Fremantle Prison Collection
Significance Assessment

Prepared by Heritage TODAY and the Fremantle Prison Heritage Team
Courtesy of an Australian National Library Community Heritage Grant
October 2017

Contents
Part One .....................................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................2
Statement of Significance of the Fremantle Prison Collection............................................... 3
Key Recommendations .............................................................................................................6
Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 10
Collection Themes ................................................................................................................... 11
Significance Assessment........................................................................................................ 12Part Two ................................................................................................................................... 25
Significance Assessment of Key Items in the Collection ..................................................... 25
Individual Key items: Convict Era (1850-1885) ...................................................................... 25
Individual Key Items: Colonial Era (1886-1901) ..................................................................... 66
Individual Key items: Early 20th Century (1902-1946) ............................................................ 93
Individual Key items: Late 20th Century (1947-1991) ........................................................... 123

Part One
Executive Summary
Significance is a guide to help assess the significance of the heritage objects andcollections in your care. It takes you through a simple significance assessment
process that equips you to make sound judgments and good decisions about
conserving, interpreting and managing objects and collections, now and into the
future. 1
A Guide to Assessing the Significance of Cultural Heritage Objects and Collections

The Significance Assessment of the Fremantle Prison collection project was undertaken from
May to October 2017 by consultant Cathy Day of Heritage TODAY, working with Fremantle
Prison’s Heritage Team. The project was partially funded by an Australian National Library
Cultural Heritage Grant.
The Significance Assessment of the Fremantle Prison collection is limited to the MoveableCollection and does not include the fixed artwork or graffiti on the walls of the Prison. This
artwork is covered by the Fremantle Prison Heritage Management Plan March 2013.
The assessment is based on the collection being divided into four distinct historical time
periods:• Convict Era (1850-1885)• Colonial Era (1886-1901)• Early 20th Century (1902-1946)• Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Objects, artefacts, archives, artworks, photographs and oral histories and stories were chosen
to help interpret each distinct period. Assessments were then made to determine state,national or international significance. Evaluating the important items of the collection enabled
an assessment of the overall contribution the collection makes to the national distributed
collection.
As a result of the Australian Museums and Galleries National Standards survey and theinterrogation of the collection, storage conditions, museum policies and collection
management, needs for further funding requirements were identified. With Fremantle Prison,
the collection storage ranges from excellent to poor. However, it is clear that the three storage
areas where items could be compromised are being addressed as a priority. Procedures andprocesses currently in place ensure that the collection is being well managed and steered
under stringent policies and guidelines.

1 Heritage Collections Council, A Guide to Assessing the Significance of Cultural Heritage Objects andCollections, Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia, 2001.p.9___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Statement of Significance of the Fremantle Prison Collection
The Fremantle Prison collection includes items of varying significance from ones with
International and National heritage value, to others that tell a modest local prison story.
Excellent interpretation and stories are possible owing to a clear collection policy, close
adherence to the collection objectives and sound standards of museum practice embodied in
all procedures and staff training.
The Fremantle Prison Collection is a diverse collection, comprising approximately 12,000
items, including photographs, documents, furnishings, artworks, tools, clothing and textiles,
institutional paraphernalia, letters, weapons and archaeological material. The Collection spansthe entirety of the Prison’s operational life, from the beginning of construction in 1851 throughto 1991 when the Prison was decommissioned and closed.
Fremantle Prison was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010, as part of theAustralian Convict Sites serial listing. The exceptional social, historic and spiritual significancealong with strong provenance which links the convict-era (1850-1900) artefacts to theFremantle Prison site, combined with the Outstanding Universal Value of the site itself,
elevates the convict-era section of the Fremantle Prison Collection to internationalsignificance. Adding further to the overall international heritage significance is the excellent
condition and singularly valuable interpretative potential of the individual items that range fromtextiles in the form of convict clothing to archival material such as the ticket of leave document.
While Fremantle Prison’s colonial history (1886-1901) is perhaps the least represented in the
Prison Collection, those objects which the Collection retains from this era are significant on anational level owing to the rarity, social and historic heritage values. These artefacts tend tohave an exceptional provenance, such as the baptismal font, which retains its memorial plaqueoutlining its construction by Fremantle prisoners as a gift to St. Andrew’s church. Anotherexample is the Prison site plan, which provides handwritten documentary evidence of thedevelopment of the Prison site over time, and its relationship to changing social ideas ofpunishment.
Artefacts from the early twentieth century (1902-1946) in the Fremantle Prison Collection areimportant on a national level as they represent society’s changing attitudes to prison systems
and reform, as the world moved further into the twentieth century.
The early twentieth century collection, which holds an increasing number of archives
compared to the earlier eras, contains some artefacts high in social and historic significancesupported by assessments of research potential and rarity.
The PEJ sketchbook is one such artefact, hailing from the under-represented Female Division,containing personal annotations of life inside the women’s prison, both through poetry and art.
The late twentieth century era (1947-1991) of the Fremantle Prison Collection expresses amore personal prison experience for those incarcerated at this site. The artefacts from this era
include many personal expressions of individual experiences, feelings and culture, throughartwork, handmade furniture and documentary evidence.
More recent artefacts from the late twentieth century bear high social and historic significance,
at national and international level. Of note is the inclusion of the first examples of film footage
and oral histories in the collection. The 1991 film footage captures a candid and___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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comprehensive record of everyday life in the Prison before its closure, marking the end of 14
decades of occupation, and as such, has exceptional historic value. Along with the collectionof black and white images by Karin Calvert-Borshoff, the film footage was assessed as having
international significance owing to its high interpretative potential and rarity.
Meanwhile the Prison’s oral history program captures the real, and often confronting, stories of
those who lived and worked inside the Prison. The candour with which memories are sharedthrough these oral histories delivers some of the highest social significance of any object in thecollection, providing the uncensored stories from those who experienced prison life.

Summary of items in the Fremantle Prison Collection deemed to be of International
SignificanceObjects
Ankle Protectors
Axe Heads
Coal Tubs
Clay Pipes
Communion Set
Convict Clothing
Eagle Press
Flogging Triangle
Harmonium
Keys
Padlocks
Protective Belts
Punishment Weights
Scales and Weights
ShacklesArchives
Bible (Large 1855)
Bibles New Testament marked Convict Establishment
Book (1854)
Convict Establishment Rules & Regulations
Ticket of Leave
Photographs
1991 Karin Calvert-Borshoff Photographs
Oral histories
1991 Film Footage

Summary of those items in the Fremantle Prison Collection deemed to be of
National SignificanceObjects
Baptismal Font___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Dietary Scale for Women’s Division (framed)
Piano
Punishment Whips and Birches
Reed Organs
Keys
Padlocks
Archives
1921 Tunnel Plans
1922 Plan of Sewerage System
Entertainment Programs
Newsletters (Ad Rem)
Newsletters Bound
News Review (bound volume)
Pardelup Farm Booklet
PEJ Sketchbook
Penological Reform Booklet
Site Plan (1897-1908)
Artworks
Jimmy Pike Paintings
Revel Cooper Artwork
Reynold Hart Artwork
Shiner Ryan Artwork
Tommy Karadada Painting
Photographs
Christmas Festivities photograph
Gatehouse photograph
Gatehouse with Cart and Officers photographMatrons in Garden photograph
Vegetable Gardens photograph
Oral histories
Oral History Program___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Key Recommendations
Short term
1. Collection Management Priority I - Building Management Resource. This sub collection
requires clarification as to its future purpose and role. Policy and procedures need to
be developed. Consider deaccession policy concurrently with the strategic
development for its future use. Create a ‘Secondary Collection’ which would include
retained BMR material, props and educational resources.
2. Collection Management Priority II – Archaeological Assemblages. This unaccessioned
category requires clarification as to its future purpose and role. Policy and procedures
need to be developed and adopted in reference to accession and disposal.
3. Collection Management Priority III – Deaccession and Disposal of Unaccessioned Items
in Tailors and Refractory Storage Facilities. An expanded explanation is included in themain body of this report.
4. Update Disaster Preparedness Plan Priority Object List to match Significance
Assessment List where applicable.
5. Remove all paper items from 2 Division Cell storage.
6. Review the statement in the Collection Policy and Heritage Management Plan regarding
the fixed art and graffiti of the Fremantle Prison. In 2017 this stated, “The Collection
also incorporates fixed artworks on walls, including graffiti, murals in yards and on cell
walls, and in both chapels.” It is considered that this is not part of the moveable
collection.
Medium Term
7. Photographic Collection in PAR – needs to be fully catalogued correctly and previously
incorrectly accessioned items removed. These include accessioned photocopies,
duplicates and images owned by other institutions eg. Battye Library. This
recommendation also includes investigation into the photographic and research files
located in the Research Room. This is a discrete project required to increase
confidence in retrieving photographs for research.
8. Accession existing Oral History Collections.
9. Investigate value of unaccessioned archival collection (37 boxes) in PAR. Afterevaluating significance, accession only appropriate material into collection.
10. Apply for Preservation Needs Assessment grant to focus on significant items including:a. Harmonium
b. Plaster Sculpture (Mary and Joseph) Catholic Chapel
11. Items that are assessed as having International Significance will have statements ofsignificance written in this report. It is recommended that these statements are inserted
in Mosaic and added to Mosaic Web.
12. Any historical research notes inserted into Significance Assessment report should betransferred into relevant entry in Mosaic.
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13. Enroll the convict clothing on the Australian Dress Register.
Long Term
14. Work with State Records Office (SRO) on digitizing the SRO Fremantle Prison
photographic collection and developing clear parameters for use.
15. Research gaps in collection in the following subject areasa. Visitor Oral History (1970-1991)
b. Artefacts produced in Helmet Industries
c. Artworks and Archives of convict and colonial periods held in United Kingdom
Archives and Collecting Institutions which may require specific additional
resources to improve the Reference Library.
16. Interrogate information in object files in the library against information recorded in
Mosaic. This could be done by a highly skilled volunteer. Once completed consider
disposing Object Files or clearly marking them so there is no future duplication of effort.
17. Reference Section in Library is only partially catalogued. Printed reports need to becatalogued to increase research prospects.
18. Conservation and Future Use Site Plan Collection (in Research Room in 2017) to bedigitized and catalogued in the reference section.
19. Accession Fremantle Prison Museum 1978-1991 records and stationery (in Research
Room 2017).

Recommendations for Deaccession and Disposal of Unaccessioned Items
All deaccession and disposal should be done pertaining to adopted Fremantle Prison
Collection policy guidelines. These general policies state that an object can be deaccessioned
or disposed from the Fremantle Prison Collection for the following reasons:
1. The object fails to satisfy at least one of the key criteria for acquisition, as outlined in 2.1
2.1 Key criteria for acquisition• Historic significance – the object or collection relates to themes or people
associated with Fremantle Prison and will make a valuable contribution to theunderstanding and interpretation of the Fremantle Prison site.
• Provenance – the object or collection can be authenticated and clearly traced
back to its origin within, or association through, Fremantle Prison.
• Research value – the object or collection represents an exceptional addition toexisting knowledge of the Fremantle Prison site.
2. The object is damaged beyond repair.
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison.
4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection.
5. A substantial request for the return of the object to its original owner/donor is received.
Using the above criteria from the Collection Policy Part 20 the following recommendations
have been made relating to specific storage areas and objects within to guide the deaccession
process.
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Areas of priority identified are(i)Tailors(ii)
Refractory Cells
Recommendations are subject to further research and investigation into individual artefacts
being conducted.
Tailors
Sewing machines
2. The object is damaged beyond repair
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection –two sewing machines have been kept in the collection
Hospital Chairs
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection
Barber’s Chair
2. The object is damaged beyond repair
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection
Cabinetry
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection
Workbenches
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection
Plan (Framed)
1. The object fails to satisfy at least one of the key criteria for acquisition, as outlined in 2.1
2. The object is damaged beyond repair
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
PrisonMiscellaneous machinery, machinery parts
2. The object is damaged beyond repair
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
Prison4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection
Refractory Cell 21
Coat Hangers 99.868, 99.866, 99.867
1. The object fails to satisfy at least one of the key criteria for acquisition, as outlined in 2.1___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in the Collection
Bones (animal)
2. The object is damaged beyond repair
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means of Fremantle
PrisonSports paddles/ racquets
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means ofFremantle Prison,
4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in theCollection
Refractory Cell 18
China (with no stamp or insignia)
3. The conservation and storage costs for the object are beyond the means ofFremantle
Prison,4. It is less significant or is of lesser quality than a similar object already in theCollection___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Methodology
In 2016 the Museum Curator contacted Heritage TODAY regarding a significance assessment
project as the Fremantle Prison had been successful in being awarded a Community Heritage
Grant from the National Library of Australia. Heritage TODAY was invited to help guide theprofessional staff through the process following the standards of Significance 2.0, thedirectorial document for Museum Collection significance assessment in Australia.
In May 2017 the significance assessment of the moveable collection of the Fremantle Prison
was started with a consultative morning tea. Invitations were sent to people identified as being
influential in the care of the collection over the past ten years. The consultation process isimportantly embedded into the collection significance assessment process to get a broad
spectrum view of the collection especially when it is vast, has international themes and covers
such an important and extensive history.
People who attended the consultation:
Paula Nelson
Fremantle Prison Director
Bevan Beaver
Fremantle Prison Past Director
Luke Donegan
Manager Heritage and Conservation
Olimpia Cullity
CuratorEleanor LambertAssistant Curator
Emma Mroz
Former Curatorial Assistant
Jacquie Brisbout
Former Assistant Curator
Rob Besford
Former Assistant Curator
Cathy Day
Heritage TODAY

The project started with a four day site visit by the consultant and with the aim of completingthe first draft of the report by 1 August and the completion of the project by October 2017. The
grant was to be acquitted by November 2017.
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Collection Themes
Below are the key themes identified as being relevant to the Fremantle Prison Collection.
Taken collectively, these themes express the scope of the Fremantle Prison Collection and theinterpretive subject matter of Fremantle Prison.
1. The colonisation of Western Australia as related to the establishment of a penal colony.
2. Convict histories and experiences of the men and juveniles who were forcibly migrated
to the colony of Western Australia from the period 1850 – 1868, and their subsequent
lives in the colony and state.
3. The experience and histories of prisoners incarcerated at Fremantle Prison from 1886
until the Prison closed in 1991.
4. Transfer of imperial control to local authorities in 1886 and related issues.
5. The experiences and histories of female prisoners held at Fremantle Prison from 1886
until 1970, including women who may have been transferred to Bandyup Prison.
6. Aboriginal prisoners, their experience of incarceration at Fremantle Prison, and theissue of Aboriginal over-representation in prisons in Western Australia in the 20th
century.
7. The Rottnest Island Prison, the experiences of the prisoners held there, and the works
they undertook, including the period of its operation by Fremantle Prison.
8. Use of Fremantle Prison by the military, including the experience of those incarcerated
as ‘enemy aliens’ and prisoners of war.
9. The histories and experiences of Prison Guards, Officers and staff from 1850 until the
Prison’s closure in 1991, encompassing the initial period of constructing the Convict
Establishment, administering the institution, the introduction of Prison Officers, and theemployment of adjunct staff such as teachers and social workers.
10. Prisoner attitudes and behaviour, including rioting and disobedience, activities andactivism, and attitudes towards the Prison.
11. Penal philosophy from the Victorian era until the Prison closed in 1991, including
criminology, approaches to justice, and various theories of punishment and reform.
12. Fremantle Prison administration and operation, including functions as a lock-up, remand
centre, and maximum security prison.
13. Architecture of Fremantle Prison and the separate system.
14. Fremantle Prison tunnels, their construction, and the supply of water to the port ofFremantle until early in the twentieth century.
15. Prisoner art as a genre and the work of individual artists, both Aboriginal and nonAboriginal, undertaken while inside or outside of Fremantle Prison.

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Significance Assessment
For this Significance Assessment project, the assessed items were categorised into four time
periods:
1. Convict Era (1850-1885)
2. Colonial Era (1886-1901)
3. Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
4. Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Significance has been evaluated by a combination of descriptive gradations and a numericalscale. The descriptive gradations are based on the following:
Exceptional Rare or outstanding item of state or national significance; high degree of
intactness/authenticity; item can be interpreted relatively easily.
High

Outstanding item of local or state significance; high degree of original fabric;
alterations do not detract from significance.

Moderate

Item of important local significance; may have altered or modified elements.

LittleAlterations detract from significance; does not fulfill criteria for local
significance; difficult to interpret.

Intrusive

Damaging to the item's heritage significance; conflicts with museum’s
collection policy.

The following numerical assessment table was developed by Cathy Day of Heritage TODAY toshow the results of the application of the Burra Charter assessment criteria to the individual
items. If the rating is overall very high it is considered the individual item may have national orstate significance while a middle rating would have local significance only. If the item has avery low assessment it may be deemed intrusive to the collection.
Assessment and Comparative Criteria High
Aesthetic SignificanceHistoric SignificanceSocial/ Spiritual SignificanceScience/Research
Rarity value
Condition
ProvenanceInterpretative Potential
International Significance

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
National Significance

Low
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
State Significance

5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5

Individual Items assessed as having international significance have been evaluated as above
and have also been given their own statement of significance.

