Fremantle’s Muslim community is set to open the doors of the port city’s first mosque in more than a century, driven by a crowdfunding effort to repurpose a warehouse into a place of worship.
Southern Metropolitan Muslim Association committee member Ahmad Abdullah said Perth’s Muslim community was in need of a permanent place of worship south of the river and the conversion of the warehouse would soon begin.
“We pray five times daily, so a mosque is usually the place that people want to go to and the compulsory one is every Friday,” he said.
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READ NOW“People (in the south) are always asking for a mosque.
“For those who are working in the Fremantle area, there hasn’t been a mosque since the last one disappeared in the 1900s.”
There are about 10 mosques across Perth, including in Wangara, Malaga, Wattle Grove, Gosnells and Mirrabooka.
Mr Abdullah said Muslim people working in Fremantle had been renting a small church behind St Paul’s Anglican Church in Beaconsfield to pray.
When operational — hopefully by late next year — the new place of worship would be the first mosque in Fremantle in more than a century, with national archives suggesting there were places of Muslim worship across Coolgardie, Fremantle and Perth in 1898.
It is intended to service the southern suburbs Muslim population, as well as sailors of Muslim faith when they are in the port.
A planning application was unanimously endorsed by Fremantle council in 2022 to change the use of a former warehouse in O’Connor into a mosque.
The 738sqm building at 10 Blamey Place will eventually have a prayer room, complete with a lobby, outdoor play area for children, kitchen space and room for use as a community facility.
Speaking at a fundraising dinner this month, former Fremantle mayor and Greens MP Brad Pettitt — who led the city when the planning application first came to council — said the mosque was the result of a long journey that he was “proud to support”.
“The Fremantle community prides ourselves on being multicultural and bringing people together,” he said.
Current mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge echoed that support at the dinner.
“We’re a port city, we’ve had everyone arrive through our port and we continue to keep our arms open and hearts open to new people in our community,” she said.
“This idea was always going to be supported by Fremantle council.”
Mr Abdullah said the group had received far-reaching support to build the mosque, which is expected to cost at least $2 million.
“We started the project when we only had round about $300,000 in our bank account,” he said.
He said the former warehouse was primed to become a place of worship as it was in an industrial area.
He said nearby businesses welcomed the move, which would see activity and life in the O’Connor precinct on weekends when most other businesses are closed.
“It is not a residential area, it is a commercial area,” he said.
“The neighbours welcome our presence here — on Saturdays and Sundays, we can have activities and all that.
“It was quite lucky for us to find this building.”
More information about the SMMA and Fremantle mosque can be found on YouTube.