crime, local history, or discovering a different side of Fremantle whilst getting a bit of exercise at the same time.
To book tickets to the Dark Stories Fremantle True Crime Tour, please visit https://darkstories.com.au/fremantle-true-crime-tour/.