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Collection Condition and Storage
The areas/ rooms/ wings of the Prison are all named based on the historical use. Storage in2017 was in nine areas though it is the intention in the short term to decommission three ofthese spaces that are unsuitable for collection storage. Where an acronym is used the below
index reveals the full name:
PAR
RR
CS
VS
Tailors’
2 & 3 Div
Refractory
Helmets
Carpenters’

Photographic and Archive Room
Research Room
Clothes Store (Art Collection)
Visible Storage Facility
Tailors’ Workshop, located within the West Workshops
2 & 3 Division, located within the Main Cell Block
Located near the Solitary Confinement area
Helmet Industries
Carpenters’ Workshop, located within the East Workshops

The Fremantle Prison Collection is in relatively good condition. Approximately 90% of thecollection is recorded in the collections management database Mosaic, which allows thecollection to be accurately tracked. The collection is stored according to object type andsignificance. Whilst not all storage areas are adequate in terms of environment andconservation principles, every effort is being made to ensure that the most vulnerable andsignificant artefacts are stored appropriately.
As of May 2017 the Fremantle Prison Collection was stored in nine separate storage areas,variously named after historical uses of the buildings. Three of these facilities provide goodenvironmental controls and conservation conditions, whilst the remainder are poor. The
poorest storage areas are in the process of being decommissioned, with the objects inside
being moved into one of the more appropriate storage facilities. Below are details of all eightstorage locations, with the condition of their relevant collections.
The Visible Storage Facility (VS), in an area of the site known as the West Workshops, offers
excellent conservation conditions for the collection. It is a purpose retrofitted facility, fitted
within the existing 1901 structure, and has central temperature and humidity controls. It is also
regularly monitored by curatorial staff for environmental and pest management. Unique to thisstorage facility at Fremantle Prison are the large viewing windows which allow the public toglimpse at the inner workings of the museum. In this space is housed the most significant
elements of the collection, excluding artworks and archives. As a matter of policy, all objects
which are stored in the Visible Storage Facility must be cleaned, accessioned, catalogued andrecorded in the Mosaic database. This storage area therefore represent not only the best
environmental conditions, but some of the best recoded objects in the collection.

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Visible Storage Facility

The Photography and Archives Room (PAR) is located in a small room on the ground floorof number 14 The Terrace. This room has not been altered from its original state, however an
air-conditioning unit has been installed and a dehumidifier has been placed in the space,offering good climatic conditions. Like all other collection storage areas at Fremantle Prison,
this room is monitored consistently by curatorial staff, and is part of regular environmental
checks and pest management regimes.
In this space is stored the archival and photographic collections, and like the Visible Storage
Facility, paper based material is not stored in this space unless it has been cleaned,accessioned and recorded in Mosaic. Exceptions have been made where paper records werecleaned and awaiting sorting and accessioning, in which case they are kept separately fromaccessioned material and labelled accordingly. Whilst most of the paper based material in thisspace has been well catalogued and maintained, the photographic collection, which is also
stored in this room, is in need of attention from a collection management perspective, such as
to remove duplicates and to deaccession previously incorrectly accessioned copies.

Photography and Archive Room (PAR)The Clothes Store (CS), located in what is colloquially known as the Prison’s Reception, is
where the art collection is stored. Like PAR, this collection storage area has been placed
within an existing space, with an air-conditioning unit installed and two dehumidifying units___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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placed within to offer good environmental conditions. Like all other collection storage areas at
Fremantle Prison, this room is monitored consistently by curatorial staff for environmental andpest management purposes. The art collection stored in this space is well maintained and ingood condition. Like PAR and VS, artwork should only be stored in this facility once it has
been cleaned, catalogued and accessioned into Mosaic.

Clothes Store (Reception)

The conservation conditions in Tailors’, in the West Workshop Storage Facility, is generally
poor. There are no climate controls in this space, however the room is generally well sealed
from outside pests and is regularly monitored, forming part of the site’s regular pest
management. Tailors’ is utilized as a general curatorial workroom and conservation space, andalso as emergency storage for artefacts degrading quickly in less suitable environments.
Therefore the objects stored in this facility are generally only done so on a temporary basis
while they are being assessed, cleaned and accessioned, prior to being moved into a more
appropriate storage facility. Consequently the objects stored in this area are of mixed
condition, generally poor, with many items set aside for possible deaccession. This room also
houses the bulk of the archaeology collection which has not been catalogued.

Tailors’ (West Workshops)

Also offering poor storage conditions is the Refractory Storage Facility, located behind theSolitary Confinement Cells. This storage area, in 2017, is in the process of being
decommissioned and emptied of its collections owing to the poor environmental conditions
inside. There is no air conditioning or other form of climate control within, however the nature___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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of the building does offer a well-sealed environment. The Refractory storage area is also
impractical, with poor access through the site. The Refractory storage area is regularly
monitored by curatorial staff, and is part of regular pest maintenance. The objects stored in thisfacility are generally in good condition from a collection management point of view. Most
objects within have been accessioned, however they have been deemed to be of lower
significance, hence their continued presence in this less than adequate storage facility.

Refractory (Solitary Confinement)

There are a further three collection storage facilities at Fremantle Prison which represent thepoorest environmental conditions on site. These are Carpenters’, Helmet Industries, and thecells within the Main Cell Block. None of these three facilities have environmental controls,
and all are poorly sealed against the intrusion of outside weather and pests, particularly
pigeons. Every effort is being made in 2017 to empty these storage facilities of their collections
as a matter of priority, with the ultimate aim to decommission all three facilities as collection
storage areas. The objects within these spaces are in very poor condition. Most are
unaccessioned or part of the Building Management Resource collection (see below) and are ofvery low significance. Currently no items of high significance are stored in these facilities.

Carpenters’ (East Workshops)

Helmet Industries___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Cell 13, 2 Division

Cell B44, 3 Division

Research Room

The ultimate aim in 2017-18 regarding collection storage at Fremantle Prison is to decommission the poorest collection storage facilities and consolidate the collection into justthree locations: the Visible Storage Facility, PAR and Clothes Store. Tailors’ in the West
Workshops will then be used for processing newly acquired collection material and to carry out
conservation work. This will greatly improve collection management at Fremantle Prison, witha smaller number of facilities requiring monitoring and maintenance. Efficiency will further
improve because these storage facilities are all located in one area of the site.
A separate collection has also been established at Fremantle Prison, which is completely
distinct from the historic collection. Known as the Building Materials Resource (BMR), it
includes building fabric removed from the Fremantle Prison site during conservation works,
maintenance or renovations, which are not accessioned into the main collection. Any item
which may be suitable for inclusion in the BMR collection is brought to the attention of theCurator, and if it is reasoned that these items hold research potential and/or are likely to bereinstated in the future, they are retained and added to the BMR collection and recorded in a
separate BMR excel catalogue. At present items on the BMR list are mostly housed in the East
Workshops.
The Research Room (RR) is a working space located near research library and used byvolunteers and curatorial assistants. The space is relatively clean but is not secure and theenvironment is not controlled. Most of the archives kept in this office relate to the photographic
collection and consist of a mixed assemblage of paper, photographs and slides, some being
originals. This material should be assessed together with the photographic collection kept inPAR.
The archives relating to the establishment of the first Museum on site (1978) are also kept inthis office, having been moved from Refractory where the climatic conditions were poorer. This
material, which includes correspondence, attendance registers and some old signage andexhibition labels, needs sorting and accessioning.
Approximately 500 plans are also kept in the room. They are mostly post 1991 plans, someoriginals and some are copies but they are a precious source of information on the site. They
are mostly digitized.

Condition of Object Storage___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Storage
Facility and
Location

Storage Facility
Condition

Quantity(approx.) &Objects Types

Storage
Equipment
Available

Actions andMonitoring

VisibleStorage
Facility

Excellent
Stable museum
standard
environment through
HVAC system(heating, ventilating,and air conditioning).

1,200 objects
including small
and large objects,
wood, metal,
textile andarchaeologicalmaterial.

Metal cupboards
adequate for any
material storage.
Open shelving
adequate for nonlight–sensitive
objects.

Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.
Part of bi-monthly
pest management
regime.

Good
Air-conditioning andtwo mobile
dehumidifiers whichassist with moisturecontrol in this space.

800 items,
including artworks
and paper basedmaterials.

Compactus
hanging space,metal cupboards,
metal shelving.

Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.
Part of bi-monthly
pest management
regime.
Regular monitoringof humidity (twice
weekly).

Poor
Space not wellsealed with dust
entering. Naturallight entering
through windows
and doors. No
control over climate
or humidity.

3,000 objects –mostlyarchaeologicalmaterial, metal
objects andindustrial objects.

Metal cupboards,
boxes and plastic(mostly for thearchaeologicalmaterial).
Open shelves
and pallets.

This room iscurrently used as a
curatorial workshop
and holding room
where objects areprocessed.
Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.
Part of bi-monthly
pest management
regime.

Adequate to Poor
Dependent onmaterial type.
It is adequate forhighly stablematerials such as
ceramics and glass,however the open
storage arrangement
is not ideal. Wellsealed facility butwith no control overclimate or humidity.

1,000 items ofvarying types (notextiles).

Open shelving,some cupboards,
furniture stored
on the floor.

In the process of
emptying this spaceof its collection
items.
Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.
Part of bi-monthly
pest management
regime.

Very Poor
Very poorly sealed
facility, with highfluctuations intemperature and50 metal objects,
industrial objects,
some very heavy.

On floor and open
shelving.

In the process of
emptying this spaceof its collection items(BMR items topossibly remain in

West
Workshops

Clothes Store
Prisoner
Reception

Tailors’West
Workshops

Refractory
Solitary
Confinement
Building

Carpenters’
East
Workshops

Items from the___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY18

humidity. Flaking
limestone from walls
is a serious issue, as
is other dust, dirt
and pests. No
climate or humidity
controls.

Building Materials
Resource (BMR)
collection –200
objects.

HelmetIndustries

Very Poor
Very poorly sealed
facility with highfluctuations intemperature andhumidity, easily
accessible to pests,
particularly pigeons,and prone toflooding after heavy
rainfall. No climate
or humidity controls.

100 objects; large
items, including
furniture, most ofwhich areawaiting
assessment to
the BMR.

Open shelving
and pallets.

In the process of
emptying this spaceof its collection items(BMR items topossibly remain in
the short term).
Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.

Cell 13 –2 Division
Cell B44 –3 Division

Very Poor
Very poorly sealed
facility with highfluctuations intemperature andhumidity, easily
accessible to pests,
dust and naturallight.

117 toilet
buckets, 104 cellstools, several
boxes of paper
based material.

On the floor andon top of eachother.

These objects will be
moved to the Visible
Storage Facility assoon as practical.

Main CellBlock

the short term).
Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.

Condition of Photographs, Archives and Audiovisual Storage
Photography
and Archives
Room
(PAR)
Ground floor
at number 14
The Terrace

Research
Room (RR)

Good
Air-conditioning andmobile dehumidifierassists with moisturecontrol in this space.
Room can be prone
to rising damp.

4000 paper
based objects,
and 1,000-1,500
photographs.
Also present arecassettes and
DVDs.

Book cases, withall objects
enclosed in
Solander or Polyboxes.
Metal cupboards,
map drawers andfiling cabinets.

Monitored regularlyas part of weekly
Curatorial checks.
Part of bi-monthly
pest management
regime.
Regular monitoringof humidity (twice
weekly).

Poor
Working space/office
and as such poor
security. Relatively
stable climate(ground floor
location) but
unsuitable for slides
and photographic
material.

100+
photographic
material and 1001,000 papermaterial for
sorting and 500
plans.

Open bookshelves and plancabinet. Somematerial enclosed
in plastic sleeves,files and folders.

No monitoringschedule.

Items on loan___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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The management of all inward and outward loans at Fremantle Prison are guided by policy
numbers 53 and 58 to 67 of the Fremantle Prison Collection Policy. All loans are assigned aloan number and all objects associated with that loan undergo a thorough condition report bycuratorial staff. The loan is then recorded in Mosaic, with paper copies of loan forms andcondition reports filed in the appropriate inward/outward loan files.
As of May 2017 the Fremantle Prison collection had one current inward loan and four current
outward loans. The only current inward loan is an ongoing loan from the Western Australian
Department of Premier and Cabinet of a printing press (loan number 1/2015). As this is an
ongoing loan this object has been assigned an accession number for the Fremantle Prison
collection (2016.4) to allow its movements, history and condition to be accurately tracked andrecorded in the collection management database.
Details of the four current (2017) outward loans from the Fremantle Prison Collection are as
follows • A set of shackles to the Bunbury Museum
o loan number 2016/1
o expected end date of loan 31/08/2017• A toilet bucket to the Geraldton Voluntary Tour Guides Associationo loan number 2017/1
o expected end date of loan 13/07/2017• A toilet bucket to the Swan Guildford Historical Societyo loan number 2017/3
o expected end date of loan 28/03/2018• A set of shackles and a padlock to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old
Parliament House in Canberra
o loan number 2013/3
o expected end date of loan 30/05/2018• A set of shackles, padlock and toilet bucket to the Toodyay Museum
o loan number 2017/4
o expected end date of loan 31/10/2018___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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History of the Collection
The Fremantle Prison Collection is a diverse collection, comprised of approximately 12,000
items, including photographs, documents, furnishings, artworks, tools, clothing and textiles,
institutional paraphernalia, letters, weapons and archaeological material. The Collection spansthe entirety of the Prison’s operational life, from the beginning of construction in 1851 throughto 1991 when the Prison closed.
Items currently held in the Fremantle Prison Collection have been acquired in several ways.
Some have been transferred from the Fremantle Prison Museum, which opened on 14
December 1979, and was run jointly by the Department of Corrections and the Fremantle City
Council. These objects form the founding collection and include convict material such as
clothing, shackles, tools and punishment items like birches and whips. A Museum Register
listing 390 items entered in the collection from 1978 to 1985 is a precious testimony of thisearly collection but unfortunately lacks provenance information. Records from 1983 show thetransfer of particular items into the Prison Museum Collection from the WA Prison’s
Department; these include Chubb padlocks, leather bandoliers and a powder keg.
A second large source of objects held in the Collection includes items left onsite by prisoners,
staff, and the Department of Corrective Services when the Prison closed in November 1991.
These include documents, artworks, tools and furnishings and, like the objects in the founding
collection, lack provenance and contextual information.
A considerable part of the Collection stems from archaeological excavations. Archaeologicalwatching briefs are conducted when works are executed in a sensitive area of the site or at therequest of Fremantle Prison to answer research questions. The first archaeologicalexcavations within the site took place in 1990 (Bavin, 1990). The same year an archaeologicalzoning plan of the Prison was commissioned; this document continues to play an importantrole in informing and guiding conservation and capital works projects within the precinct. Twonotable examples of subsequent archaeological excavations include the excavation of thebasement of the Main Cell Block, 4 Division, in 1993, and the cellar of No. 14 The Terrace in2009. This latter excavation produced approximately 200 items accessioned under collection
number 2011.2, as well as additional material that has not been accessioned. An
archaeological management plan is currently under consideration. The plan will provide aframework for the future management and conservation of the Fremantle Prison
Archaeological Collection.
The Prison also accepts donations of materials, which are largely donated by former staff ofthe Prison, their families or former inmates. Also, in very rare cases, the Prison may purchasematerial for the Collection, such as the Tim Kluwen Collection of original paintings by
Aboriginal prisoners, as featured in the book North of the 26th (2007.19).
In addition to the Fremantle Prison Collection, the Prison maintains a supporting collection ofmaterial removed from the Fremantle Prison structure either during works or renovations, orfrom unintentional damage, for research and/or possible reinstatement. This collection, known
as the Building Materials Resource (BMR), fits within the key criteria outlined in the Collections
Development Framework of the Fremantle Prison Collections Policy, however is not managedin accordance with the Collections Management Framework.
Props and replicas of existing Collection items have been acquired by Fremantle Prison torecreate historic environments, such as the Display Cells in 3 Division. Props, replicas andeducation materials are not considered to be part of the Fremantle Prison Collection.
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Collection Objectives
Fremantle Prison seeks to collect, document, and interpret the history of the Fremantle Prison
site, and related colonial and penal histories, through preserving, managing and researching
the Fremantle Prison Collection. The conservation and maintenance of the Collection for future
generations will enable Fremantle Prison to:• document the experience of incarceration over a period of 136 years;• interpret the Fremantle Prison site through exhibitions, public programs, and otherinterpretive activities and• support academic and curatorial research into the history of Fremantle Prison, and thepenal history of Western Australia more broadly.

