Fremantle Prison
Location:	Fremantle, Western Australia
Coordinates:	32°3′18″S 115°45′13″E / -32.055, 115.75361Coordinates: 32°3′18″S 115°45′13″E / -32.055, 115.75361
Status:	Museum
Security class:	Maximum
Capacity:	800
Opened:	1855
Closed:	November 8, 1991
Managed by:	Government of Western Australia

Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. Fremantle (commonly known as Freo is a Port City in Western Australia, located southwest of Perth, the state capital at the mouth of Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution which dates from 1890 although it has been amended many times since then This is a list of operational and former Australian Prisons. Prisons listed as museum are former prisons now open for public inspection and tours Fremantle (commonly known as Freo is a Port City in Western Australia, located southwest of Perth, the state capital at the mouth of Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. The 60,000 m² (15 acres) site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art.

The prison was built by convict labour in the 1850s, and transferred to the colonial government in 1886 for use as a gaol for locally-sentenced prisoners. The convict era of Western Australia was the period during which Western Australia was a Penal colony of the British Empire. It closed as a prison in 1991 and reopened as a historic site. It is now a public museum, managed by the Government of Western Australia with daily and nightly tours being operated. The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution which dates from 1890 although it has been amended many times since then Some tours include information about the existence of ghosts within the prison.

The prison is also widely referred to as Fremantle Gaol.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Construction 1.2 Closure 1.3 Prison operation 2 Restoration and heritage listing 3 Prison art 4 Notable prisoners 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

History

Construction

Fremantle Prison was constructed soon after the arrival of the convict ship Scindian in 1850. The convict era of Western Australia was the period during which Western Australia was a Penal colony of the British Empire. Scindian is widely considered the first Convict ship to transport convicts to Western Australia. The Swan River Colony was settled by free settlers in 1829. Swan River Colony was a British settlement established at the Swan River on the west coast of Australia in 1829 In 1849, the farmers petitioned the colonial authority to request skilled convicts be sent from the British government. Her Majesty's Government, or when the monarch is male His Majesty's Government, is the title used by the Government of the United Kingdom, based at The first ship with 75 prisoners aboard arrived even before confirmation of the request was received. Edmund Henderson found on arrival that the town was unprepared and arranged temporary accommodation for the convicts at the harbour master's warehouse (now the Esplanade Hotel). Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson KCB ( 19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in the British Army Under direction from Henderson, James Manning and Henry Wray supervised the construction of the prison using convict labour from limestone quarried on-site. Lieutenant-General Henry Wray ( 1 January 1826 – 6 April 1900) Demerara (Ireland 20th Company Royal Engineers. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Construction began in 1851 and was completed in 1859. The first prisoners were moved there in 1855. ^[1] The original design of the main cell block was based on that of Pentonville Jail in England. HM Prison Pentonville is a Prison built in 1842 on the Caledonian Road, North London. ^[2]

Once construction of the prison's wings, perimeter walls and associated buildings was complete, convicts were often used in chain gangs for other public works in the Fremantle and surrounding Perth area, for example, Perth Town Hall and Fremantle Asylum. A chain gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging labor, such as chipping stone often along a highway or rail bed The Perth Town Hall, situated on the corner of Hay and Barrack streets is the only convict-built town hall in Australia The Fremantle Arts Centre is an historic landmark building in Fremantle Western Australia. During this period the prison was named the Convict Establishment, although known locally and informally as the Limestone Lodge.

In 1868, penal transportation ceased in Western Australia. Transportation or penal transportation refers to the deporting of Convicted Criminals to a Penal colony, for example by France Numbers of transported convicts gradually declined; the prison came under the control of the colonial government and was renamed Fremantle Prison in 1886. Locally-sentenced male and female prisoners were moved from Perth gaol to the site which became the largest prison in Western Australia. Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. Jail, or gaol (especially in Canada, Australia and NZ[http //www Transportation had already ceased in the other colonies by 1853. ^[3] The old prison bakery was converted into the women's prison to accommodate this new role. It held up to 60 women until 1970, when the women's section closed and the inmates were transferred to Bandyup Women's Prison, north-east of Perth. Bandyup Women's Prison is located in the northeastern rural suburb of West Swan, Western Australia. The former women's section then became the prisoner assessment centre.

