It's been a while since I last went on a tour within the Fremantle Prison grounds. The last time I went was in November last year, when I walked from the Fremantle Arts Centre all the way to the Prison (I wrote about the Fremantle Arts Centre here and the Prison tour here). Had a really good tour guide when I last went, and the tour was highly informative and I learnt so much!
So anyway I decided to go on yet another tour - because I heard that every tour is different (individual differences between the tour guides of course!). One of my friends also wanted to go, so I brought her along.
Before we went on our tour - we HAD to grab a bite because both of us were literally starving! So we went to La Porchetta (in Freo) and got some awesome marinara, buns and CHILLI MUSSELS! All cravings satisfied! Then we went to Theobroma Chocolate Lounge for more delights :)
Had to take a walk around because both of us were so full! So we ended up enjoying the awesome weather for a bit, before heading to our destination.
When I first went to the Prison, I used to get really mixed up with directions. Well - this time I didn't get lost! I know Fremantle pretty much inside-out now...and I really love the place. Can't get tired of it!
Approaching the famous limestone watchtowers (built between 1854 and 1855). We were just in time for the tours. So we bought tickets for two - the "Doing Time" and "Great Escapes" tours. It's my 2nd time going for the "Doing Time" tour and 1st time on the "Great Escapes" tour. For today - we will be covering the "Doing Time" tour!
Brought into the prison by a side door, and ended up right in front of the main prison block shortly after. The guide carried out a bit of an ice-breaking session by asking each one of us where we came from. There were lots of Melbourne folks in my tour group...
We were given an introduction about the Prison and when it was built. The tour guide also proudly told us that the Prison has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010. The Prison itself was built by convict labour in the 1850s and was used till 1991. Apparently it stood empty for a while before it was turned into a tourist attraction.
Strolled around the main yard for a while. The part of the building that sticks directly out (with the triangular roof) is actually the prison chapel (which we would go to later).
A closer look at the side of the chapel. According to our guide, one of the windows has the face of Martha Rendell (the only woman to be hung in the prison). The face can only be seen from the outside...not the inside. We tried to spot it but kinda failed.
Barbed wires and watchtowers everywhere. We had a fail moment when a bird (on top of the watch tower) flew off and dropped a few pieces of poop onto one of the group members! The guide then joked that she'd be really lucky if the bird pooped on her head...!!
First up - Cell Block 1, for short sentence prisoners and young offenders (as young as 13 years old!). A timetable had been put up on the wall - to show us what the prisoners generally did. The prisoners had various jobs, ranging from cooking to cleaning...to the worst one ever - cleaning out the waste buckets.
One thing notable about the Prison - they were still using BUCKETS for their waste up till 1991! In the 1880s this wouldn't be viewed as much of a problem. But in the 1980s and 1990s, this was utterly ridiculous. Imagine carrying around buckets of piss and poop - this was seen as violation of basic human rights. And hence that was one of the reasons why the Prison was closed, and the prisoners sent to the new Casuarina Prison facility - around 40+ kilometres out of Perth.
Oh - and when the Prison was empty (after its closure), it took some time to get the horrid stench of the buckets out. Not surprising, considering that the buckets were used for so many years!
Passed through the main kitchen and yet another courtyard with some toilet cubicles.
Ended up in Cell Block 2 (for serious crimes without offence). The cell blocks kinda resembled each other. And on the walkway of the 2nd floor, there was a netting installed, to prevent suicide. All the blocks had this. Well - the prison block was about 4 storeys high, so it was highly likely that someone would jump from the 3rd or 4th floor or something!
Anyway we didn't stay long in Cell Block 2. We ended up at the Anglican Chapel - as mentioned earlier, the face of Martha Rendell is on one of the windows. The chapel had the Ten Commandments at the altar. I also noticed that the organ had been moved.
Passed through a number of administration offices - which still had papers and files strewn all over.
Ended up in Cell Block 3 - where we had a view of the "evolution" of the prison cells.
In the earliest days of the Prison (1850s to 1870s), the cells were really tiny! It was just enough for one person, and even so, there wasn't much space at all - the cells measured 2.1m by 1.2m, and were lit with oil lamps. Furniture in the cells included a table and a hammock. Prisoners were - of course- forbidden to speak to each other.
In the 1870s to 1920s, the cells increased in size with the removal of one dividing wall. The foldable table was replaced with a wooden table, and electric lighting was progressively introduced from 1907. This took quite a long time, considering the size of the Prison.
Not all prisoners were allowed to paint their walls. Well - a couple were given some privileges to do so. Mainly for therapeutic reasons. And gosh, check out their wonderful artwork!
Bunk beds - introduced in the 1960s for good friends to share a room. It also helped free up space in the individual cells when the Prison exceeded its capacity.
Corrugated doors were used for every prison cell, and each had a peephole and a label above it.
We were alerted that we were standing in Cell Block 3 for violent offenders - and we were then directed to this picture here. This was the aftermath of the 1988 riots. The riots occurred on a sweltering summer's day (4th January 1988).
And this was the description of the riots (from one of my previous posts): "It was 52 degrees Celsius inside, and prisoners planned this riot as an attempt to stage a mass escape. Twelve prisoners were involved. The whole scheme first involved tipping boiling water onto unsuspecting guards on the ground floor, stealing their keys and then obtaining anything combustible. A fire was then lit - and because the roof was made of jarrah timber, a massive inferno resulted. Unfortunately the fire trucks were unable to enter the compounds as the gates were too small for them! The fire went on for 19 hours, but no one was injured, and no one escaped. The prisoners were eventually coerced into handing the keys back to the guards - but the damage was extremely costly."
One of the doors was open, and I happened to see part of the main yard from there.
Went out in the open again, and passed through yet another courtyard. This one had paintings on it, but some of the paintings were being restored so we didn't talk much about them.
We noticed some numbers on the walls. When I last came, the numbers were fading away - they have since been restored. There were some restoration works going on when we were there. Numbers were painted onto the walls and prisoners had to walk back and forth to different numbers. The number 6 had always been a condemned number - as it signified something sinister, and was hence excluded. As such, the numbers were like this: "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "7" and so on.
Flogging stand - where flogging was done in the open. Apart from solitary confinement of course. The last flogging occurred in 1943.
Passed through the solitary confinement area (creepy as always!), and through the gallows. I initially didn't want to go into the gallows. But I went in for a short while eventually. 43 men and 1 woman (Martha Rendell) were hung in the gallows. The last person to be hung in the gallows was Eric Cooke - in November 1964.
We also passed by some explicit instructions around the Prison, and after that we were "released" back into the main courtyard. As always, the tour was really really good, and we even gave the tour guide a round of applause (led by me!). Although the tour was slightly different from the first one I did, it was still highly informative and I learnt a lot more.
And that's it for the "Doing Time" tour! My friend and I were the only ones doing the "Great Escapes" tour that day. We had about 5 minutes to spare before the tour commenced. Our guide was a really cool guy with a unique moustache that curled at the ends!
More to that in our next post! Do stay tuned!