Short History of the Prison
The first convict transport sailed into Fremantle Harbour in 1850, and the Convict
Establishment, as the Prison was first known, was built by convict labour between 1852 and1859 using limestone quarried on the site. The first prisoners moved into the main cell block in1855 and the Establishment was renamed Fremantle Prison in 1867. Transportation ceased
the following year when the Hougoumont carried the last convicts to Fremantle. Nearly 10,000
convicts had passed through the ‘Establishment’ between 1850 and 1868.
At first only imperial convicts were confined at Fremantle Prison, so by 1886 less than 60
convicts remained inside the Prison, originally built to hold 1,000 men. Therefore, Perth Gaolwas closed and Fremantle Prison became the colony’s primary place of confinement for men,
women and juveniles. After the Rottnest Island Aboriginal Prison closed in 1903, prisoners
from Fremantle Prison were sent to the island to carry out public works and New Division was
built and opened in 1907. During the Second World War, the Australian Defence Department
sequestered part of the Prison as a military detention centre, and a large number of Italian
Australians, identified as ‘enemy aliens’, were incarcerated at Fremantle during the War.
Following a series of prisoner riots and growing concerns with prison conditions, a royalcommission in 1983 recommended the Prison’s closure. Female prisoners had already beentransferred to a new facility at Bandyup Women's Prison in 1970. Fremantle wasdecommissioned on 8 November 1991 and its prisoners transferred to Casuarina Prison,
replacing Fremantle Prison as the state's main maximum security prison.
After its closure the WA state government embarked on a long-term conservation plan toensure the Prison’s preservation for future generations. Fremantle Prison is one of the largest
surviving convict prisons in the world today, and as such has attained state, national andinternational recognition. Fremantle Prison, as a heritage site with exceptional cultural heritage
significance, has been recognized by its inclusion in several heritage registers. These include:• Classified List, The National Trust (WA) – 3 October 1960
• Register of the National Estate, Australian Heritage Commission – 23 March 1978
• State Register of Heritage Places, Heritage Council of WA – 10 January 1992
• Municipal Inventory of Heritage Places, City of Fremantle – 22 February 2000
• National Heritage List, Australian Federal Government – 1 August 2005
• World Heritage List as part of the Australian Convict Sites Serial Listing, UNESCO –2010.
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Comparative Collections
Australian
The subdivision of the Fremantle Prison Collection which relates to the Convict era (18501885) is directly comparative to the other 10 convict sites across Australia which, together with
Fremantle Prison, form the Australian Convict Sites, World Heritage Serial Listing. Of the other10 sites in this listing, the following have professionally managed collections, which form partof their continued preservation of that site;• Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area, Norfolk Island• Old Government House and Domain, Parramatta• Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney• Cascades Female Factory, Tasmania• Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasmania• Cockatoo Island Convict Site, Sydney Harbour.
The Colonial era (1886-1901) subdivision of the collection is comparative to the collection heldat the Old Melbourne Gaol, a prison complex which opened in 1845 and closed in 1929. The
Gaol is particularly significant for its connection to the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, and thehistoric collection includes a number of highly significant related artefacts, including a suit of
Kelly Gang armour, Ned Kelly's death mask and his pistol. Other similarities can be drawn
between Melbourne Gaol’s and Fremantle Prison’s histories during this era, including bothsites serving the local community rather than a colonial power, as well as being the state
sanctioned place of executions and having a long, sustained occupation and use.
Like the Colonial era, the early 20th Century era (1902-1946) at Fremantle Prison is also
comparative to the same time period at the Old Melbourne Gaol. The Old Melbourne Gaol wasused as a military detention centre during World War One and Two. The old Gaol operated asa military guardhouse for soldiers who went absent without leave, as well as housing some
WWII prisoners of war and enemy aliens.

International
Like Fremantle Prison, Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, Ireland, saw a similar continual use, from1796 to 1910. Also, like Fremantle, it was used as a gaol for military prisoners and later forpolitical prisoners, though in this case only after the Prison had been closed as a place ofregular incarceration. Kilmainham is a well maintained heritage site and popular tourist
attraction in the heart of the city. It shares a historic link with Fremantle as many Irish convicts
sentenced to transportation were sent from Kilmainham Gaol. Today Kilmainham holds
approximately 10,000 objects in its historic collection, making it very comparable in size toFremantle Prison Collection.
Other comparative heritage gaols of international significance, or recognised as World
Heritage Sites, are:• Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, USA
In the early 1860s, civilians arrested for treason during the Civil War were housed on Alcatraz
Island. With the influx of prisoners, additional living quarters were built to house 500 men. In
1933, the Army relinquished Alcatraz to the US Justice Department, which required a federal
prison that could house a criminal population too difficult or dangerous to be handled by other
US penitentiaries. The prison was closed in 1963 owing to rising costs. The Island and Prison
now serve as a prominent tourist attraction in San Francisco.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY23• Robben Island, South Africa
Robben Island is a small island off Cape Town. The island served as a prison between theseventeenth and twentieth centuries, including during South Africa’s apartheid regime. It saw
continual use as a place of incarceration over this time period, similar to Fremantle Prison. It
was in this prison that former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, was incarcerated for
18 years. Today, Robben Island runs as a tourist attraction and holds prison clothing,workshop tools and prison furniture in its historic collection.
• Cayenne (Devil’s Island), French Guiana
Located on the island from 1852, Cayenne Prison was home to many of France’s worst
criminals, including political and military prisoners. After approximately 100 years of continued
activity on the site, the prison was closed in 1946. Only two years after the prison was
founded, the French government brought in a new law which forced prisoners of Cayenne toremain in French Guiana after their sentence was completed. Prisoners were awarded land
upon their release, with its size and location dependent on the severity of their original crime.
Like Fremantle Prison, Cayenne was seen as harsh and inhabitable, although it was still not
closed for many years after these findings. Released criminals also served as the firstcolonists of the island, in a similar way in which released prisoners from Fremantle Prison
were encouraged to stay in the Swan River Colony.
• Coiba Island, Panama
From 1919 to 2004 the penal colony on Isla Coiba was home to some of Panama’s worst
criminals, and political activists. At its peak, the Coiba Island Prison housed 3000 inmates in
30 camps, which were spread around the island. After Australia, Coiba was the largest
operating island prison system in world history. After Panama’s military dictatorship ended, theprison began reducing its population in 1990, and the last prisoner was transferred in 2005.
Not long after, the island was declared a World Heritage Site.

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Part Two
Significance Assessment of Key Items in the Collection

Individual Key items: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Objects
Ankle Protectors
Axe Heads
Coal Tubs
Clay Pipes
Communion Set
Convict Clothing
Eagle Press
Flogging Triangle
Harmonium
Padlocks
Protective Belts
Punishment Weights
Scales and Weights
ShacklesArchives
Bible (Large 1855)
Bibles New Testament marked Convict Establishment
Book (1854)
Convict Establishment Rules and Regulations
Ticket of Leave
There are no artworks, photographs or oral histories from this era.

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Statement of Significance: Convict Era
Fremantle Prison was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010, as part of theAustralian Convict Sites serial listing. As such, Fremantle Prison has proven Outstanding
Universal Value as a prime example of both the forced migration of convicts, and of theassociation with the ideals and beliefs about the punishment of crime during the nineteenth
century. In direct correlation with this World Heritage listing, all objects in the Fremantle Prison
Collection which can be confidently dated to the convict era, and have established provenanceto the site, are of international significance.
From the mundane and every day, to the overarching system of rule and punishment, theconvict era artefacts in the Fremantle Prison Collection cover all facets of life within the
Establishment, and as such hold very high social and historical significance. The clay pipes,
for example, have high social significance as examples of the everyday behavior and habits of
those imprisoned in the Convict Establishment. Meanwhile the axe heads and printing press
speak to a wider historic significance, as examples of the more industrious aspects of life in
the Establishment, and the wider contribution the convict system made to early Western
Australia by bolstering the workforce of what was essentially a failing colony. Furthermore, theRules and Regulations book, combined with other artefacts like the punishment weights andshackles, have both historic and social significance as they speak to the wider social system inplace during this era, of both punishment and control, from which came the strict conditions
under which these men were forced to live their lives.
The spiritual significance of this era of the Collection is also very high. Examples like thecommunion set speak to the organised and controlled nature of religious compliance, which
was enforced during this time as the prescribed way to redemption. Meanwhile the personal
bibles are just as significant, as they speak to a more private and intimate way of reaching thesame objective, as convicts sought redemption through personal religious observance.
Most objects in the Fremantle Prison Collection from the convict era also represent rareexamples of their type. Of particular note, are those fabric artefacts, such as the convictclothing and ankle protectors, of which very few examples survive in Australia. Owing to theirfragile nature, and the harsh conditions in which these men lived, few examples survive into
the modern era.
The strong provenance which links the convict era artefacts to the Fremantle Prison site,
combined with the Outstanding Universal Value of the site itself, greatly magnifies thesignificance of the convict era section of the Fremantle Prison Collection to a level ofinternational significance.

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Name: Ankle Protectors
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 2002.120.1-14

2002.120.1

2002.120.13

Historical Notes
Ankle protectors, or ‘gaiters’, were made to protect the wearer’s ankle from the rings of leg
irons, which could cause severe pain, bruising, lesions and skin ruptures when worn. These
ankle protectors are made from corduroy, leather and canvas, and where secured around theankle using metal buckles.
All the ankle protectors in the Fremantle Prison Collection are stamped with the broad arrowmark. This mark originated with Henry, Earl of Romney, who was the Master General of
Ordnance in Britain from 1693 to 1702. The broad arrow was used in his coat of arms andadopted as the symbol for ordinance in the British Army, and to signify any British Government
property as a prevention against theft. As such, the broad arrow was also stamped on allconvict equipment and clothing, to denote their ownership by the British Government.
During the 1870s a water supply system was established at Fremantle Prison to deliver fresh
underground water to ships in the town’s port. Convicts were put to work manning the water
pumps, and, as an extra punishment, could be forced to undertake this work whilst wearing leg
irons. A medical journal from the time refers to a convict working at the water pump wearing
leg irons, who complained of, “pain in the loins and through the groins”. Further examination
revealed, “the skin over both hipbones and in the groins [where] black and blue…inconsequence of the weight of the irons bearing on the strap around his loins…” Due to his
injuries this convict was excused from pumping duties.
The last recorded use of punishment irons at Fremantle Prison comes from The West
Australian in 1889, which reported that two prisoners, wearing 6.3 and 12.7 kilogram irons,
were manning the water pumps. Leg irons, along with flogging and ‘dark cells’, were abolishedat Fremantle Prison after the 1898 Royal Commission into prison standards recommended
their cessation for all prison offences.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThe ankle protectors in the Fremantle Prison Collection are of international significance, as
examples of the infliction of corporal punishment at Fremantle Prison during the convict period.
They are in relatively good condition, and still maintain the Broad Arrow insignia, which proves
their provenance and historic significance. As with most delicate, cloth based equipment fromthis period, their survival is unusual, therefore increasing their rarity value. They also have highsocial significance, as artefacts able to communicate some of the harsher elements of the lives
convicts led, and the punishment system under which they existed.

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Name: Axe Heads
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1993.500-530, 1993.587-89, 1993.592-593, 1996.356, 2015.3.1-5

1993.500

1993.587

Historical Notes
At the beginning of European settlement in Australia, all tools and equipment used by convicts
and free settlers alike were those bought out from England. These tools, particularly the
English style axe, were of a design unsuited to Australian conditions. These axes had a longshank, narrow cutting blades and long handles, which over the centuries had been adapted to
local English conditions, designed to cut alder, oak and pine. Remaining fundamentally
unchanged, these axes proved inefficient, unwieldy and energy wasting, and far from proficientwhen used on Australia’s much tougher, native hardwoods.
By the 1870s there was a range of imported axes available in the Australian colonies, including
the Collins, Plumb and Kelly from America, the Elwell, Braide and Gilpin from England and the
Jarrahdale from Sweden. However, when a blacksmith’s forge was established on the groundsof the Convict Establishment, tools were presumably fabricated and repaired on site, andtherefore could be adapted for local conditions. Despite this local manufacturing however, theraw materials would still have been imported, almost certainly from England.
An archaeological excavation under the Main Cell Block in 1993 uncovered 33 axe heads that
had been buried under more than a metre of dirt. These axe heads are thought to have been
manufactured by transported convicts on site at Fremantle Prison. They were of a type used toquarry and dress building blocks, from the soft local limestone. These axes where fabricatedby joining along a central plane by forge welding two plates of puddled wrought iron, a central
region being left unwelded to form a shaft hole. A section of crucible steel was then inset into
the bit edge, also by forge welding (a process known as steeling). To complete this process ahigh level of blacksmithing skill was required, however, abnormalities which are present inthese axe heads point to the inexperience of their convict manufacturers. For example, there isevidence of the difficulties of achieving weld bonding in regions adjacent to the shaft hole, andavoiding ‘burning’ in both wrought iron and steel during the steeling operation.

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High-carbon hypereutectoid steel was used in the inserts, but they were inserted in normalized
conditions, that is they had not been quench hardened, as might have been expected to takefull advantage of the steeling process.

Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of Significance
These axe heads are representative of the types of tools manufactured and used in the early
Convict Establishment. They have high research and historic significance, as their style andappearance makes it possible to discern the manufacturing techniques employed in the
Establishment, and the possible skill levels of those convicts who worked in the site’s earlyworkshops. These axe heads were discovered as part of a professionally led archaeologicalinvestigation, meaning their provenance is meticulously recorded, increasing their historic andsocial significance. These axe heads are of overall international significance as they provide a
direct link to the Convict Establishment’s early construction, and those inhabitants who built
this World Heritage Listed site.

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Name: Coal Tubs
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 78.165.1-3

78.165.1

Historical Notes
These three convict era tubs were rediscovered onsite, in the East Workshops of Fremantle
Prison, in 2016. They were however originally accessioned into the Prison’s historic collectionin 1978 as ‘Coal Tubs’. Coal in the convict period was first shoveled into skips, or tubs, before
being screened to remove rock and oversized pieces. The screened coal was then stockpiled
back into tubs, which were then either hand-propelled or moved by ‘wheelers’, with horses
pulling them to their destination. However, the presence of four small feet on the base of eachof these tubs suggests they were more likely used for the storage of coal, rather thantransporting it. It is also possible that these tubs were used for storing other materials, such aswood, possibly during the site’s construction, however a definitive answer as to their original
purpose has been lost.
The tubs are large, rectangular, made of cast iron and have no lids. Tub 78.165.1 has a thickmetal band under the rim, which appears to have been a previous attempt to mend a crack in
the iron. Tub 78.165.3 also has a wide crack in the left side, which has been covered withconcrete at some point in the past, in an attempt to repair it. On the front of each tub is a threecanon motif in a shield, with the letters ‘B O’ either side of the broad arrow symbol, and thedate 1846.
The broad arrow mark originated with Henry, Earl of Romney who was the Master General of
Ordnance from 1693 to 1702. The broad arrow was used in his coat of arms and adopted as
the symbol for ordinance in the British army and to signify any British Government property as
prevention against theft. The ‘B O’ stands for British Ordinance, which was the name of one of
the historic British Government offices which supplied uniforms and equipment to the army,
navy and prisons. The year 1846 is likely the year of manufacture of these items, suggesting
they arrived in Fremantle during the earliest stages of European settlement in the Swan River
Colony.
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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceDespite the original purpose of these tubs being lost, their provenance to Fremantle Prison isestablished through their continual presence on site, and inclusion in the original items
accessioned as part of the first Fremantle Prison Museum. These tubs can be accurately
dated from their marks, and the presence broad arrow symbol adds to their high historicsignificance and provenance value. The historic attempts to repair these artefacts adds to theirhigh research and scientific significance. These tubs are examples of the equipment which
was present at this site from its earliest conception, and have international significance as theylink to the earliest stages of the Swan River Colony and the Convict Establishment at
Fremantle.

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Name: Clay Pipes
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 78.111.1-4, 2013.16.4-6, 98.22

2013.16.4

Historical Notes
Smoking would have been a welcome relief from the brutality and drudgery of the everyday
lives convicts led at Fremantle. However, under certain circumstances, it was an illegal habit,
with the Convict Establishment rules forbidding the smoking of tobacco inside the yard, cells,
the cookhouse, washhouse, or inside any of the workshops.
Since tobacco was not a part of a convict’s rations, it was soon regarded as a valuable black
market commodity within the Establishment’s community. Used for tipping, bribery and barter
amongst convicts and staff, convicts even had their own slang words for tobacco, such as‘weed’ and pipe ‘steamer’. By the 1860s, the term ‘smoko’ had entered the colonial language,
meaning to take a short break from work to have a smoke.
Clay pipes of this period conformed to a basic shape; a hemispherical egg or egg-shaped bowl
on top of a long tapering stem. The mouthpiece could either be moulded or left unformed.
Pipes were produced from fine clays, which were generally fired to create a cream or whitecolour.
The clay pipes with the accession number 2013.16.4-6 in the Fremantle Prison Collection wereextracted from a shaft in the eastern wall of the Main Cell Block in 2 Division, by stone masons
during wall conservation works in August 2013. It is possible that these clay pipes may havebeen deliberately hidden for later retrieval. With a large inmate population, and little privacy,
tucking pipes, tobacco and other precious items beneath the floor or in the walls of theEstablishment, was one way of retaining ownership of private possessions.

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Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of Significance
These clay pipes are highly significant, both historically and socially, as examples of theeveryday existence, habits and conditions under which the inmates at the Convict
Establishment lived. All examples in the collection are provenanced to the site, with someexamples removed directly from their hiding place inside the walls in relatively good condition.
As examples of common items used on site during the early convict period, from which
Fremantle Prison receives its UNESCO World Heritage listing, these clay pipes haveinternational significance.