During construction of the buildings, six deep shafts were sunk into the limestone bedrock to the east of the main building to provide the prisoners with fresh water from a limestone aquifer. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 An aquifer is an underground layer of Water -bearing Permeable rock or unconsolidated materials ( Gravel, Sand, Silt, or Clay The quality of the water proved better than that in the town and prisoners were soon pumping, by hand, up to 55 million litres (12 million gallons) of water per year from prison reservoirs to the colony and to ships berthing at the developing port. In 1888 a steam pump was installed to take over the work. In 1896, a series of tunnels or Horizontal Drives were constructed 20 metres under the prison to provide a greater surface area allowing more water to be drawn. The work was carried out using prison labour in poor conditions. The accessible tunnels run for over 1 kilometre; however, by 1910 the tunnels system was no longer needed and was sealed, leaving tools and construction equipment in place. The tunnels became the subject of many urban myths in the local area. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them

In 1907, after the gold rushes in Western Australia and the rapid population growth in the area, the prison was expanded with the construction of New Division to the north, built by contractors with stone from quarries at Rottnest Island. A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of Gold. Rottnest Island is located 18 km off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. In the yard of this section, a panopticon was built, influenced by Jeremy Bentham's concept. The Panopticon is a type of Prison building designed by English architect Jeremy Bentham in 1785 Jeremy Bentham ( IPA: or) (15 February 1748&ndash6 June 1832 was an English Jurist, Philosopher, and legal and Social reformer ^[4] This area also contains Death Row. Death row is a term that refers to the section of a Prison that houses individuals awaiting execution.

During World War I and World War II, the Australian Army took over part of the prison and used it as a military prison from September 1939 until June 1946. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Australian Army is Australia's military land force It is part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF along with the Royal Australian Navy and the A military prison is a Prison operated by the Military. Military prisons are used variously to house Prisoners of war, Enemy combatants, those Nearby Rottnest Island was also used to hold prisoners and prisoners-of-war during war time. Rottnest Island is located 18 km off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle.

The last person to be hanged was serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, executed in 1964. Eric Edgar Cooke ( February 25, 1931 – October 26, 1964) was an Australian Serial killer.

On January 4, 1988, with recorded inside temperatures of 52. Events 46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) 2°C (126°F), a prison riot took place. A prison riot is a type of incident that occurs in the Prison environment ^[5] Seventy prisoners took over four and three divisions, taking 15 officers hostage. ^[6] The riots led to a large fire damaging three and four divisions causing 1. 8 million AUD of damage. The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the Currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas

See also: Fremantle prison riot

Closure

Fremantle Prison was decommissioned on November 8, 1991. The Fremantle prison riot was a Prison riot that occurred on January 4, 1988 at Fremantle Prison, in Western Australia. Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Prisoners were transferred to Casuarina Prison about 30 km south of Perth, which opened the same year. Casuarina Prison is the main maximum security prison for Western Australia, located near Perth. Casuarina Prison replaced the 130-year-old Fremantle Prison as the state's main maximum-security prison. The buildings remained the jurisdiction of the Department of Housing and Works and the complex was leased for ten years to a conservation group, the Fremantle Guardians, who successfully ran tours around the buildings. After the lease expired in 2001, the state government again took control and embarked on a long-term plan for the future conservation of the site.

The network of tunnels under the prison was opened to the public on June 7, 2005. Events 1099 - The First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Fremantle Prison featured in episode 8 of the 9th season of the popular reality TV show The Amazing Race. The Amazing Race 9 was the ninth installment of the popular American Reality television show The Amazing Race. Reality television is a genre of Television programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations documents actual events and usually features ordinary The Amazing Race, sometimes referred to as TAR, is a Reality television Game show in which teams of two people (with one exception Teams had to search the grounds for a torch and the underground tunnel network for a clue.

