The historic heart of Fremantle is being transformed into a vibrant city centre with a host of fantastic new public facilities and features. As part of our preparations for the opening, we’re exploring the possibility of renaming the space known as ‘Kings Square’ in the Fremantle city centre.

Following an open call-out for additional name suggestions in late 2020, everyone is invited to explore and consider a shortlist of names. Council is keen to engage broadly with the community on the possibilities before finalising a position - maintaining the current name, renaming or dual naming Fremantle’s main public square.

What we’ve heard so far (at a glance)

• In stage one of engagement (October 2020) we received 194 submissions, expressing a total of 241 ideas. This included 128 new names (both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal names), 5 dual naming suggestions, various suffixes and 108 general comments about keeping the current name or renaming.
• These were assessed against the naming criteria adopted by Council (generates a sense of civic pride, directly relevant to Fremantle, enduring), provided to Landgate for preliminary comments and presented to a special Kings Square stakeholder group for this project.
• Some names were not suitable and did not progress. The engagement report and names assessment are available in the document library.
• The process reaffirmed names already put forward and resulted in a new dual naming option and several suffixes to be considered.

In November 2020, Fremantle Council gave ‘in principle’ support to a new public artwork in Kings Square that interprets both WA’s Nyoongar culture and Fremantle’s colonial past. The interpretive concept integrates the location of the original St John’s Church and includes a ring of 14 large stones representing WA’s 14 Nyoongar clans from Geraldton to Esperance. The stones will be sought from traditional owners from each of the clans, and with their consent, transported to Fremantle for final installation. View a video about this artwork here or via the video library on this project page.

The Kings Square name stakeholder group explored the unique opportunity of integrating this artwork into the naming discussion, resulting in a third theme and name for you to consider.

Join the conversation

The existing name (Kings Square) and shortlisted names fall into three broad themes:

1. Monarchs and leaders (people) - Kings Square; Midgegooroo Square
2. Fremantle / heart of (place) - Walyalup Koort (or Walyalup Karlup)
3. Inspired by future artwork (destination) - Boya Karla (or Boya Karla Koort)

Dual naming is also an option - using a Whadjuk Nyoongar name and Kings Square.

This is a big decision so we encourage you to explore the information behind the space before sharing your thoughts. Comment below (on as many names as you like) by Sunday 18 April 2021.

You can also host your own discussion using our discussion pack - download a copy, host a discussion and submit your discussion notes online.