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Name: Communion Set
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1978.158.1-7

Historical Notes
Religious observance played a central role in convict reform, with compulsory attendance atweekly services for both prisoners and officers. Service was initially held for all convicts in the
Anglican Chapel at the Convict Establishment from 1855.
The Anglican Chapel was constructed as the centrepiece of the site. This large, open room
looked out across to the Prison gates, down towards the town of Fremantle. Fully completed in
1858, the Anglican Chapel is the only room in the Main Cell Block without bars on thewindows. This was to create the impression of trust, to aid the prisoner’s path towards
redemption.
After continuous agitation from Catholic prisoners and officers for their own chapel, a Catholic
Chapel was opened at Fremantle Prison in 1862. Both Chapels had a church choir, andprisoners were rewarded for regular attendance at choir training.
This communion set, including a chalice, flagon, platter and spoon, is made from plated silver
and is accompanied by its original storage box. The set was first used in 1852, at thetemporary establishment for convicts in Essex Street, Fremantle. Later, the set was used in
the Anglican Chapel of Fremantle Prison. Inside the lid of the box is a facsimile of the original
receipt, dated 5 April 1852, to the Reverend Fletcher, who was the Anglican Chaplain of theConvict Establishment between 1850 and 1852.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

Low
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance Statement of Significance
The Communion Set at Fremantle Prison holds high historic, aesthetic, social and spiritualsignificance. Anchored in its strong provenance, with the retention of the original receipt ofpurchase, this object is a physical reminder of the importance of religion in the early Convict
Establishment. It also holds wider representative significance as evidence of the nineteenth
century’s approach to punishment and reform; that the path to redemption was through God.
The object maintains international significance as a well-preserved piece of religious
paraphernalia from the 1850s, which can be linked to the earliest stages of convictism inWestern Australia.

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Name: Convict Clothing (4 individual pieces)
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1978.96, 1979.1, 1979.2, 1988.2

1979.1

1979.2

1978.96

1988.2

Historical Notes
There are six pieces of convict clothing which survive in Western Australia. Two pieces (ajacket and a pair of trousers) belong to the Western Australian Museum, whilst the remaining
four pieces belong to the Fremantle Prison Collection. These are a parti-coloured waistcoat(1978.96), a parti-coloured jacket (1979.2), a linen undershirt (1988.2) and an unbleachedcanvas jacket (1979.1).
Institutional clothing for convicts was an innovation of the prison reform movement of the lateeighteenth century. Before this, prisoners either paid for, or provided their own, clothing.
There were nearly 10,000 male convicts transported from Britain to Western Australia between
1850 and 1868, and almost all of their uniforms were supplied from England. Convict uniforms
were made in the tailor shops of the big London prisons in three standard sizes, and sent out
in annual despatches. Sometimes they were made on the convict ships as they sailed fromBritain to Western Australia.
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Ordinary prisoners, ticket-of-leave men and men on special punishment, such as hard labour,
wore different uniforms. The parti-coloured jacket and waistcoat in the Fremantle Prison
Collection are examples of the uniform issued to convicts sentenced to hard labour, or thoseon work gangs outside the Prison. The vest and jacket would have been worn with trousers of
the same fabric and colour, leading to the wearers being referred to as ‘magpies’ or ‘canaries’.
The colour of the uniform assisted in surveillance and identification, and was an effective
symbol of dishonour. The coarse wool that these garments are made from would have further
contributed to the men’s discomfort and punishment.
The canvas jacket and undershirt in the Fremantle Prison Collection are examples of thesummer uniforms issued to ordinary prisoners. Ordinary convicts were issued with two
seasonal uniforms throughout the year; a winter uniform, issued in early May, made of coarse
dark grey woollen fabric, and a summer uniform, issued in early November, made from duck (afine unbleached canvas, of which the Fremantle Prison jacket is an example), dowlas (strong
calico) or drabbet (dull brown linen, of which the Fremantle Prison undershirt is an example).
Along with these seasonally appropriate items, convicts were also issued with boots, a belt,
socks, handkerchiefs and a felt hat.
All four pieces of Fremantle Prison’s convict clothing have the broad arrow mark stamped onthem. This mark originated with Henry, Earl of Romney who was the Master General of
Ordnance from 1693 to 1702. The broad arrow was used in his coat of arms and adopted as
the symbol for ordinance in the British Army, and to signify any British Government property asa deterrent against theft. The unbleached canvas jacket is also stamped with ‘W D’, meaning
War Department, which was the name of the government office which supplied common
uniforms for the lowest ranks of the army and navy, as well as for convicts from 1854 to 1895.
Further to this the manufacturers' stamps on this jacket also includes the date 1865.
The waistcoat and two jackets have been a part of the Fremantle Prison Collection since theMuseum first opened in 1978. Whilst no specific provenance related to these items has beenrecorded, their existence in the original collection means they have very likely been on site atFremantle Prison since the time of their use. The undershirt however was discovered under
the floorboards following the fire in 4 Division in 1988. A specific find location for this item in 4
Division was not recorded at the time of discovery.
Some scientific analysis has been carried out on the parti-coloured waistcoat and jacket tohelp determine the techniques used to create the colours of the cloth. Electron microscopic
analysis revealed that the yellow dye was derived from tin, and that the black dye waschromium. Both colours were probably fixed with alum.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

Low
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThrough their direct association with the historical era from which the Fremantle Prison site
gains its World Heritage listing, the convict clothing in the Fremantle Prison Collection is ofindividual international significance. Few examples of the clothing worn by convicts sent to theAustralian penal colonies survive, owing to the harsh conditions in which these men lived andthe everyday needs of convicts, such as clothing, being underfunded during this period. These
artefacts also provide an avenue for scientific analysis into nineteenth century cloth
manufacturing and dye production. As intimate examples of the everyday lives of earlyconvicts in Western Australia, these artefacts are of high historic and social significance.

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Name: Eagle Press
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 2016.4

Historical Notes
A Printing Shop was part of the Convict Establishment's original infrastructure, and remained a
trade taught to inmates at Fremantle Prison throughout the site’s history. In 1854 convicts
were instructed in the use of two printing presses onsite, and this Columbian Press is likely tohave been one of these two machines. The press was hand set by the prisoners working in theshop, under the supervision of an instructor.
The Fremantle Prison Print Shop functioned as the official Government Printer from 1858 until
June 1870, which included printing the weekly Government Gazette. This Columbian Press
was then moved to Perth by ship in 1870 to become part of the newly established Government
Printer. It remained in use at the Government Printer until the late 1970s. In 2017 it remains inworking order.
This press was made by Harrild and Sons, an engineering company based in London. This
type of printing press was patented by George Clymer in 1813 in Philadelphia, USA, and thenin England in 1817. Clymer applied hydraulic engineering principles to the press, with the large
crossbeam linked to the operating handle for greater efficiency of use, a design which is
unique to the Columbian. Interestingly, it had little success in America, but was very popular in
Europe and England, where it was adopted by many leading printers. Some of these presses
then made their way to the Australian colonies, however the exact number of Columbianpresses which came to Western Australia throughout the nineteenth century is difficult toascertain. Printing operations were established in Perth and Fremantle, and as far as
Geraldton, Coolgardie and Leonora. The only other known surviving Columbian Press inWestern Australia today is located at TAFE Central in Perth.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThis Printing Press has international significance, as both a link to the earliest forms of industry
within Fremantle Prison during the convict era, and through its connection to early printing andthe public dissemination of information in the Swan River Colony. Its historic and social
significance is very high as an example of the connection and relationship between products
produced by the convicts involved in Prison industries and the outside colony. The machine isalso in excellent condition, making it of high research potential, as a working example of anearly nineteenth century printing press.

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Name: Flogging Triangle
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1978.153

Historical Notes
Flogging was a form of corporal punishment inflicted upon convicts, and later prisoners, atFremantle Prison. Prisoners could be sentenced to flogging as punishment for acts committed
whilst inside prison, such as for insubordination or misbehavior, or alternatively flogging could
be part of a prisoner’s original sentence. In the 1850s and 1860s it was not uncommon for
prisoners at the Convict Establishment to be sentenced to flogging, with the maximum of 100
lashes for breaches of discipline. The most serious offence, for which this type of punishment
could be inflicted, was attempting to escape from legal custody.
This flogging triangle was used as a way of securing prisoners during this form of punishment.
The triangle’s beams were rounded at the top, and squared at an angle at the bottom, allowing
them to sit flat when the triangle was opened out. The whole triangle is pivoted at the top by ametal bolt and nut to form three legs that can be opened out to form a standing tripod, with twolegs at the side and one at the rear. The two side legs had three separate wooden cleats
screwed to their outer sides, each containing four, three and two rungs respectively, throughwhich ropes or other bonds may be threaded and secured. A metal cleat is also attached tothe centre rear leg, about one third of the way up from the ground, also for securing bonds.
Once strapped to the flogging post, the prisoner received punishment in the form of flogging or
birching. Flogging was undertaken with the cat-of-nine tails, a whip with nine knotted strands
or cords, whilst birching used a bundle of long birch twigs bound together by a cord. In order toreceive the punishment, the prisoner’s back was bared, though he was made to wear a wide
leather belt secured around his upper waist to protect his kidneys from damage. After thelashes were administered, salt or brine would be applied to the wounds to cleanse them andhelp them heal. The flagellator was often a Prison Officer, sometimes specially appointed,
who, for an agreed fee, was required to administer corporal punishment when necessary.
Floggings were usually carried out with between six and ten Prison Officers present, together
with those prisoners for whom it was thought witnessing the punishment would provide a
warning and set an example.

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A medical officer who had the authority to stop the punishment if necessary, always attended
the proceedings. However, if the punishment was stopped for medical reasons the sentence
was not discharged, but rather resumed once the prisoner had healed sufficiently.
The 1940 Fremantle Prison Regulations speaks specifically to flogging as a form ofpunishment, stating that, “The number of strokes must not exceed twenty five and in the caseof an offender under the age of eighteen must not exceed twelve, and the instrument must beeither a birch rod cane, or the instrument commonly called a cat, which shall be made ofleather or cord without any metallic substance woven therewith; provided that the cat shall not
be used in the case of an offender under eighteen years of age.”
The last flogging in Western Australia was administered at Fremantle Prison at 9am on 21
June 1943, when a prisoner, sentenced to receive 25 lashes of the cat received 17 before themedical officer intervened. To protect his identity the flagellator was from outside the Western
Australian prison system and wore a mask during the proceedings. The last birching at
Fremantle Prison was carried out on 20 August 1962 when a prisoner received 12 strokes.
Corporal punishment and hard labour were not officially abolished in Western Australia until
the Criminal Law Amendment Act (No. 2) 1992, which came into effect from 6 January 1993.
In all likelihood this fogging triangle in the Fremantle Prison Collection is the original apparatus
shipped to Fremantle from England during the 1850s, as part of the equipment required to
impose discipline within the Convict Establishment.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceCorporal punishment is an integral and prevalent aspect of convict history and by providing a
direct link to these proceedings, this flogging triangle has high historic significance. As arepresentative example of the rule of life under which these convicts lived, it has high social
significance and is internationally important, being attributed to the earliest period of the site,from which the Fremantle Prison receives its World Heritage Listing. It remains in excellent
condition and is a rare example of the more extreme forms of punishment inflicted during thePrison’s history.

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Name: Harmonium
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1995.63

Historical Notes
Harmoniums were first developed in the early 1800s, and represented the first major technicaladvancement in organ design for 300 years. However, it was not until the 1840s that
harmoniums were first mass produced. The harmonium functions on pressure rather thansuction; as the bellows push air up through the reeds. The 'E Expression' stop is unique topressure instruments, and requires a specific pedaling technique by the player.
The Fremantle Prison harmonium is of a style by Alexandre Debain, who first patented his
design in 1842. The Collection’s harmonium has the serial number 5220, from which the
instrument’s manufacture can be traced to France in circa 1854. Harmoniums were a popular
instrument in the colonies, offering a more practical alternative to the piano. Often weighing
less than pianos of a similar size, they were also not as easily damaged during transport, and,unlike the piano, harmoniums held their tune better in the heat and humidity, making thembetter suited to Australian conditions.
In 1854, the Anglican Chaplin at the Convict Establishment requested an organ for the chapel,
and this harmonium is likely that instrument. Sent by the War Office on 31 April 1856, it arrived
in Fremantle on the convict ship Prince Charlie later that year. The Anglican chapel at theConvict Establishment provided a place of spiritual contemplation and worship for convicts,
staff and their families. This harmonium was used during services, and to accompany thechoir, who sang on a Sunday morning and evening and during the daily morning service.
Music and religious observance were an important component of reforming the souls of those
imprisoned in the Convict Establishment.
The Fremantle Prison harmonium is relatively intact considering its age. It has a single keyset
and four reed sets. The keyboard contains 36 intact white keys, and 25 intact minor black
keys. Several of the keys are either raised (e.g. C sharp) or sunken (e.g. D) through use. The
harmonium is constructed of oak and covered in wood veneer, in a plain design. The pedalboard has become detached and is covered with leather, likely a Prison repair from thetwentieth century. Two of the stops have been detached, and one is missing. The brand or___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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makers medallion at the centre, in-between the stops, is also missing but a stamp locatedwithin the instrument reads: ‘AL. DEBAIN/ RUE VIVIENNE/ [?] PIANOS’.
The lid of the harmonium is absent meaning the interior of the instrument is visible from aboveand behind. There is also the remainder of a metal handle on the right-hand-side, withmatching screw holes on the left side suggesting there was once a corresponding handle.
This type of instrument is very rare in Western Australia, with the only other example in the
New Norcia Collection. Preliminary research also suggests that this kind of instrument may berare outside of France.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceFremantle Prison’s harmonium is of international significance as a rare example of this French
designed instrument, with strong provenance to the Convict Establishment. The instrument
has high historic and social value, as an example of the implementation of the early convictism
theory of prisoner reform through worship. As a rare example from an important era in Frenchmusical history, this harmonium also has research potential as evidence of instrument
construction and design in the early nineteenth century.

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Name: Padlocks
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1996.70.1-5, 1996.72.1-2, 1996.73.1-4, 1996.74.1-4, 1996.82, 1999.356,
2001.132, 2002.6, 2012.87, 2015.1.1-4

1996.70.1

Historical Notes
Locks have existed, in some form or another, for millennia. Forms of security have developed
as societies spread, and with these changes, locks themselves have evolved. One of the most
revolutionary changes was the invention of the padlock. At the root of this device is its
portability; the idea that a lock can be added to something and then removed again. Padlocks
are a detachable lock that fastens and secures with the use of a ‘shackle’. The shackle can bea hinge or slide, with the assistance of a spring, but it is the fact that once open it can beremoved that makes a padlock superior.
Security at the Convict Establishment was originally controlled by Western Australia's first
Comptroller-General of Convicts, Edmund Henderson, who administered the Convict
Establishment for thirteen years. The primary responsibilities of the Comptroller-General wereto direct convict labour, and control convict discipline. This included security measures, forboth those inside the Establishment, and those out on work parties. As part of this system ofcontrol, the padlock was an essential tool, as it could be implemented where needed, andused away from the Prison site.
A selection of padlocks in the Fremantle Prison Collection can be accurately dated to theconvict era via their markers marks and serial numbers. Most locks had some form ofidentifying mark affixed to them during manufacturing. Most of the padlocks in the Fremantle
Prison Collection where made by Chubb, the premier locksmiths in the United Kingdom, who
also carried the Royal Appointment seal. The lock shown here, 1996.70.1, is stamped, “BY
APPONTMENT TO H.M. THE KING”. Combined with the serial number F5437, this dates the
manufacture of this padlock to the mid to late 1820s.
Most of the padlocks in the Fremantle Prison Collection where left on site when the Prison
closed in 1991. Their early date and place of manufacture suggests that they came toFremantle onboard convict vessels, and have been in use at Fremantle Prison since the firsthalf of the nineteenth century.
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Assessment and Comparative Criteria

Aesthetic SignificanceHistoric SignificanceSocial/ Spiritual SignificanceScience/Research
Rarity value
Condition
ProvenanceInterpretative Potential
International Significance 

High

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
National Significance 

Low

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance Statement of Significance
Padlocks are emblematic of the prison system, with high interpretive potential and social
significance as easily recognizable forms of imprisonment and control. This collection of
padlocks also has high historic significance, dating from the earliest time of transportation toWestern Australia. By providing a direct link between the early period of convictism in WA, andthe Outstanding Universal Value from which Fremantle Prison claims its World Heritage
Listing, the collection of padlocks in the Fremantle Prison Collection have internationalsignificance.

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Name: Protective Belts
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1978.157.1- 2, 1978.167.1-4

1978.167.3

1978.167.4

Historical Notes
In the early days of the Convict Establishment it was not uncommon for convicts to besentenced to forms of corporal punishment for breaches of discipline. A certain number oflashes could be imposed as part of a convict’s initial conviction sentence, or for misbehavior
conducted whilst inside prison, such as insubordination. The most serious offence wasattempting to, or successfully, escaping from legal custody.
A prisoner who had been sentenced to flogging was secured to the flogging triangle, with theirlegs tied to the base of the frame and their hands to the top. Their back was stripped bare anda protective leather belt was fastened around their waist, whilst a second could be strappedaround the convict’s neck. The belts were in place to prevent serious internal injury, or evendeath, to the convict during their punishment. Continual flogging caused the skin to break andopen, and without the belt on the back this could cause serious bruising or bleeding to thekidneys and other internal organs. Meanwhile the neck strap was in place to protect the main
arteries in the neck from being cut open.
Depending on the sentence, a convict could be flogged up to 100 times. A medical officer wasalways present at every flogging and could intervene and cease the punishment if he felt theprisoner’s life was in danger. If a flogging was stopped prematurely for such a reason, theremaining lashes would be administered after the prisoner had sufficiently recovered.
The last flogging was administered at Fremantle Prison at 9 am on 21 June 1943 when aprisoner convicted of rape received 25 lashes as part of his sentence. The medical officer
suspended the punishment after 17 strokes.
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Corporal punishment and hard labour were then officially abolished in Western Australia under
the Criminal Law Amendment Act (No. 2) 1992, effective from 6 January 1993.
Protective belts such as these were also used at the Convict Establishment as a remedy
against injury for convicts undertaking hard physical labour as part of their punishment. One
such example would be to strap the thick leather belt around the convict’s back, to help
support the back muscles from strain while they were undertaking heavy work, such as
carrying or hauling rocks.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceCorporal punishment and hard labour were two forms of punishment inflicted at the Convict
Establishment, both of which are often seen by today’s visitors as indicative of the harshness
of incarceration during this era. As such, these objects have high social significance, not only
as examples of this form of punishment, but as popular examples of the time and genre. Thesebelts have strong provenance to Fremantle Prison, and their historical significance is high.
They are internationally significant artefacts, as examples of both the cruelty and the attempts
at more humane practices, during the implementation of punishment in the convict era.

