New bracelet charms from the Fremantle Market! I had been looking for the Buddha charm for ages, and was so glad when I got it! Got a bronze bracelet too, and will be fixing these charms on it soon.
My exams ended on the first day of the Exam Season, but I didn't really go out for a proper trip after that. Had some stuff to clear, but anyway, 4 days after my exam, I went to the beach and the fishing boat harbours. Paid a visit to my dear ol' friend the Fremantle Doctor, and went down High Street as usual.
And of course, I went to the Roundhouse. I did a purely black-and-white post on the Roundhouse here, and this time, I'm back with pictures of the roundhouse...all in colour!
When I reached the Roundhouse, one of the guides was hollering, "Hurry up! He's gonna fire the cannon!"
Cannon? Well it refers to an actual cannon, facing the open sea. The cannon is fired everyday at 1pm. Good timing - I was there at 12:55pm! Many people were also gathered there.
According to the guide - the cannon could fire cannonballs up to 800-1000 metres! Pretty hardcore at that time. Our guide wasn't the one firing the cannon - he managed to get a volunteer from the audience to do so. In actual fact, you could book to fire the cannon! And you get a certificate after firing it! Our guide even told us that an 85-year-old woman had her birthday party at the Roundhouse, and her family got HER to fire the cannon...which was really, really cool!
Our guide even came up with a really silly story - he supposedly fired the cannon by mistake and got blasted for it...and now someone (the person in the picture) had to fire the cannon in his place! Well, we all knew it was a joke. He then joked that if the cannon firer did badly, he'd throw him in front of the cannon the next day. Now these seriously cracked us up! Fortunately the cannon firing went really well, and our cannon firer got a special cert for it. We cheered for him, and did a countdown when he was about to fire it.
Our guide then went on to explain the mechanism behind it. We anticipated that the cannon would be loaded from behind and fired. Erm no! The cannon was manned by a remote control with a small fuse inside - made of the same material as matches. A tiny spark from the electric current will set it off, and then...BOOM!! It's way more subdued than in ancient times, but you know, we don't want cannonballs to hit distant ships coming into the port! Besides, it isn't wartime, and the cannon's now used for demonstration purposes.
There were a couple of information boards near the cannon, so I went to have a look at them. These information included the flags flown on the Roundhouse flagpole, as well as the famous timeball, which was supposed to drop when the cannon was fired. Well...some of us were looking out for the timeball to drop, but it didn't!!
Had a good view of Bather's Beach from where the cannon was.
And now - the "big project" - to take pictures of the interior of the Roundhouse...in colour!
But first, here are some pictures of the exterior.
The famous timeball, together with the flags flown. The Australian flag was definitely one of them, and of course, the Aboriginal flag and Western Australian state flags were flown, plus flags that were representative of Fremantle, including the City of Fremantle flag and the Fremantle Dockers flag.
The stocks. I got "locked" in the stocks again! :D That was the second thing I did once I entered the Roundhouse complex. Well the first thing I did was to take pictures of course!
As per normal - I got a picture of myself in the stocks! Different pose though!
Then I went on to take pictures of the actual compound.
One of the volunteers kindly recommended me a spot where I could see High Street - framed by the Roundhouse main entrance. I really liked that idea!
You can see bits of High Street from the main entrance here. This was the same spot I stood when I took the two pictures above...except that I zoomed out.
When you don't have a 360 degree panorama lens (the nifty one I saw in my previous trip), a wide-angle lens is a big necessity. Glad I have one!
Speaking of which - the Roundhouse was supposed to be demolished at one point, but the harbourmaster didn't want it to be demolished as he was concerned about his garden!! In the end the Roundhouse was retained! Thank you, harbourmaster!!
One of the volunteers also told me that there were women staying at the Roundhouse - but obviously they were separated from the males! The Roundhouse also served as a lockup at one point - as there was a 10pm-curfew at that time, so whoever was roaming on the streets after 10pm were busted...and sent to the Roundhouse for the night! They were released the next morning without charges though! Kind of interesting! As for the well...it was dug by prisoners and served as a main water source.
Speaking of which - the Roundhouse was supposed to be demolished at one point, but the harbourmaster didn't want it to be demolished as he was concerned about his garden!! In the end the Roundhouse was retained! Thank you, harbourmaster!!
One of the volunteers also told me that there were women staying at the Roundhouse - but obviously they were separated from the males! The Roundhouse also served as a lockup at one point - as there was a 10pm-curfew at that time, so whoever was roaming on the streets after 10pm were busted...and sent to the Roundhouse for the night! They were released the next morning without charges though! Kind of interesting! As for the well...it was dug by prisoners and served as a main water source.
Demonstrating the panopticon concept...again. The Pentonville Prison in the UK also has the panopticon concept, and it's pretty cool. The guard can watch every prisoner...without the prisoners knowing that they're being watched. The pictures below were taken in 4 separate rooms. These were the only 4 rooms open to the public. There were other rooms...but they weren't there anymore.
Couldn't really bear to leave, so here are 5 more pictures :)
Was just about to leave...and another volunteer suggested that I took a picture using the stocks as a frame! It was another nifty trick! When he suggested it, I was like, "My sentiments exactly!"
And then I proceeded to take those pictures.
People were mostly exploring the compound or having a chat with the volunteers. One of the couples in the compound came from Geelong - about 1 hour from Melbourne.
Well technically I come from Singapore, but I started off my "life" in Melbourne when I moved there at the age of 18. I hope to go back to Melbourne for at least 4 more years! Seriously I miss Melbourne terribly. But that doesn't mean I won't miss Perth and Freo! I've also fallen in love with Perth and Freo, and will miss them when I leave at the end of the month.
That means - I should take as many pics of Freo as possible!!! Before I leave.
Remember the idea of shooting through the door frame? Instead of going in the direction of High Street, here's one in the direction of the Roundhouse.
Apparently having naive "participants" helps make the pictures look more interesting.
Sheesh, I'm too caught up with the joint publication with my supervisor! I keep calling people "participants".
Apparently aiming up towards the flagpole while shooting through the door frame works too! :)
More people were trying out the stocks...and having their pictures taken! I was looking through some pics on Google, and some people even had wedding pics taken with the stocks - the groom was "locked" in.
Walked around the Roundhouse compound after that, just to soak up some Vitamin D. The weather changed for the better during the Exam Season and I'm so glad it stayed good! I heard it's gonna remain like this until I leave Perth! YAY!!
The timeball and the flagpole - amidst the clear sky. Took out my polarising filter!
Below the Roundhouse was the Whalers Tunnel, one of the oldest tunnels built in WA. As its name suggests...it was used for whaling!! But whaling became kind of obsolete later on...
Left the Whaler's Tunnel just as a couple was walking in to take wedding shots. Up till now I still can't figure out the rationale behind it...maybe they had a really good flash or some wacky idea I didn't know of. Then again, the photographers had really high-end equipment.
Anyway here are a couple more shots before I headed off to La Porchetta for dinner!
Well that's it for part 1! I'll post more pictures soon! I went to the Roundhouse, the fishing boat harbours, the WA Shipwreck Galleries, the Cappuccino Strip (of course!), and watched the ships sail in at O'Connor's Landing and outside the Maritime Museum. So yup - lots of pictures!! Stay tuned!!