John Curtin College of the Arts is a high school with student intake from the greater Fremantle area, in Western Australia. The school currently has over 1100 students attending. Originally, named John Curtin High School after the late prime minister John Curtin, it was the first government-built secondary school in the south-west metropolitan region of Western Australia. It was built to replace the twin co-ed schools Fremantle Boys' School and Princess May's Girls' School. The first building was opened in 1942, the rest of the school was built between 1954 and 1958, and an arts centre was added in 1987. During the first decade or so of the school's operation, a number of annexes were dotted around Fremantle and used for some classes. The science annex, built later than the main school, is separate from the main school buildings because it was funded by the federal government. Fremantle's first official cemetery was on top of the land that is now the College oval. The cemetery was first established in 1852 and used until 1899 when it was decommissioned. It later fell into a poor condition.