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Name: Punishment Weights
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1999.858, 1978.29

1999.858

1978.29

Historical Notes
Punishment irons can refer to 28 pound and 56 pound weights, which were attached to the hipof a convict, as part of a leather belt worn when undergoing a sentence of punishment. The
sentence usually specified which weight was to be worn and for how long. The weightconsisted of a solid cube or ball of metal, with a circular metal ring attached to the top, which
acted as a hand grip and to secure the weight to the belt.
During the 1870s a water supply system was established at the Convict Establishment todeliver fresh underground water to ships in the town’s port. Convicts manned the water pumps
inside the Establishment’s walls, which was very hard work. However, if a convict wasundergoing an additional punishment, they could also be required to man the pumps whilst
wearing irons or punishment weights. In 1877 an entry in the Prison’s Medical Journal for the
25 April refers to a convict who, under punishment and wearing a 28 pound weight, suffered a
rupture of an undisclosed nature whilst pumping water. He was excused labouring duties until
his injuries healed.
The square punishment weight in the Fremantle Prison Collection (1999.858), is marked with abroad arrow symbol and the letters 'B O', which stands for 'Board of Ordnance'. This was
inscribed, along with the broad arrow, on British Government property, including convictclothing and equipment, from circa 1800 until 1855.
The round punishment weight in the Fremantle Prison Collection (1978.29), was found in the
ground of a house in Pier Street, Fremantle, in 1941. The occupant was digging an air raid
shelter and found the weight buried in his garden. It was donated to the newly opened
Fremantle Prison Museum in 1978.

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The last recorded instance of punishment irons or weights of any kind being used at Fremantle
Prison comes from an 1889 edition of The West Australian newspaper. Here it was reported
that two prisoners wearing 6.3 and 12.7 kilogram irons were manning the water pumps. The
1898 Royal Commission recommended the abolition of irons and flogging for all prison
offences, as well as the abolition of dark cells and the use of the crank.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceAs indicative examples of convict era punishment and suffering, with strong provenance to theconvict era at Fremantle Prison, from which the site receives its World Heritage Listing, thesepunishment weights have international significance. They are historically and socially valuable
as representations of the nature of punishment in the convict era. As highly recognizable
artefacts of this time, they have high interpretative potential, as symbols of convictism inWestern Australia.

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Name: Scales and Weights
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 2004.6.1-3, 2004.5

Historical Notes
Whilst the specific purpose of these weights has been lost, each weight is stamped with thebroad arrow symbol and ‘B O’, which stands for ‘British Ordinance’, which allows for theiraccurate dating. The British Ordinance was a government department in use during the earlynineteenth century, through until 1855, which means these weights dated to the earliest periodof convictism in Western Australia. These symbols were affixed to British government propertyof the time, including convict equipment and clothing, as a sign of ownership and a remedy
against theft.
Enquiries made to an Associate Professor of the University of Tasmania in 2010, into thepossible purpose of these weights, confirmed their date of manufacture as mid-nineteenth
century. It was also hypothesized that their purpose could have been for food rations or postal
services. It was commented that whilst most other weights from this period which bear thesame markings are made of cast iron, few examples survive which are this decorative or in as
good condition.
Weights and scales were used in the Convict Establishment to help the cooks ration out aman’s portion for each dish. The object they wished to measure, such as meat, would beplaced on one side of a scale and weights on the other, until they were equal. As eachconvict’s diet was strictly allotted, scales were used at every meal to clearly ration out eachman’s portion.
The health and wellbeing of the convicts inside the Establishment was the responsibility of theSurgeon. To assist with keeping the inmates fit and well, and to avoid any outbreaks of
disease, the Surgeon was also responsible for designing a specially formulated diet. Dr.
Rennie, the Convict Establishment’s Surgeon, was an advocate for a vegetarian andtemperance diet.
Whilst he strongly advocated for an overall reduction in the amount of food in the convict’s diet,he argued for an increase in the variety of vegetables and fish served to the men. Despite his
recommendations, the final say on the convict diet lay with the Establishment’s
Superintendent, who in this case ignored Dr. Rennie’s recommendations, and added morebread and potatoes to the convict’s rations.
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During the time of the Convict Establishment the average inmate’s daily rations were set in theConvict Establishment Rules and Regulations and included the following; for breakfast a cupof tea and bread; for lunch some meat, potatoes, or sometimes vegetables and rice, plus abowl of gruel or oatmeal soup; and for supper a cup of tea and bread. Whilst this might soundinsufficient, convicts often ate better than colonists of the time.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of Significance
These convict weights are of international significance. With strong provenance to theFremantle Prison site, they are accurately dateable to the convict period from which the site
gains its World Heritage listing. These artefacts are also intact and in remarkably goodcondition, compared to other weights of this type and period. They have research potential andhigh social significance as interpretive examples of the effects of rationing and theunderstanding of the correlation between certain foods and health during this time.

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Name: Shackles
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1978.61.1-20, 1995.11

1978.61.11

Historical Notes
Shackles, also referred to as irons, were used as a tool of punishment during the convict
period in Western Australia. They were made entirely of metal and varied in weight and size.
Consisting of a length of chain, they had ‘bracelets’ for the ankles or wrists attached at either
end, which were made from two semicircular hoops of metal pivoted together at one side by ametal pin. Provision was made at the opposite side for a similar pin to be inserted andhammered closed, to lock the bracelet around the prisoner’s ankle or wrist. To prevent chafing,convicts often wore a strip of leather or padding sewn together from corduroy, leather andcanvas, between the skin and the iron.
The shackles used at the Convict Establishment were imported from England. Records show
shackles listed as ‘bazzles’ or ‘basils’, on manifests, and were imported amongst other,“articles for the security of convicts”, onboard ships such as the Clara in 1857, the Nile in 1858
and the Lord Raglan in 1858.
Either as part of an original sentence, or owing to misbehavior whilst imprisoned, convicts
could be sentenced to hard labour in irons. One such punishment was known as a ‘chain
gang’, a group of men shackled together and sent out in a work party. The chain gang, orconvict parties, that worked in irons, was a common form of organising convict labour on public
works. Chain gangs worked up to ten hours a day and often slept in basic huts at night. The
men carried out the most labour-intensive elements of road building operations, including
cutting down trees, removing stumps, moving large pieces of stone and splitting rock.
During the 1870s a water supply system was established at the Convict Establishment todeliver fresh underground water to ships in the town’s port. Prisoners manned the water
pumps inside the Establishment grounds, and if they were also undergoing an additional
punishment, they could be required to undertake this work whilst wearing shackles.

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A medical journal of the time refers to a convict working at the pump whilst in irons
complaining of, “Pain in the loins and through the groins.” Examination revealed that, “the skinover both hipbones and in the groins black and blue…in consequence of the weight of theirons bearing on the strap around his loins…” After this examination, the unnamed convict was
excused further pumping duties.
The last report of punishment irons being used at Fremantle Prison comes from The West
Australian in 1889, which reported that two prisoners wearing 6.3 and 12.7 kilogram irons weremanning the water pumps in the grounds. However, it wasn’t until after the release of the 1898
Royal Commission that their use were ceased entirely, after the report recommended theabolition of irons, flogging, the use of dark cells and the crank, as forms of punishment.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceAs perhaps one of the most highly recognisable artifacts of the convict period, these shackles
have international significance due to their strong provenance to the convict era at Fremantle
Prison. They have very high social significance, not only as examples of the social system ofpunishment implemented during this period, but also in today’s society as an object seen as
indicative of the convict era. Whilst their heavy construction means examples often survive into
the modern era, these shackles are in excellent condition and their strong provenance to thesite further increases their high historic significance.

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Name: Bible (large, 1855)
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 2005.92

Historical Notes
The Convict Establishment in Fremantle placed great emphasis on religious teaching andobservance of ritual. It was believed that rehabilitation or reform of a criminal was best handled
by the church. As such, convicts were required to attend a prayer service every morning, andchurch twice on Sundays. A convict choir was also formed to sing in the church. Sunday
church attendance was compulsory for all inmates at Fremantle Prison until 1931.
Religion was also used as a vehicle for reinforcing the powers of the law, and reminding
convicts of the retribution that awaited them if they violated it. In 1865, convict Thomas Bushell
was sentenced to death after attempting to murder a warder. The Comptroller-General issued
an order that on the morning of the execution all the other convicts would assemble in the
Establishment’s chapel and pause for five minutes when the execution took place. When thebell tolled it would inform the men that the sentence of the law was being carried out. After this,the Chaplain would offer a prayer and the magistrate would address the congregation of theconsequences of defying the law. The records show that this service was conducted for many
years on every occasion a convict was executed.
The architecture and location of the Anglican Chapel at Fremantle Prison is evidence of theimportance placed on religion in the convict era. The chapel is one of the finest, and certainly
the most intact, of early prison chapels in Australia. As the centrepiece of the Main Cell Block,it occupies the key axial location in the precinct. Its interior features include the first laminatedtimber arch structure in the state, handsome Decalogue boards and some original and elegant
joinery. The chapel was completed between 1856 and 1857. The ten commandments, Lord’s
prayer and the creed were painted on four ‘boards’ by Charles Hamilton, a convict sentenced
to life sometime before 1874, when he was recommended for remission. They were painted,
as the clerk of works Broomhall said, “In a very superior manner”, and although repainted arestill in reasonably good condition today.

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This bible was used in the Anglican Chapel at the Convict Establishment. The bible is boundbetween hardback covers finished in dark red buckram, and the title is written on the spine ingold lettering. The title page reads The Holy Bible Containing the Old & New Testaments, withthe date of printing, 1855, inscribed in roman numerals.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceReligion was a central part of convict life, and a fundamental pillar of reform in the convict era.
The Anglican Chapel at Fremantle Prison was the centerpiece of religious observance at thesite, and this bible acted as the pathway to God through which the convicts could beredeemed. As such, this bible holds very high social and spiritual significance. Its high historicsignificance lends to its international importance, as an artifact directly related to one of thecentral themes of convict life.

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Name: Bibles (New Testament, marked ‘Convict Establishment’)Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1993.23.1-3

1993.23.1

1993.23.3

Historical Notes
To nineteenth century prison reformers, religion was an integral part of the convict system. In
1842, Lord Stanley is quoted as saying, “We anticipate a systematic course of moral andreligious instruction will afford the means of applying such salutary influences as may bestinduce the convicts to betake themselves to industrious and useful pursuits”. For this an
Anglican Chaplain was sent with the first ship of convicts to Western Australia in 1850.
Attendance at Divine Service, and morning and evening prayers, was enforced, and Sunday
worship remained compulsory for all inmates at Fremantle Prison until 1931.
The architecture and location of the Anglican Chapel is an indication of the significance placed
upon religion in the convict era. The Anglican Chapel is one of the finest, and most intact, of
early prison chapels in Australia. It occupies the most central location in the precinct. Itsinterior features include the first laminated timber arch structure in the state, handsome
Decalogue boards and some original and elegant joinery. The chapel was completed between
1856 and 1857. The ten commandments, Lord’s prayer and the creed were painted on four‘boards’ by Charles Hamilton, a lifer, sometime before 1874, when he was recommended forremission. They were painted as the clerk of works Mr. Broomhall, said, “in a very superiormanner”, and although repainted are still in reasonably good condition today.
Each convict who entered the Establishment received his own personal Bible, and three ofthese personal bibles are retained in the Fremantle Prison Collection. They are bound andprinted editions of the New Testament Bible, published in 1854. The bibles have hardback
covers, finished in a burgundy coloured buckram, which has worn through at the corners.
Hand written in black ink, along the open edge of the book, is the text 'C [broad arrow] E'.
Whilst the ‘C’ and ‘E’ stand for Convict Establishment, the broad arrow mark, which originatedwith Henry, Earl of Romney, the Master General of Ordnance from 1693 to1702, signified
British Government property. Handwritten in black ink on the inside front cover of these threebibles is the text 'Convict Establishment WA'.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1 
2Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceAs an essential tool to assist the reform of convicts, these bibles hold high historic and social
significance, as well as spiritual value, as a tangible link with the importance of religion during
the convict era at Fremantle Prison. They have high rarity value and strong provenance, as the
only three surviving examples of personal bibles from the Convict Establishment. They areinternationally significant examples of the personal religious observance encouraged inprisoners during the convict era in Western Australia.

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Name: Book (1854)
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 1978.4a-e

Historical Notes
The hospital at Fremantle Prison was built between 1857 and 1859. When completed thehospital had the following capacity; a general ward for 33 patients; a ward each to treat fever
and ophthalmic diseases, equipped for 10 patients each; four observation wards, each with asingle bed; and two cutaneous wards with three beds for patients with skin complaints. There
was also a kitchen, bathroom, surgery and morgue on site.
The hospital was an essential part of the infrastructure at the Convict Establishment. There
was a surgeon attached to the Prison, and a more senior staff surgeon who was the Principal
Medical Officer in Perth. The Medical Officers were very aware of the ease with which any
epidemic could decimate a prison population, so care was taken to prevent such an
eventuality. Moreover, there were some diseases which were more prevalent among convictsin Western Australia, which required hospital treatment, such as ophthalmia, dysentery,tuberculosis and lunacy, for which a separate asylum was eventually built outside theEstablishment.
Medical Officers and administrators at the Convict Establishment used this bound and printed
book in the treatment of convicts. Titled A Translation of the New London Pharmacopoeia
including also The New Dublin and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, with a full account of thechemical & medicinal properties of their contents; forming a Complete Materia Medica, it was
written by J. Birbank Nevins M.D. of London. This pharmacopeia includes instructions on theuse of herbs and palliatives, as well as compounds of mercury and other minerals, splints andbandages. Surviving records written by the Medical Officers at the Establishment show thelimitations of what was available at the time to ease pain or to cure serious complaints fromwhich the convicts suffered.
This copy in the Fremantle Prison Collection is a second edition of this title, published in
London by Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, in 1854. It is a hardback leather-boundpublication with 880 pages. Handwritten in black ink on the title page is a note, reading,“Infirmary Convict Establishment received per Ship Braide 31st July 1862”.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThis book has high historic significance, stemming from its well-established provenance as abook used in the Convict Establishment hospital in the 1860s. As a rare example of medical
treatments and understanding from the convict era, this artefact also has high social andscientific importance. As a rare example of knowledge used in the treatment of disease andinjury at the Convict Establishment, this book is internationally significant as a direct link withthe era from which Fremantle Prison’s gains its World Heritage listing.

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Name: Convict Establishment Rules and Regulations
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 93.18

Historical Notes
The inmates at the Convict Establishment lived their lives according to a strict set of rules. This
129 page book, titled Rules and Regulations Convict Department, Western Australia 1862, laidout the regulations that a convict was to abide by. This copy was printed in the Establishment’s
print shop in 1862.
Breaches of the Convict Establishment’s rules were separated into two levels of severity;
minor and aggravated. Examples of minor breaches of the rules and regulations included
disobeying the orders of a Prison Warder, swearing, being caught with Convict Establishment
property, and talking or misbehaving at divine service or prayer. Being guilty of minor breaches
could result in seven days solitary confinement, be placed on a diet of bread and water, or
forfeiting remission of your sentence. Aggravated offences against the rules and regulations
were seen as much more severe, and therefore resulted in harsher punishments. If a convict
was caught planning, or involved in, a mutiny, assaulting another convict or officer, escaping or
attempting to escape, or wilfully or maliciously breaking and damaging prison property, they
were charged with an aggravated offence. The punishment for breaking one of these rules wasa stay of up to one month in solitary confinement, with 14 days on bread and water, with theadded punishment of irons, depending on the offence. The offending convict could also be
sentenced to corporal punishments such as flogging, or hard labour, or he could be removed
to a lower class of imprisonment, which would hinder his privileges.
The solitary confinement building at the Convict Establishment had 18 cells in total, out of
which 12 were classed as ‘light’ and six were ‘dark’. All were fitted with two doors for extra
security, and which made the cells practically soundproof, adding to the feeling of isolation.
The cells were furnished with a bare bed and no mattress, a bible and sometimes a blanket.
Dark cells were a particularly harsh form of punishment, as those convicts quickly became
disorientated, unable to tell day from night. A diet of bread and water also added to theharshness of these punishments. The men who were sentenced to solitary confinement wereusually back in the Main Cell Block within a month, but after 1863 men could be sentenced tosolitary for up to three months at a time.

