Double bollard plug

This double bollard was never used in Fremantle Harbour. It was made for the plug and mould manufacturing technique – this is the ‘plug’ or pattern that was used to make the mould for casting double bollards. The bollards would have looked just like this, but instead of wood, they were made of a cast metal.
 
This style of bollard was designed by the Western Australian Public Works Department in the late 1890s, for the new wharf being built at Fremantle. The design was soon changed, however, as larger ships began using the harbour. With their increased height and during a high tide, there was nothing to stop the mooring lines slipping off the top, allowing the ship to drift away from the wharf into the harbour. 
 
All of the bollards made from this pattern were sold as scrap and replaced with a more secure style of mooring bollard, as seen in the photograph of Iron Derby moored at Victoria Quay in about 1968.

Credit: Fremantle Ports.