Fremantle History Society

Archiving the Buffalo Club
54 High Street, Fremantle – from 4.30 pm

This is your opportunity to come see and hear about what lies behind this somewhat uninspiring façade.

The Fremantle Buffalo Club was founded in 1938 by the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. A quick internet search reveals that a ‘royal’ charter was never actually issued, and the word ‘antediluvian’, means ‘before the time of the flood’. The reasoning behind that extraordinary name may come to light on Tuesday. They are a fraternal organisation formed in the UK and in the early 1800s and there were a great many of them scattered around the world. Back in Fremantle the old order no longer run the club, but they continue to meet in the upper halls, where we will be meeting on the 23^rd.

The Buffalo Club has always sought a culture of friendship and has been a point of solidarity for maritime workers and Fremantle’s grassroots community. In recent years, this has included an influx of new and younger members introducing fresh initiatives from the music community, a soup kitchen, yoga and art classes, poetry and comedy, and this may well save the ‘Buff’ from going down the same path as the other social clubs in Fremantle.

In 2024, the Management Committee established the History Subcommittee (SC) to organise, collect, and archive the history of the nearly hundred-year-old club. Three members of the History SC will present the history and process of archiving the Fremantle Buffalo Club. Slight change of line-up as Daniel cannot be there. Ollie will talk about the club and some of the stories they have been uncovering, Sam will talk about the cataloguing and his work on the website, and Cara will tell us about the oral history program that she is working on.

The upstairs room is booked from 4.30 until 6.30 pm, so arrive anytime from 4.30 to register (upstairs), help yourself to snacks – drinks may be purchased at the bar downstairs. We will run a raffle and copies of Fremantle Studies will be for sale. As always, contributions to supper would be most welcome.

*Note that there is no lift to the first floor room where our meeting will be held, only a flight of stairs and this may present a problem to those with mobility issues. We apologise to those who this will inconvenience.

Also, please be aware that there are parking restrictions in the surrounding area at that time of the day and you may need to plan for extra time to get to the venue by 4.30 pm. High Street is free for half an hour, then again after 6.00 pm.       

Hope to see you there!                  

Robert Nicholson – Captain Robert Laurie of Fremantle

Tuesday 24 March 5.00 – 6.00 pm
Refreshments available from 4.30 pm
Fremantle History Centre, Ground Floor, Walyalup Civic Centre

151 High St, Fremantle 6160

A Scottish born sailor, at fifteen Robert Laurie migrated to Australia to join the Adelaide Steamship Company which, in 1880, sent him to Fremantle where he worked as a stevedore before becoming a member of the Legislative Council and first Chairman of the Fremantle Harbour Trust. He fought to achieve proper marine standards to ensure the port attracted the patronage of international shipping.

Our speaker is the great grandson of Captain Laurie. The Hon. Robert Nicholson was born in 1937, his mother Betty, nee Davies, was a granddaughter of Captain Robert Laurie. His grandfather was a solicitor, John Nicholson, who emigrated from Scotland in 1896, establishing a law firm here. One of his sons, Edward, became a partner in 1927, and Edward’s son, Robert, joined the firm when he was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1960.

Robert (Bob) served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of WA from 1988 to 1994. He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to the judiciary, to education and to the community. Then the year after, was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), also for service to the judiciary and the law, to education, and to the community.

He has published a number of research papers before writing the story of his grandfather, ‘Shaping Australia’s West: The Life of John Nicholson’ and then ‘Captain Robert Laurie and the maritime development of Fremantle’ in 2025.