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In 1866 it was reported that, “…prisoner 8400 Joseph Price be kept in a dark cell upon bread
and water until the surgeon reports that he can bear it no longer and that then he be worked tillfurther orders in the chain gang inside the Prison.”
The Rules and Regulations Act governing the Convict Establishment were continuously
modified and kept up to date. After the update in 1862, the Act was reviewed and extensively
modified to the Prisons Act 1903-18.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThis book containing the Rules and Regulations at the Convict Establishment has very highhistoric, social and research significance. It outlines the system by which convicts had to live
everyday whilst imprisoned at Fremantle. It has strong provenance to the site, and is a rareexample which has survived in good condition. As an important example of the way in which
the lives of convicts at Fremantle were governed, directly related to the period from which thesite gains its World Heritage Listing, this artefact has international significance.

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Name: Ticket-of-Leave
Category: Convict Era (1850-1885)
Accession Number: 2017.4

Historical Notes
Born in 1834, William Bartlett was a horse dealer from Buckinghamshire, England. He wasconvicted of rape and sentenced at the Aylesbury Assizes to 15 years transportation. He
arrived in Fremantle on board the Hougoumont, the last convict ship to arrive in Australia, in
1868.
This document was found, hidden between the pages of an old book, at the home of thedonor's aunt, who passed away in March 2017. The relationship between the convict William
Bartlett and the donor’s family is currently unknown.
The Ticket-of-Leave system was first introduced by Governor Philip King in 1801. Its principal
aim was to reduce the burden on the colonial administration of providing food from thegovernment’s limited stores to convicts who were transported from Britain to Australia.
Convicts who were deemed able to support themselves were awarded a Ticket-of-Leave. They
could also be awarded for good behaviour, and permitted the holder to seek employment
within a specified district. Holders where not, however, permitted to leave the district without
the permission of the colonial government. Each change of employer or district was recordedon the convict’s Ticket.
Originally the Ticket-of-Leave was given without any relation to the period of the sentence a
convict had already served. Some ‘gentlemen convicts’ or aristocratic men were issued their
Tickets on arrival in the colony. By 1811, the need to first serve at least part of your original
sentence was established and by 1821 regulations were introduced specifying the lengths of asentence that had to be served before a convict could be considered for a Ticket. These werefour years for an original seven-year sentence, six to eight years for a 14 year sentence and
10 to 12 years for those given a life sentence. Once the full original sentence had been served,a ‘certificate of freedom’ was awarded.

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Ticket-of-Leave holders were allowed to marry or to bring their families across from Britain.
They were also able to acquire property, but they were not permitted to carry weapons orboard a ship.
Convicts who observed these conditions until the completion of one half of their original
sentence were entitled to a conditional pardon, which removed all restrictions except the banon leaving the colony. Convicts who did not observe these conditions could be arrested
without a warrant, tried without recourse to the Supreme Court, and would forfeit their property.
A Ticket-of-Leave had two physical components; the first known as the ‘Ticket proper’ wasissued to the convict, and it was mandatory for them to carry it on their person at all times,
which has resulted in very few original Tickets-of-Leave surviving into modern times. The
second component was the ‘butt’, which was kept on file by the Colonial Government as areference.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThis Ticket-of-Leave has international significance, as a tangible link to a convict on board the
Hougoumont, signifying the end of the convict era in Australian. This archive is in excellent
condition, and is a rare surviving example of the pardon and release system employed in earlycolonial Western Australia. It has very high historic and social value for providing personal
information of this particular convict, as an example of life after sentence and the method ofsocial integration for released convicts into Australian society.

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Individual Key Items: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Objects
Artefacts from archaeological dig at 14 The Terrace
Baptismal Font
CoraclesKeys
Padlocks
Reed Organs
Archives
Dietary Scale for Women’s Division (framed)
Site Plan (1897-1908)
Photographs
Christmas Festivities
Gatehouse
Gatehouse with Cart and Officers
Prison Officer and Officials
There are no artworks or oral histories from this era.

Statement of Significance: Colonial Era___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Whilst Fremantle Prison’s colonial history is perhaps the least represented in the Prison’s
Collection, those objects which the collection does retain from this era are highly significant,with some maintaining significance on a national level. These artefacts tend to have an
exceptional level of provenance, such as the baptismal font, which retains its memorial plaqueoutlining its construction by Fremantle prisoners, and their gift of the artefact to St. Andrew’s
church. Another example is the Prison site plan, which provides handwritten documentary
evidence of the development of the Prison site over time, and its relationship to changing
social ideas of punishment. This era also sees the first photographs enter the Fremantle
Prison Collection. Photography was still rare in colonial Western Australia at the turn of thetwentieth century, and even rarer are photographs of buildings considered to be unsavoury,
such as places of incarceration. This makes the two images of the Fremantle Gatehouse, andthe image of the Christmas celebrations inside the Main Cell Block, even more significant.
Other objects from this era in the collection retain national significance because of their socialand historic significance. The Women’s Division dietary scales for example, represents the first
introduction of women to this exclusively male site. It has high historic and social significanceas representing one of the most dynamic shifts in the Prison’s purpose; the impact ofFremantle Prison coming under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Government, and moving on
from being a convict prison to a state institution. The Reed organs also represent nationally
important objects, based on their social, historic and spiritual significance. Used to replace
existing instruments in both the Catholic and Anglican chapels, they speak to continual
religious obedience expected in the Prison, and the use of religious observance as a pathway
to reform. It also speaks to the shifting social ideas of reform, and what was required toachieve it.
The amount of objects from this era, whilst limited, still covers a range of subjects within the
Prison site. Some artefacts, like the coracles, talk of an important area in the Prison’s history
which is not covered elsewhere in the collection. Therefore, the size of this area of thecollection does not diminish its significance, but in fact adds to its importance, as rareexamples of a period in the Prison’s history which is underrepresented overall.

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Name: Artefacts from archaeological dig at 14 The Terrace
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 2011.2.1-182

2011.2.1

2011.2.47

Historical Notes
Planned building works on a new Fremantle Prison Visitors Centre at number 14 The Terrace
in 2010 meant an archaeological watching brief and excavation was conducted by Eureka
Archaeological Research and Consulting at this location from 1 December 2009 to 15 January
2010.
During the removal of the concrete ground floor from the building’s front room, a layer of yellow
sand was discovered, which was presumed to be the original levelling layer. This area wasonce the backyard of the original number 14 building, which included a toilet and a cellar which
was situated beneath a woodshed. The archaeological investigation that followed resulted in
the discovery of a backfilled cellar, with an arched brick ceiling, and a below-ground toilet. Bothof these features are marked on Fremantle Prison plans dating from 1855.
These archaeological excavations also discovered a substantial and diverse assemblage ofartefacts in the backfilled rooms. The quality of some of the artefacts recovered, including finetable wares and personal items, suggests that the majority of the backfill deposits derived fromdomestic rubbish, and not Prison refuse. Further research into the assemblage has thepotential to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the archaeology uncovered.
In contrast to previous excavations undertaken in the Prison’s parade ground and stables, theexcavation at number 14 provided a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Prison Warders
and their families. The discovery of children’s toys such as marbles, a porcelain doll’s head
and a cup and saucer from a doll’s tea set, clearly indicates that a family lived or at least
stayed at number 14 during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Other artefacts relate to arange of everyday activities associated with the Prison; such as keys and lightbulbs, withrespective implications of containment and surveillance.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Baptismal Font
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 2015.426

Historical Notes
For most of the Prison's operational life, work was available to prisoners. It was felt thatproviding them with work where they would gain technical skills would benefit them upon
release. Workshops were established on site as early as 1858 and additional workshops werebuilt in 1901-1902 as a result of the 1898-99 Royal Commission, which advocated more workfor prisoners. The revenue generated by providing services to outside organisations andprivate individuals aided the Prison. The most profitable industry was probably the Print Shop,
where much work was done for the Government. We know from a series of letters dated 1916
that prisoners were making furniture for the Education Department of WA.
Baptismal fonts serve as a receptacle for baptismal water in which the candidate for baptism isimmersed, or washed over, in this ceremony of Christian initiation. In 1892 the inmates ofFremantle Prison made this baptismal font, which they then donated to St Andrew’s Church,
located on St George’s Terrace in Perth. St Andrew’s was founded in 1879 and was the first
Presbyterian church in Western Australia. This baptismal font was made from limestone in an
octagonal shape, interpreted as representing the Eighth Day, the day of Christ's Resurrection,
into which candidates enter in baptism.
The font bears a copper plaque on its rim, which states, “This font is the workmanship ofinmates of Fremantle Prison and was presented by them to the congregation of St Andrew’s
Presbyterian Church, 1892.” The font stood in St Andrew’s church for 123 years, until its final
service on the 25th of October 2015, when the church, and two adjoining buildings, were soldto Gold Premium Hotels. When the church closed, the font was returned to Fremantle Prison.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Metallic vessels
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 2014.15.1-2

2014.15.1 (Before excavation)

Historical Notes
Below the foundations of Fremantle Prison is a natural aquifer, which was critical for the supplyof fresh water to the new colonial town of Fremantle. Inmates at Fremantle Prison were forced
to excavate through the natural limestone by hand, to create the more than one kilometre oftunnels required to access this resource.
Between 1852 and 1856 six wells, each about 20 metres deep, were sunk into the Prison
grounds, to tap into the porous limestone aquifer beneath the caprock. For more than 30 years
the water was raised by hand pumps operated by the convicts. The work was physicallydemanding, with at least one prisoner reported to have died whilst pumping water, and several
others sustaining serious injury as a result of this gruelling work.
The Prison’s water was first used outside the walls of the Establishment in 1874, to supply
ships at Fremantle’s newly constructed Long Jetty, through pipes laid along High Street. As
more and more ships began calling into Fremantle Harbour to take advantage of this service, abelow ground reservoir was excavated from the limestone of the Prison’s South Knoll, toprovide 200,000 litres of storage capacity. In 1882 the Colonial Secretary suggested that
Fremantle Council begin using water from the Prison, and soon the Prison’s water was also
supplying thousands of free settlers in Fremantle.
In 1888 the first beam balance pump operated by a steam engine was installed, and theprisoners were finally released from the back breaking work of manual pumping. The watertunnel complex under the Prison was completed in 1894, covering about 1,000 metres, ofwhich 750 metres are flooded to about half the height of the walls.
After the completion of the tunnels, a project was begun to sink three new wells, connecting
them with shafts, drives and tunnels underground, in the north east area of the Prison. Waterfrom this complex was pumped into a new storage facility at the Prison, the East Reservoir,
built in two stages in 1890 and 1897. Excavated out of solid rock, it took 8,000 days ofprisoner labour, more than 200,000 bricks and 740 barrels of cement to build.
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However, after all the effort and hard work, an analysis of the water in 1899 showed that risinglevels of organic salts in the water made it unsuitable for domestic use. By now new sources offresh water had been found, and by 1910 the Prison itself was connected to Fremantle’s
metropolitan water supply scheme. Its own natural water supplies were no longer the lifebloodof the town, and were now only used to irrigate the Prison’s gardens and lawns.
When the tunnels under Fremantle Prison where prepared for public tours in 2004, these twocoracles where discovered semi-submerged in silt. In the absence of written records, it ispresumed that these coracles were used during the construction of the tunnels in the 1880s, tocarry tools and supplies in the submerged parts of the tunnels. They have similarities in shapeand construction with traditional watercraft called ‘coracles’ and made of wood and animal
hide, used by fishermen in Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom. These examples are
made using an iron frame, lined with sheets of steel. Rivets are still visible but no otherconstruction details or marks were revealed by the conservation process.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2
International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Keys
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: Various

99.237.1

Historical Notes
Keys were a major part of prison life. Although keys were supposed to keep criminals in, they
were sometimes stolen from guards or replicated and were used during escapes. Such an
example happened at Fremantle Prison on the 29 of May 1867. Three convicts named William
Graham, Thomas Scott and George Morris made a daring escape when Graham used a
duplicate key to unlock his cell, though it is unknown how he came to have the key. As a fierce
storm swept over Fremantle, the rain muffled the sound of Graham’s footsteps as he freed his
two friends from their cells. The three men snuck out of the Main Cell Block and made their
way to the East Workshops. There they stripped leather drive belts from the workshop
machinery and used them to scale the perimeter wall. Their escape was not discovered until
muster the next morning. The trio quickly began undertaking criminal activities to support
themselves, and police and Aboriginal trackers caught up with them two days later. During anight time shoot out, George Morris was shot through the neck and killed. His companions
escaped by crossing the Causeway, continuing their crime spree through the southwest.
Finally, after a few weeks had passed, a group of four Police Officers and three Aboriginal
trackers discovered the fresh tracks of Graham and Scott east of Kojonup. The trackers soon
found Graham standing sentry outside an abandoned hut. Shots were fired on the hut, and in
the morning police found that both men, although wounded, had escaped again. William
Graham dragged himself twelve miles through the bush, bleeding from his right arm and foot,before giving himself up to a shepherd. Scott was captured a few days later near theBlackwood River. Once recaptured, both men were returned to the Convict Establishment.
Another escape using counterfeit, or stolen, keys occurred at Fremantle Prison on August 8,
1867. Shortly after the working gangs had been marched back into the Prison grounds for thenight, a door was unlocked and from it emerged eight men, apparently under the charge of aman in a Warder’s uniform. The party were even halted, to allow the ‘Warder’ to relock thedoor, as was required when passing through any door in the Prison. The party passed a sentry
on duty, who, seeing the Warder, allowed them to pass. They then proceeded through theworkshop gate, which meant they could no longer be seen. There the party raised two ladders
against the perimeter wall of the Prison and escaped. A Warder who lived nearby sighted theconvicts, however heavy rain and darkness prevented an immediate pursuit.

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Five of the escaped convicts were captured quite quickly, with another, a convict called
Wootton, attacking a police officer with an iron bar before being subdued. As a result, Wootton
was convicted of attempted murder, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on 8 October
1867.
The majority of the keys in the Fremantle Prison Collection where left on site when the Prison
closed in 1991. Most are unable to be accurately dated since very few carry any maker’s
marks, though it is believed they represent the whole of the Prison’s occupation.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

Low
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Padlocks
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: Various

1995.2.1

1995.75.4

Historical Notes
Locks have existed, in some form or another, for millennia. Forms of security have developed
as societies spread, and with these changes locks themselves have evolved. One of the most
revolutionary changes was the invention of the padlock. At the root of this device is its
portability; the idea that a lock can be added to something and then removed again. Padlocks
are a detachable lock that fastens and secures with the use of a ‘shackle’. The shackle can bea hinge or slide, with the assistance of a spring, but it is the fact that once open it can beremoved that makes a padlock superior.
Security at the Convict Establishment was originally controlled by Western Australia's first
Comptroller-General of Convicts, Edmund Henderson, who administered the Convict
Establishment for thirteen years. The primary responsibility of the Comptroller-General was todirect convict labour and control convict discipline. This included security measures, for boththose inside the Establishment, and those out on work parties. As part of this, the padlock wasan essential tool, as it could be implemented where needed, and used away from the Prison
site.
Some of the padlocks from the colonial era in the Fremantle Prison Collection can be
accurately dated due to their marker’s marks and serial numbers, since many locks had someform of identifying mark affixed to them during manufacturing. The majority of the padlocks in
the Fremantle Prison collection where left on site when the Prison closed in 1991.

Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria

High

Low

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Aesthetic SignificanceHistoric SignificanceSocial/ Spiritual SignificanceScience/Research
Rarity value
Condition
ProvenanceInterpretative Potential
International Significance x

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
National Significance 

3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance 

Name: Reed Organs
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Accession Number: 1995.115, 1995.116, 2016.1, 2016.2

2016.2

2016.1

1995.115

1995.116

Historical Notes
The Convict Establishment placed great emphasis on religious teaching and observance of
ritual. It was believed that rehabilitation or reform of a criminal was best handled by the church.
Therefore, convicts were required to attend a prayer service every morning, and church twice
on Sundays. Sunday church attendance remained compulsory for all inmates until 1931.
The Anglican Chapel was constructed as the centrepiece of the Prison. The large, open
building looked out across the Prison gates towards the town of Fremantle. Fully completed in
1858, the Anglican Chapel is the only room in the Main Cell Block without bars on thewindows. This was to create the impression of trust, to aid the prisoner’s path towards
redemption.