Prison operation

Thomas Hill Dixon held the position of Superintendent of Convicts for nine years, running Fremantle Prison and the convict system. Watercolor ( US) or Watercolour ( UK) (and "aquarelle" in French is a Painting method Thomas Hill Dixon ( 20 February 1816 &ndash 30 January 1880) was the first Superintendent of Convicts in Western Australia. Together with the Comptroller General Edmund Henderson, he created a reforming, humane convict system for Western Australia. The Comptroller General of Convicts was the head of the convict establishment in Western Australia. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson KCB ( 19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in the British Army He instituted a system of training convicts in a trade, and he adapted Western Australia's legal situation to the marks system used by Alexander Maconochie in the Norfolk Island penal system. Alexander Maconochie (11 February 1787&ndash25 October 1860 was a Scottish naval officer geographer and Penal reformer. Norfolk Island ( Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a small inhabited island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand He was opposed to flogging and favoured the introduction of female convicts into Western Australia.

Cell sizes were increased by knocking down the inner wall between two cells after changes were ordered following a Royal Commission held in the 1890s. The term Royal Commission may also be used in the United Kingdom to describe the group of Lords Commissioners who may act in the stead of the At the same time, the prison was divided into several parts. In the main block, four divisions were created:

• One Division—Short sentences, remand prisoners, and (up until 1970) juveniles as young as 13 years old.
• Two Division—Serious crimes without violence.
• Three Division—Violent offenders.
• Four Division—Murderers and long-term men.

The main block also houses solitary confinement, the gallows and two churches. Solitary confinement, colloquially referred to in American English as "the hole" or "the pound" (or in British English "the block" is a Punishment A gallows is a frame typically wooden used for execution by Hanging.

The gallows room was the only legal place of execution in Western Australia between 1888 and 1984, with 43 men and one woman hanged in this period. A gallows is a frame typically wooden used for execution by Hanging. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. Aside from hanging, other punishments for lesser crimes included solitary confinement and lashings in the exercise yard. Solitary confinement, colloquially referred to in American English as "the hole" or "the pound" (or in British English "the block" is a Punishment Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, "whip" the human body

Michal Bosworth writes that staff disliked giving the lashings and reports on a remission in lashes ordered in 1853, "because no one could be found to carry out the punishment. "^[7] However, the last flogging occurred in 1943.

The prison contains two chapels, one Protestant and one Catholic. The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that according to Judeo-Christian tradition were authored by God and given Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Behind the Anglican chapel altar, there is a painted representation of the Ten Commandments. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that according to Judeo-Christian tradition were authored by God and given The words to the sixth commandment use the unusual translation of "thou shalt do no murder" rather than "thou shalt not kill," the more common interpretation in the Church of England. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican ^[8] Given that the gallows were still in regular use, it was felt that "thou shalt not kill" would have been hypocritical. Hypocrisy (or the state of being a hypocrite) is the act of preaching a certain belief religion or way of life but not in fact holding these same virtues oneself

Restoration and heritage listing

In August 2005, work began on the restoration of the prison gatehouse area. Poor-quality concrete rendering was removed and the original stonework was revealed in October 2005. Concrete is a construction material composed of Cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as Fly ash and Slag Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water The work is the start of a three-year plan to halt the deterioration of the buildings and preserve them for the future.

Fremantle Prison is currently the best preserved convict-built prison in the country and became the first building in Western Australia to be listed on the Australian National Heritage List. The Australian National Heritage List is a list of places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia ^[9] The Australian Federal Heritage Minister, Senator Ian Campbell, stated that it would be included in a nomination of eleven convict areas to become World Heritage Sites. The Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. Ian Gordon Campbell (born 22 May 1959) Australian politician was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing Western A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex

Policy dictates the prison is used for the benefit of the community without damaging the fabric of the site. Since 1992, the prison has operated as a heritage museum, and by 2005 the prison was attracting more than 130,000 visitors every year. The Anglican Chapel is currently visited on tours and used for wedding services; New Division is used as a New Business Enterprise Centre; the hospital is now home to the Fremantle Children's Literature Centre; and the women's prison is now an art college. A wedding is the Ceremony in which two people are united in Marriage. Art movement Art school is a colloquial term for any educational institution (whether elementary secondary post-secondary/undergraduate or graduate/postgraduate with a primary focus

