Freo Day 2: In Prison!

Our tummies sated after our meandering walk around town, next we headed to prison! Literally. The good news? This prison was no longer an active facility!

Inscribed on the UNESCO Heritage Site, the Fremantle Prison is the largest convict-built structure in Western Australia. It also carries the distinction of being the most intact convict establishment in all of Australia.

Construction of the prison, which had a capacity of 1,000 inmates, began in 1850 … with the arrival of the first 10,000 male convicts … requested by the authorities as a labor force to help build the Swan River Colony. Once it became a functioning facility, it was used as a place of incarceration until it was decommissioned in 1991.

One can enter the outer yard of the prison for free … visit the small museum and the exhibit of paintings by prisoners currently serving their sentences in Western Australian prisons.

For a more in depth experience of the site — one that takes visitors beyond the tall gate and into the prison yard and buildings — one must join a tour. Options include going back to convict times … to the period between the 1850s and 1888; going behind the bars to do time and explore the prison’s history as a maximum security gaol … from 1887 to 1991; or getting inside the criminal mind … through stories about some of the more notorious inmates of the prison.

We were most interested in the convict history of Fremantle History … our timing working out perfectly as the tour was about to leave when we arrived. Our guide was great … bringing alive with words the happenings of the time.

We checked out the regular cells; the communal sleeping areas; the two chapels — Anglican, built at the expense of the government, and Roman Catholic, built by the people when the government refused to pay for it; the “inescapable cell” … built solely due to a prisoner who made a mockery of the prison by escaping repeatedly; the solitary confinement cells; and more. Our guide pointed out details that might have escaped our attention … such as the suicide nets; the holes for ventilation; the hidden art that came to light only a few years ago; the use of buckets as “necessaries”; and more.

It was a fascinating look back to Australia as a penal colony … one that gave us many thoughts to ponder. The stories were interesting … and enlightening.Read more