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After continuous agitation from Catholic prisoners and officers for their own chapel, a Catholic
Chapel was also opened at Fremantle Prison in 1862. Both Chapels had a church choir, andprisoners were rewarded for regular attendance at choir training.
Between the 1880s and the early 1900s, reed organs were mass produced in the UnitedStates and exported to other countries for use in homes, small churches and chapels. These
instruments generate sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal, known as the‘reed’, which sits within the frame. Reed organs proved very popular, as they offered acheaper, and more easily maintained, alternative to a piano.
In 1898, the Anglican Chapel Harmonium (also in the Fremantle Prison Collection), needed
replacing, and a reed organ was purchased. The Farrand and Votey reed organ in theCollection (2016.1), is likely to be that replacement instrument purchased. Records show that
initially a Crescent Organ was purchased from A. & E. Humphries of London, through theirlocal agent Shotter & Co. in Perth. However this instrument proved to be, “too weak in tone”,
and was quickly replaced with the Farrand and Votey Organ. Originally founded in 1881 as the
Detroit Organ Company of Michigan, the Farrand & Votey Organ Company was establishedunder the 'Farrand & Votey' name in 1887. The firm built pipe organs, reed organs and pianos,
overseen by Edwin Scott Votey, who purchased the Detroit Organ company in 1883. In 1901
the Farrand & Votey Company was sold to George S. Hutchings, a Boston organ builder, andthe firm's name changed to Hutchings-Votey.
The Estey pedal reed organ in the Fremantle Prison Collection (2016.2), was purchased in
1902, after the harmonium in the Prison’s Roman Catholic Chapel needed replacing. The
Prison’s Superintendent and the Roman Catholic Chaplain corresponded for a long time
regarding funds for a new instrument, and it was finally purchased from Shotter, Row and Co.
in Perth, for the sum of £35.
Two other reed organs are found in the Fremantle Prison Collection, a Wertheim Hapsburgorgan and the Wilcox and White. Both were found on site without attached documentation andtheir provenance is yet to be established. The Wertheim Hapsburg reed organ (1995.115), wasimported from an undisclosed manufacturer in New York, and was originally sold under thelabel 'Hapsburg Organ'. The Wertheim family was a famous piano and harmonium importing
family located in Melbourne at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The fourth reed organ in the Fremantle Prison Collection, the Wilcox and White pedal reedorgan (1995.116), has attached to its surface a circular copper medallion, with a crowned bustof Queen Victoria for her Centenary International Exhibition, shown in Melbourne in 1888. This
exhibition was held to celebrate a century of European settlement in Australia. Wilcox andWhite were an American manufacturing company of reed organs, who established themselvesin 1876 or 1877, in Meriden, Connecticut. White was the organ builder, whilst Wilcox was asilversmith. The company went bankrupt in 1921, and records regarding sales seem to havebeen lost or destroyed.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Dietary Scale for Women’s Division (framed)
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 78.35

Historical Notes
During the initial construction of the Convict Establishment there were no plans to include afemale division. This had to change however in 1886, when the site ceased to be for the
exclusive use of convicts, and was handed over to the Colonial Government. In 1887 it wasrecommended to the Colonial Secretary that all prisoners from Perth Gaol be transferred toFremantle Prison, including the women. The female prisoner population at this time wasrelatively small, with an average of between 12 to 16 individuals on any given day, most ofwhom were serving short-term sentences.
The first evidence of a Female Division at Fremantle Prison appears in a document from 1888,
which names the hospital building, in the north-east corner of the original convict site, as thelocation set aside for female prisoners. By 1889 the north-west corner of the site had been
walled off from the main Prison and converted into a specific Female Division, including
quarters for the matrons. In 1898 a new single storey eastern wing was added to the Female
Division, which included an extra 22 cells, day room, hospital, chapel, lying in room, bath andearth closet. Finally in 1909 an upper range of 24 cells was added to the southern half of theeast wing, and a new kitchen with lantern roof was added to the west of the original building.
The women’s cells were slightly larger than their male counterpart’s, and fitted with beds, nothammocks. The beds were constructed of timber, with mattresses made from teased coconut
fibre. Like the male prisoners, the women also had slop and water buckets in their cells.
Prior to 1892, the Matron was the only warder in the Female Division, and was on call 24hours a day. An Assistant Matron was appointed in 1892, and in 1896 two assistants were also
appointed, perhaps owing to the increase in female prisoner numbers. These female officers
were paid half of the male counterpart’s salaries. Some Matrons lived inside the Prison, whilst
others lived in cottages just outside the main entrance. Apart from a period between 1952 and
1966, the female prisoners prepared and cooked their own meals in their own kitchen facilities,
which was eventually equipped with a refrigerator and electric stoves. As with many aspects ofprison life, the amount and type of food consumed by the inmates was strictly regulated.
Dietary scales, such as this one, specified the amount of food individual prisoners received.
The scale was based upon the length of the prisoner’s sentence, their gender, ethnicity, andwhether or not they were employed in hard labour.

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The female prisoners were employed in two sectors of work during the first two decades after
the incorporation of the Female Division at Fremantle Prison. Women serving sentences undersix months were engaged in ‘light labour’, such as dusting, cleaning and oakum picking. These
prisoners received a ‘number one ration’. The second type of employment was for women withlonger sentences, who were engaged in ‘moderate labour’, which included gardening, making
and mending clothes, and washing laundry for the male prisoners and warders. These women
received ‘number two rations’, which allowed them to have two ounces more of bread, meatand vegetables than the number one ration. In addition to the food provided by this dietaryscale, a prisoner in 1911 could earn ‘marks’ in the Prison for good behaviour and use that topurchase privileges, such as eggs, fruit, tobacco and butter.
On 13 March 1970 the Female Division of Fremantle Prison was vacated, and all female
prisoners were relocated to the new Bandyup Rehabilitation Centre. This dietary scale is oneof only a few artefacts which has survived from the Female Division at Fremantle Prison.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Site Plan (1897-1908)
Category: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 2000.98

Historical Notes
Whilst the façade of Fremantle Prison has remained relatively unaltered since its construction,
the buildings within the site have changed over time. This plan is based on an original plan of
the site, created by an unknown prisoner in 1897. Sections of the site have been subsequently
added to the plan, to show all the buildings added to the site between 1897 and 1909. This
plan was possibly created in an attempt to update the Prison’s visual records, after the
sweeping architectural changes that followed the 1898 Royal Commission, and the 1903
Prisons Act. The accuracy of the original map meant that new buildings simply had to beremeasured and added to the plan where appropriate. The obvious handmade alterations tothis particular plan means it was likely a draft, or a first attempt by hand, to build upon the preexisting plan, from which a final, official version was then copied.
The Female Division was the first major amendment to the Prison site. The original Convict
Establishment did not provide an area for female prisoners, but when the site ceased to be forthe exclusive use of convicts, and was handed over to the Colonial Government in 1886,
provision needed to be made for their separate confinement within the site. As a result, in 1889
the north-west corner of Fremantle Prison, which had previously served as the kitchen,bakehouse and laundry, was walled off to become the Female Division. This newly named
facility included 16 cells, bathroom, lying in room, association room, two kitchens, Matron’squarters and a storeroom. The Female Division was then expanded in 1895, with an additional
22 cells, bathroom, a day room, hospital, chapel and lying in room added. This plan of the site
includes details of this extension to the Female Division, but does not show the addition of thesecond floor extension, which was undertaken in 1909. This helps to date this plan frombetween these two construction phases.
A Royal Commission into the prison system in 1899 recommended that more workshops beestablished at Fremantle Prison. As a result, five new workshops were built in the north-west
corner of the Prison site between 1900 and 1902, which would become known as the West
Workshops. They included a workshop for painters, mat makers, shoemakers, bookbinders,
tailors and printers. These new West Workshops are included on this plan.

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The 1899 Royal Commission also concluded that lengthy stays in prison were undesirable,
and were unlikely to deter people from offending again. They argued that a short, severe
prison sentence would likely have more effect, so as a result the Prison began to look back to
the theory of separate imprisonment. The concept of ‘divide and conquer’ provides a fitting
description of this penal philosophy, which characterised Fremantle Prison in the latenineteenth century. Emphasis was placed on the separation of prisoners into types, dependingon their crime and sentence, with the hope that this division would stop criminality spreadingfrom habitual offenders to first-timers. Prisoners now served the first three months of theirsentence in the equivalent of solitary confinement, after which they were categorised by thekind of work they could do, and the length of sentence they were serving. However, thearchitecture of Fremantle Prison at this time did not lend itself to such a system of separation.
The Main Cell Block was completely open from end to end, meaning there was no obvious
way to keep different categories of prisoners apart. Therefore, in 1902 it was decided that a
new building on the site was essential to implement these aims. Prison labour quarried
limestone from Rottnest Island for its construction. This new building included larger cells,
though no improvement in sanitation. This building was called ‘New Division’, and is included
on this plan.
To further this new philosophy of control through separation, behind the Main Cell Block a
circle of ‘radiating yards’ was constructed, with an observation post for a Prison Officer at thecentre. Known as ‘the cage’, these radiating yards have been included on this site plan, before
they were abandoned in 1912, and later demolished. Although the theory of separation was
not applied in its full rigour for long, the new building finally enabled administrators to keep
different classes of prisoners apart whenever deemed necessary.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Christmas Festivities PhotographCategory: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 2000.144

Historical Notes
Christmas was always celebrated in some form at Fremantle Prison. From its earliest days,
convicts were given additional rations such as tobacco, in honour of the occasion, and in 1907
authorisation was given to serve Christmas pudding on Christmas Day. In 1915,
Superintendent Hann ordered his staff to issue ham, eggs and cigarettes to the prisoners andhang up Christmas decorations in the Main Cell Block. Prisoners were also served their
Christmas meal on plates, rather than the usual eating times, and allowed knives and forks.
This meal set-up was such a success that from this point onwards, plates, knives and forks
became standard for all mealtimes in the Prison.
This image is of the interior of the Main Cell Block in 1916, set up for Christmas under thesupervision of Superintendent Hann. The space has been decorated with bunting andgreenery, including decorated dining tables for prisoners to have their Christmas meal. On thisoccasion, the Salvation Army band from Midland Junction gave a performance for theprisoners, and the prisoners themselves performed a variety show.
The Christmas Concert soon became a regular occurrence during the festivities, and reference
to a 1922 concert in Fremantle Prison was made in the Sunday Times newspaper in 1923. The
following four lines of verse were apparently printed in the program, “For judges may sit in theirjudgements, and juries can always condemn; but our lives are not yet past redemption, so
brace up, and let us be men.” In 1925, the annual Christmas concert was given over twonights, one for the inmates and another for invited guests, including friends and family fromoutside the Prison.
During the 1960s Christmas was also celebrated with special film viewings and a series oftournaments, including tennis, volleyball, bridge, and other card or board games. The prizes
awarded to the tournament winners included extra food and tobacco. The last Christmas
season celebrated in Fremantle Prison was in 1990, before the site’s closure the following
year. On this occasion the Christmas party for the prisoners and their families was held on
December 11 and 12, in the Assessment Centre, which had formerly housed the Female
Division.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Gatehouse PhotographCategory: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 2001.1

Historical Notes
The Gatehouse at Fremantle Prison is an imposing structure, unique amongst Australianprisons, and which altered little over the Prison’s occupation. Extending outwards from thehigh perimeter walls, the Gatehouse has two five-sided towers joined by a classical pediment,
in which is set a large, black face clock with gilt Roman figures. In 1854 and 1855 convict
labourers quarried limestone on site in order to build the Gatehouse and quarters (today
numbers 12 and 14 The Terrace), the entry court and military and civil guardhouses, completewith a recess flanking an inner gate. The complex was designed by Comptroller-General
Edmund Henderson of the Royal Engineers.
The Surveyor General of Prisons, Sir Joshua Jebb, also advised that suitable residences for
the Prison’s Governor and chaplain be built. As a result, Comptroller-General Henderson
designed a row of imposing houses, running outwards from the Gatehouse, along theperimeter wall. On the north side of the gatehouse, number 12 The Terrace was thegatekeeper’s accommodation, consisting of a waiting room, sitting room and kitchen on the
ground floor, with an upper floor containing two bedrooms. In 1950 this building was converted
into an officer training school, before being used as the Prison’s armoury from 1968 to 1980.
Next door, number 10 The Terrace was originally built for the Chaplain, and was the firsthouse built on the site. However, the house was appropriated by the Comptroller-General andthe Royal Engineers as offices.
On the south side of the Gatehouse, number 14 The Terrace was assigned to the Deputy
Superintendent. In 1968, this building was converted into the Prison Officer’s dining room andOfficers’ duty room. Meanwhile number 16 The Terrace was originally the Superintendent’s
residence, but by 1878 the Resident Magistrate was being housed there. In 1979 this building
was transformed into the first Fremantle Prison Museum.
Two guard rooms were also constructed on either side of the inner Gatehouse in 1854.
Originally the soldiers of the Royal Engineers manned the guard house on the north side of theGatehouse, while prison officers manned the one on the southern side. From the inside of theguard houses rifles could be rested in the slots, known as defensive embrasures, and fired at
any one seen as a threat to the security of the Prison.
This image of the gatehouse was taken in 1895.
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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Gatehouse with Cart and Officers PhotographCategory: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 99.731

Historical Notes
Prior to the decommissioning of the Prison in 1991, the imposing limestone Gatehouse was
the extent of most people’s association with Fremantle Prison. Unique amongst Australianprisons, the Gatehouse altered little over the Prison’s occupation. Extending outwards from thehigh perimeter walls, the Gatehouse has two five-sided towers joined by a classical pediment,
in which is set a large, black face clock with gilt Roman figures. In 1854 and 1855 convict
labourers quarried limestone on site in order to build the Gatehouse and quarters (today
numbers 12 and 14 The Terrace), the entry court and military and civil guardhouses, completewith a recess flanking an inner gate. The complex was designed by Comptroller-General
Edmund Henderson of the Royal Engineers.
The Gatehouse clock was made in London by Thwaite and Reid in 1854, and was installed in
the Gatehouse two years later. It required regular servicing and winding, and throughout muchof the Prison’s history was notoriously unreliable. It is said that for the first 60 years after its
installation, it never worked properly. The first man to successfully keep the clock to time wasprisoner Ernest ‘Shiner’ Ryan. Ryan not only mastered the clock, but upon his release left
written instructions on how to keep it working.
This clock overlooks a courtyard bounded by a smaller, inner gateway, with impressive irongates, inscribed with the names H Wray RE, J Manning and Joseph Nelson. Wray apparently
designed the gate, whilst Manning was Clerk of Works and supervised its construction.
Nelson, a soldier with the Royal Sappers and Miners, was the blacksmith who wrought themetal. These gates, today known as the Wray Gates, were made principally from the ironstripped from convict ships.
In line with the recommendations made by Surveyor General of Prisons Sir Joshua Jebb, thatsuitable residences for the Governor and Chaplain be built, Comptroller-General Edmund
Henderson designed a row of imposing houses running outwards from the Gatehouse, along
the Prison’s perimeter wall. Residences were constructed for the Superintendent, Chaplain,
Deputy Superintendent and the Surgeon. As the regulations governing the Prison, and theState Public Service, altered over time, the officials who lived in these houses also varied.

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It is believed this photograph was taken in circa 1900. A horse and cart was a common form oftransport for the Prison’s surgeon and chaplain, as well as visitors and deliveries to the Prison,
up until the 1920s.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Prison Officer and Officials photographCategory: Colonial Era (1886-1901)
Accession Number: 00.182.1

Historical Notes
During the convict era there were a number of job titles which applied to those who oversaw
the Prison, including Warder, Instructing Warder, Convict Officer and Discipline Officer.
Instructing Warders directed the work to be done by convicts, whilst Discipline Warders were
tasked with ensuring works were carried out, and to oversee prisoner behaviour. Following theconvict era, Prison Warders continued to be employed at Fremantle Prison, though their job
descriptions were not formalised until the Prisons Act of 1903.
Some Warders at Fremantle were experienced men, previously employed in English Prisons,
who had accepted free passage for themselves and their family to Australia, whilst others werecolonial born. Not all Warders were trained or literate, with the ability to read and write not arequirement for employment. This changed when it became necessary for Warders to record
the amount of labour performed by prisoners, and their behaviour. Following the Pennefather
Royal Commission in 1911, it was recommended that Warders be employed only after passing
an exam. The exam included assessment of handwriting, spelling, and arithmetic. Once hired,
all new Warders were on probation for six months, and were liable to be removed or dismissed
without reason at the discretion of the Comptroller-General. On resigning from the service, anofficer was normally required to serve out one month’s notice or pay one month’s salary in-lieu.
Warders were not well paid. During the 1860s, Assistant Night Warders, who were one of thelowest ranked Warders on site, earned about £30 a year. Meanwhile a Chief Warder in 1865
began on a salary of £112 per annum, with annual increases of £20, while Principal Warders
ranged from £62 to £130. For these wages Warders worked long days, rarely less than ten
hours at a time. In 1905 it was reported that Prison Warders were working 12 hours per day.
Although the government denied this, some Parliamentarians did take up the Prison Warders
cause, and on August 1, 1905 it was recorded in the Legislative Assembly that, “In the opinionof this house the time has arrived when the hours of the Warders employed in Fremantle Gaolbe reduced to 8 (hours) per day.” This is the first recorded instance of a mandated eight hour
work day in Western Australia.

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Warders were also responsible for undertaking some unpleasant tasks, such as conducting
flogging. The position of flagellator was so unpopular that incentives of extra pay, up to ten
shillings a flogging, or better quarters in the gatehouse, were offered to men who would accept
the role.
The title of Prison Warder was changed to Prison Officer in the mid-twentieth century.
This picture is believed to have been taken between 1890 and 1910. A modern frame for thisimage has been labeled, “To the School, from 5th Class, Probationary Officers”. The names of
those individuals in this photograph are unknown.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Individual Key items: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Objects
Scales4 Division Sign
Piano
Punishment Whips and Birches
Rifles and Guns
Archives
1921 Tunnel Plan
1922 Plan of Sewerage System
Entertainment Programmes
The Newsletter (bound volumes)
Pardelup Prison Farm Booklet
PEJ Sketchbook
Penological Reform Booklet
Artworks
Shiner Ryan Artworks
PhotosMatrons in Garden
Vegetable Gardens
There are no oral histories from this era.