Guided tours run daily through the site. A tour guide is a person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area which person normally possesses a specific area Torchlight tours are also held twice weekly. A flashlight (also called an electric torch or torch) is a portable electric spotlight which emits light from a small incandescent Lightbulb Ramps are provided to enable disabled access through the ground floors of the prison; however, some upper levels are inaccessible. On tunnels tours visitors can walk and paddle through the tunnels by boat. Visitors descend 20 metres down a set of vertical ladders attached with harnesses and need to be fairly fit. A climbing harness is a piece of equipment used in certain types of rock-climbing, Abseiling or other activities requiring the use of ropes to provide access A gift shop and restaurant also operate. The prison is closed Good Friday and Christmas Day. Good Friday, also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday preceding Easter Sunday ("Pascha"

Prison art

The prison art gallery, a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Works, showcases and offers for sale the artworks of current and ex-prisoners of Western Australia. Art therapy has been used within the prison for education and rehabilitation. Art therapy is a form of Expressive therapy that uses art materials such as paints chalk and markers

Additionally many cells and areas of the prison depict prisoners' artwork, including that of the 19th-century forger James Walsh, whose artwork was hidden beneath layers of white-wash for decades.

A more contemporary prison artist was Dennis (NOZ) Nozworthy, who stated that he found art on death row. Some of his work currently is held in the collections of Curtin University, Perth Central TAFE, and the WA Government, Department of Justice. Curtin University of Technology is a University with its main campus at Bentley, southeast of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. ^[10]

Other cells contain Aboriginal artwork many by unknown artists. Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. The Walmajarri artist Jimmy Pike started painting in Fremantle prison, having received tuition from Steve Culley and David Wroth. ^[11]

Notable prisoners

• Brenden Abbott – "the Postcard Bandit"; escaped the prison on November 24, 1989, by fabricating a prison guard uniform. Brenden James Abbott (born 8 May 1962 in Footscray, Melbourne) is an infamous Australian bank robber known as the Postcard Bandit Events 380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) A corrections officer, correctional officer, detention officer, jail guard, prison guard, prison warder, or prison officer
• Eric Edgar Cooke - Serial killer, last person to be hanged in Western Australia (October 26, 1964). Eric Edgar Cooke ( February 25, 1931 – October 26, 1964) was an Australian Serial killer. Events 740 - An Earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and death Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar.
• Moondyne Joe - Bushranger - Famed escape artist. Joseph Bolitho Johns (c 1826– August 13 1900) better known as Moondyne Joe, was Western Australia 's best known Bushranger. Bushrangers, or bush rangers, were Outlaws in the early years of the European settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the
• John Boyle O'Reilly - Fenian political prisoner. John Boyle O'Reilly ( 28 June 1844 – 10 August 1890) was an Irish -born poet and novelist
• Martha Rendell - Last woman to be hanged at the prison. Martha Rendell (c 1871 &ndash 6 October 1909) was the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia.
• Bon Scott - Former lead singer of rock band AC/DC. Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980 was an Australian rock musician most well-known for being the lead singer and Lyricist AC/DC are an Australian Hard rock band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young.
• James Wilson - Irish Nationalist. James Wilson ( February 6 1836 – November 1921 was a Fenian who was transported as a convict to Western Australia
• John Button - Served 5 years after being wrongfully convicted of manslaughter. John Button, born in Liverpool England on 9 February 1944 is a Western Australian who was the victim of a significant Miscarriage of justice. Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being in a manner considered by law as less culpable than Murder.

Other notable prisoners include members of the Fenian Brotherhood. The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish Republican organization founded in the United States in 1850s by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. Sixty-two Fenian's arrived at Fremantle in 1867. Many were pardoned over the years; however, in 1876 six managed to escape and fled aboard the Catalpa whaleboat to New York^[12]

See also

• Convict era of Western Australia
• The Hougoumont
• List of allegedly haunted locations
• Round House - Also located in Fremantle, built in 1830, and used as a prison for colonial and indigenous prisoners until 1886. The Catalpa rescue was the escape in 1876, of six Fenian prisoners from what was then the British Penal colony of Western Australia New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The convict era of Western Australia was the period during which Western Australia was a Penal colony of the British Empire. Hougoumont was the last Convict ship to transport convicts to Australia. ----The Round House ( is the oldest building still standing in Western Australia.
• Perth Gaol

References

External links

• Fremantle historical time-line
• Fremantle Prison official site
• Western Australian Convicts 1850-1868
• Google Maps
• National Heritage Fremantle Prison Fact Sheet

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