Old Kerosene Store, 19th-century industrial building in Fremantle, Australia.
The Old Kerosene Store is a limestone building from the 1800s located near Bathers Beach in Fremantle. It features rubble stone walls, a hipped roof, and timber floors built to safely handle hazardous materials storage.
Harwood & Son built the store in 1884 for kerosene, then widely used for street lighting and heating. In 1919 the state government's Harbour and Light Department took it over as a warehouse and later a shipwright's shed. Saved from demolition in 1972, it was restored for the creative arts, and in 1986–87 the City of Fremantle restored it under the Arthur Head Bicentennial Project.
The building has been called Kidogo Arthouse since 1998, when the Kidogo Art Institute took the lease; kidogo is Swahili for 'small'. It runs as a multidisciplinary independent art centre. During the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, a temporary bar called Kelp operated inside under relaxed liquor licensing rules.
The site is easily reached by walking through Fremantle's streets toward Bathers Beach near the waterfront. Visitors should check ahead as the building functions as an active cultural space with varying opening hours.
The building served multiple purposes across different eras, shifting from kerosene storage to a shipwright workshop and eventually an art gallery. This evolution shows how the sturdy structure could be repurposed without losing its usefulness.
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