Patrick Marmion Memorial

In 1837, two whaling companies started up at Fremantle. Patrick Marmion was able to gain the license to operate one of the whaling companies in 1848, upon which he assumed the impressive title of ‘master whaler’. He failed to retain the license for the 1849 season and immediately petitioned Governor Fitzgerald for permission to establish a whaling station several kilometres north of Fremantle in what is now Sorrento. The petition was quickly granted and a shore whaling station was built on ten acres of leased crown land in 1849. Shore whaling involved rowing small shore-based chaser boats to intercept migrating whales. If the whaling crew was successful, they towed the dead whales back to shore for processing. The whaling station operated for three years. In 1852, it was permanently abandoned.