Woolstores Forever – skateboarders fight to save their ledge.
There’s a small ledge – just 30cm or so high off the footpath on a derelict building in Fremantle. It’s really unremarkable to most who walk past it but if you’re a skateboarder. you appreciate that the internationally acclaimed Ledge is pretty much perfect. That’s because apart from its ideal height, superb length and metal capping, it’s surrounded by smooth ground for a good approach and in shade most of the day.
The long smooth ledge is on the Eastern side of the old Elders Woolstores building, built 1927, extended in the 1950s and where operations finally stopped in 1982. Gradually it’s been boarded up, covered in graffiti and since 1998 been at the centre of redevelopment disagreements between the City of Fremantle and its owner Marilyn New, who had created and then shelved plans for apartments and a hotel.
Property Group Hesperia purchased the heritage listed building in 2022 and plans are underway again, for a mix-use development. It must be looking pretty certain to proceed because the West Australian Skateboarding Association has launched its ‘Woolstores Forever’ campaign as it fights to preserve WA’s oldest and most famous skateboarding spot.
