THE funeral of Henty Farrar was held last Wednesday at Fremantle Cemetery.

I have been thinking a lot the last two weeks about my good old mate Henty, a former Fremantle councillor and former president of the Fremantle Society.

When Henty and I were running the Fremantle Society we did so may things to connect with its members and the Freo community. 

We had monthly dinners for FS members, organised Great Freo Race events that sent people to discover our city’s historic and hidden treasures.

• Henty Farrar saving Freo from the amalgamation circus.

When we had our HQ in an old Pilot’s Cottage at Arthur’s Head we organised Australia Day and heritage festival events there, and we had bocce nights for the West End residents and FS members.

We had very cordial and productive monthly meetings with then-mayor Brad Pettitt, reached out for the first time to Notre Dame University, and were often consulted by then-vice chancellor Celia Hammond.

We strongly opposed Planning Scheme Amendment 39 with a scale model on show in the Adelaide Plaza and Woolstores, although I did not agree with the alternative Fremantle Society subcommittee plans of only 4-6 storeys. I believed 6-8 would be more realistic. 

But we lost that battle anyway.

We battled with Fremantle council against the Barnett government’s plans to change the city’s boundaries, that would have been a disaster, and we won that battle. In the end the council amalgamations did not succeed as most communities opposed them.

One early, cold Saturday morning a small group of us did a raid on the neglected Warders Cottages in Henderson Street, and tied old socks to the fences that created the big words SHAME.

Henty and I believed strongly that the Fremantle Society should lose the public perception of being a negative force in Fremantle. 

We wanted to make a positive contribution, that would help positive and much-needed change in our city.

With Henty Farrar an other old stalwart has left Freo, and left a big legacy.

So many of the real contributors have died, so it is good to see when young people step up and take up where they left off.

I will always fondly remember the really good times I had with Henty. 

We were great mates that trusted each other unconditionally. 

His passing leaves a huge void in my life.

by ROEL LOOPERS