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Statement of Significance: Early 20th Century
Artefacts from the early twentieth century in the Fremantle Prison Collection represent
society’s changing attitudes to prison systems and reform, as the world moved further into thetwentieth century. As a result, the artefacts from this period have high levels of significance,
many with importance on a national level.
This era of the collection sees a marked increase in the number of significant archives. The
tunnel and sewerage system plans for example, have strong historic significance andprovenance as documents which show the efforts made to adapt the convict site, to improve
sanitation in the colony and increase the Prison’s productivity. These documents also have awider social significance, impacting the surrounding community through the supply of fresh
water to the town of Fremantle.
In contrast, the more personal archives from this period which speak of life within the prison,
are just as socially significant. The entertainment programmes, and publications of the Prison
periodical The Newsletter, demonstrate the social interactions occurring within the Prison.
They demonstrate a high level of social and historical significance, representing, not only the
aspects of the prisoners’ lives, but also the wider social implications of the Prison systemmoving away from a repressive system. While recreational activities and social interaction had
been very limited in the past as a form of punishment, in the 20th century they wereincreasingly used as an element of reform.
The Pardelup farm booklet holds particular significance as evidence of the shift in penal
philosophies within the establishment but also as a reflection of a wider social shift towards
reform. As ideologies moved towards rehabilitation, and away from punishment, this prison
farm was created to better prepare the inmates to reintegrate the community. By laying out thereasoning and rules of such a place, this archive is an excellent example of this shift in prison
systems, and as such is nationally important due to its high social and historic significance.
The early twentieth century collection also contains some artefacts high in research potential
and rarity. The PEJ sketchbook is one such artefact, which, as part of the Fremantle Prison
Collection, is an artefact from the underrepresented Female Division. The sketchbook contains
personal annotations of life inside the women’s prison by a female inmate, both through poetry
and art, which is in stark contrast to media reports of the time. This makes this artefact veryrare in its candid first hand observations of an overall underrepresented facet of Prison life,and high in research and social significance.

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Name: Scales
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1978.1, 1978.2a-v

1978.1

Historical Notes
As each prisoner’s diet was strictly allotted, weights and scales were used daily at Fremantle
Prison to help the cooks ration out a man’s portion for each meal.
This type of scale is often referred to as equal-arm or beam scales. It is a simplistic design
which uses a balanced 'beam' or 'arm', so that equal lengths protrude horizontally off thecentre, with the weighing pans hanging off the ends of the beam on cords, chains or rods. The
unknown quantity to be weighed is placed in one of the pans and in the other pan are placed
weights of a known quantity. When the beam becomes exactly horizontal the correct weight
has been calculated.
The health and wellbeing of the prisoners was the responsibility of the Prison’s Surgeon. To
assist with keeping the inmates fit and well, and to avoid any outbreaks of disease, theSurgeon was also responsible for designing a specially formulated diet. During the earlytwentieth century the diet for male prisoners’ varied day-to-day, but the typical menu consistedof oatmeal porridge and a cup of tea for breakfast, a sandwich, vegetable soup and a cup oftea for lunch, and tea and bread for supper.
A job in the Prison’s kitchen was a highly sought after position by most prisoners. To acquire
such a position inmates had to be recommended by a Warder, then interviewed by the
instructor. Work began at 5am, and for most prisoners lasted until 4pm. The kitchen staff
prepared up to 500 meals at a time. There were never any communal dining facilities at
Fremantle Prison, and meals were placed on trolleys and taken to the various Divisions where
prisoners lined up, collected what was on offer and retired to eat either in their cells or out inthe exercise yards.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2
Interpretative Potential
1
2
International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: 4 Division Sign
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1988.17

Historical Notes
When first constructed, the Main Cell Block at Fremantle Prison was one long, open space,based on the idea that all inmates were convicts together. However once the Prison was
handed over to the Colonial Government a range of prisoners, from those on remand,
juveniles, and lifers, were incarcerated in the same place. After the Royal Commission in 1899
it was decided to erect large partitions within the Main Cell Block of Fremantle Prison to
separate the cells into four areas so that prisoners would be segregated dependent on theirsentence. Access to the yards was adapted consequently; in 1912 it was noted that an
opening was to be cut in the wall of 4 Division to allow access to the exercise yard.
In all likelihood the sign was painted in the Prison Painters’ Shop by prisoners. Sign writing
was taught at Fremantle Prison for an extended period of time; it was a form of revenue for theprison system as well as a useful trade for prisoners to learn. Signs were painted for use within
Fremantle Prison and were also commissioned by individuals and private companies. In 1900
the Painters’ Shop was established in the new West Workshops where they remained at least
until 1968.
At the time of the Convict Establishment, on the northern end of what would eventually beknown as 4 Division, were Association Wards. These areas were designed to accommodate
convicts who were getting ready for release into the community. Under the separate system,
prisoners spent most of their time segregated in single cells. By living in the Association Wards
convicts where able to experience the complexities of communal living before being released.
In 1862 the first level Association Ward in 4 Division was converted into a Catholic Chapel.
Then in 1925 the ground floor Association Ward, beneath the chapel, was converted into a
concert hall.
Over the years of Fremantle Prison’s operation, 4 Division has had many occupants. In theearly part of the twentieth century, the Medical Officer had his surgery and a dispensary on the
ground floor. Part of the Division was also converted to serve as a reformatory during the1920s. In the 1950s and 1960s it was used for those serving indeterminate sentences and was
known as the ‘Doctors Key’ or ‘Governor’s Pleasure’ Division. During the 1970s a radio room
was established in cells on the upper floor, which received public broadcast programs anddistributed them throughout the Prison. By the 1980s it housed those serving long term
sentences, particularly those incarcerated for murder.

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Before 1989 the stairs in 4 Division only went to the first floor, so eventually stairs were
installed so that prisoners could access the rear of the Catholic Chapel without having to go
into 3 Division to use the stairs.
The earliest datable graffiti in the Prison is located on the second floor of 4 Division, in the cell
occupied by convict James Walsh. Convicted of forgery in 1852 and sentenced to 15 years
transportation, Walsh was granted his first Ticket-of-Leave in 1856, before receiving his
conditional pardon in 1859. However, he was reconvicted in 1859 for forging a one-poundnote, and it is believed that it was during this sentence in the Convict Establishment that hecompleted the artwork in his cell. Prisoners were not permitted to draw on the walls of theircell, but it is believed Walsh took the buttons from his uniform, which were made from lead,and used them for drawing. To avoid detection, Walsh covered his work using a white wash,
which was used throughout the Establishment as a disinfectant to control insect infestations.
Walsh’s drawings weren’t discovered until 1964, when a cleaner accidentally knocked into thewall of the cell, which was being used as a storeroom at the time, and some of the white wash
fell away. Today, Walsh is recognized as a significant Western Australian colonial artist for hislandscape paintings of the early colony in the 1860s.
One of 4 Division’s most notorious occupants was Joseph Bolitho Johns. Also known as‘Moondyne Joe’, he arrived in Fremantle as a convict in 1853, where he was immediately
granted his Ticket-of-Leave. However in 1861 he was charged with escaping legal custody,
and was returned to the Convict Establishment for three years. Granted another Ticket-ofLeave during 1861, by 1865 he was again arrested, this time receiving a ten year sentence forstealing and killing an ox. Later the same year he escaped from a work party, but wasrecaptured and given an extra 12 months to serve. In 1866 he managed to break free once
again and was at large for about a month before being recaptured, this time with another five
years added to his sentence. By now Moondyne Joe’s ability to escape meant a speciallyreinforced cell was constructed in 4 Division in an effort to prevent him escaping. This cellremains intact today. Governor John Hampton told Moondyne Joe that, “If you get out again,
I’ll forgive you.” To provide him with some fresh air and exercise, in 1867 Joe was put to workon a rock pile near the front wall of the Prison. The broken rocks were meant to be cleared
every day, but his guards’ neglected procedure. Once the rock pile grew large enough toshield him from view, Joe cut a hole through the west wall of the Prison and escaped. He wasat large for almost two years before being recaptured in 1869. When he was returned, Joereminded Governor Hampton of his agreement and was eventually granted his Ticket-of-Leavein 1871.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Piano
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 2014.23

Historical Notes
This Beale piano was acquired by Fremantle Prison in 1923 to use during music concerts.
Previously whenever a piano was required, one had to be brought into the Prison on loan.
When the Prison closed in 1991, the piano was still on the stage of the Crown Theatre, having
served for 68 years of entertainment by, and for, Fremantle’s prisoners.
The arrival of the piano was much anticipated. From the 1910s many individuals and groups
were volunteering their time to offer live entertainment for the inmates, and by 1921 the lack ofa piano at the Prison had been identified. Funds to purchase an instrument was raised atvarious events, including the annual Boxing Day Concert held at the Prison. The piano was
finally acquired in 1923, with Superintendent Badger proudly announcing the purchase at thatyear’s concert, also adding that funds raised on that night would be used to, “materially lighten
the debt thus incurred”.
During the convict era, the northern end of what would eventually be known as 4 Division wasused as Association Wards. The wards were designed to accommodate convicts who were
getting ready for release into the community. Under the separate system, prisoners spent mostof their time segregated in single cells, so living in these Wards allowed them to experience
the complexities of communal living before being released. In 1862 the first floor Association
Ward in 4 Division was converted into a Catholic Chapel, and in 1925 the ground floor Ward
underneath was converted into a concert hall. The new hall was named the Crown Theater,
and was used for all of the Prison’s concert performances and later to show feature films. The
concerts were performed on Sunday afternoons, and were organised by the Prison Gate
Committee. Women were able to attend from 1925, when an upper balcony was erected in the
Theatre.
This piano is a typical example of the pianos produced by Beale in the 1920s. Beale pianos
were manufactured in Annandale, Sydney, from 1893 to 1961. The founder of the firm,
Octavius Beale, founded the company originally for sewing machines, before moving into theimportation of pianos and reed organs in 1879. He also later succeeded in manufacturing an
Australian made piano, more suited to the changeable Australian climate. Beale pianos proved
popular, with almost 100,000 pianos manufactured by the company throughout its history.
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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Punishment Whips and Birches
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1978.156, 1978.41-42, 99.186, 1999.188-191

1978.156

1978.41

Historical Notes
From the early days of the Convict Establishment, it was not uncommon for prisoners to besentenced to receive lashes for breaches of discipline. The most serious offence being
escaping, or attempting to escape, from legal custody. A prisoner being flogged was secured
to the flogging triangle, their legs tied to the base and their hands to the top. Their back was
stripped bare and protective leather belts were buckled around their waist to protect theirkidneys, and around their neck.
Depending on their crime, a prisoner could receive up to 100 lashes. Once strapped to theflogging post, the prisoner received punishment in the form of flogging or birching. Flogging
was undertaken with the cat of nine tails, a whip with nine knotted strands or cords. Birchingused a bundle of long birch twigs bound together by a cord. After the lashes wereadministered, salt or brine would then be applied to the wounds to cleanse them and help
them heal.
The flagellator was often a Prison Warder, sometimes specially appointed, who, for an agreed
fee, was required to administer corporal punishment when necessary. Floggings were usually
carried out with between six and ten prison officers present, together with those prisoners forwhom it was thought witnessing the punishment would provide a warning and set an example.
A medical officer was always in attendance, and they had the authority to stop the punishment
if deemed medically necessary.
However, if the punishment was stopped for medical reasons the sentence was notdischarged, but rather resumed again once the prisoner had sufficiently recovered.
By 1940, regulations regarding the use of flogging at Fremantle Prison stated that, “thenumber of strokes must not exceed twenty five, and in the case of an offender under the ageof eighteen must not exceed twelve, and the instrument must be either a birch rod cane, or the
instrument commonly called a cat, which shall be made of leather or cord without any metallic
substance woven therewith; provided that the cat shall not be used in the case of an offenderunder eighteen years of age.”___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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The last occurrence of a flogging being carried out as a prescribed punishment in Western
Australia was administered at Fremantle Prison on 21 June 1943, at 9am. In this instance a
prisoner, sentenced to receive 25 lashes of the cat, received 17 before the medical officer
intervened. The last birching to be carried out at Fremantle Prison was administered on 20
August 1962, when a prisoner received 12 stokes. Corporal punishment and hard labour were
not officially abolished in Western Australia until the Criminal Law Amendment Act (No. 2)
1992, which came into effect from 6 January 1993.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Rifles and Guns
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1983.6, 2000.179, 2000.184

2000.179

2000.184

1983.6

Historical Notes
During the twentieth century Fremantle Prison had an armoury, with a dedicated armourer who
was responsible for all firearms. The armourer trained Prison Warders in the correct and safeuse of firearms, and supervised their practice sessions. Such instruction was carried out in anarea known as the Rifle Range, located at the rear of the West Workshops.
In the relatively open precinct of the original Convict Establishment, Comptroller-General
Henderson placed gun towers on the highest points of the perimeter walls, including Church
Hill on the south knoll, and adjacent to the present day reservoir to the east of the site. These
towers have since disappeared, but exactly when or why this happened is not known. It
appears that during this period, apart from these two early watch towers, most of the guarding
was done at ground level, with sentries posted at various locations within the Establishment
near the perimeter walls. By 1926 reports show that there were now four gun towers on thesite; one on the northern wall of the Women’s Prison near the northern end of the West
Workshops, a second in the north-east corner of the site near the Prison Hospital, a third on
the south wall in the south-east corner, and a fourth was completed in 1926 with a sentry walkon the walls over the prisoner reception rooms.
In the 1950s patrols were conducted at ground level, and the gun towers were not manned atnight. However, by the 1960s the gun towers were manned both day and night, with only theeast bank and Prison Hospital area patrolled at ground level. At this stage, although the gun
towers were manned at night, they were not lit. This was to prevent the prisoners seeing theofficers inside and also to stop the interior being reflected back in the glass and obscuring theofficers’ view. By the 1970s a fifth gun tower was installed on the north wall in the north-west
corner. After the Fremantle Prison riot in 1988, a sixth gun tower was also added on the northwall of the East Workshops.
The Officer who patrolled the east bank overlooking the exercise yards was issued with arevolver plus 12 rounds of ammunition after lockup every afternoon. The gun and ammunition
where then returned to the armoury in the morning before the cells were unlocked. Apart fromthe guards in the gun towers, this was the only officer on site issued with a firearm. During his
patrol he checked security at places such as the Prison Hospital and kept an eye on the rear of
the Main Cell Block.

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Prison issued rifles had a magazine of five bullets, with a spare magazine also issued tocarrying officers. Gun posts also contained a box with a glass face, holding bullets for use inany emergency. The glass in the box could be broken in order to obtain the ammunition
contained inside. Depending on the firearm, bullets could cost anywhere from 10 to 40 centseach. Officers were accountable for the bullets they were issued with, so they would bechecked at the beginning and end of each shift.
Fremantle Prison guards were only authorized to discharge their firearms in the event of an
escape attempt. Guards could only fire on escapees after first blowing their whistle as awarning and once a prisoner was physically on top of the perimeter walls, even then the guard
was only authorized to shoot to injure, not to kill. Whilst escape attempts from Fremantle
Prison usually resulted in the escapees being recaptured fairly quickly, some instances did
result in guards discharging their firearms, occasionally with tragic consequences.
In 1967 the number three gun post officer noticed a prisoner on the roof of the East
Workshops. Following correct procedure, the officer first blew his whistle to alert the prisoner
that he had been seen, and to communicate to other officers that an escape attempt was inprogress. When the prisoner failed to respond appropriately the officer then proceeded to fire awarning shot in the prisoner’s direction. At this point the prisoner fell off the roof onto theground where he remained still. When officers went to check on his condition, they found him
unconscious and assumed he had experienced a heart attack from the shock of the incident.
He was taken to the Prison’s Hospital where he later died. His body was then taken to theFremantle Hospital where an autopsy discovered that he had been killed from a gunshot
wound. It was then discovered that the warning shot fired by the officer had unintentionallyricocheted, hitting the prisoner and fatally wounding him. Although the officer who fired thewarning shot was found to have followed the correct procedure at all times, the incident led toill feelings between him and some of the inmates, who used the situation to taunt him.
Eventually the officer in question resigned from his position at the Prison.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: 1921 Tunnel Plan
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 78.131

Historical Notes
During the time of the Convict Establishment the critical need for fresh water in the colony
meant the inmates were required to excavate a series of tunnels, to a length of more than one
kilometre, to connect to the natural aquifer underneath Fremantle Prison. It was backbreaking
work but the tunnels were critical for the supply of fresh water for the Swan River Colony.
Between 1852 and 1856 six wells, roughly 20 metres deep, were sunk in the Establishment’s
grounds to tap into the porous limestone aquifer beneath the caprock. For more than 30 years
the water was raised by hand pumps operated by the convicts, and at least one prisoner was
reported to have died whilst pumping water, with several others sustaining serious injury as aresult of this grueling work.
Water extracted from underneath the Convict Establishment was first used outside the walls in
1874, to supply ships at Fremantle’s newly constructed Long Jetty, through pipes laid along
High Street. As more and more ships began docking at the port, more water was required anda below ground reservoir was excavated from the limestone of the site’s south knoll, to provide
nearly 200,000 litres of storage capacity. In 1882 the Colonial Secretary suggested that
Fremantle Council begin using water from the Prison for the colony, and soon the Prison was
supplying thousands of people with clear, fresh water.
In 1888 the first beam balance pump operated by a steam engine was installed, and theprisoners were finally released from the back breaking work of manual pumping. The tunnel
complex itself was completed in 1894. In total the tunnels cover roughly 1,000 metres, ofwhich 750 metres are flooded to about half the height of the walls. After the completion of thetunnels, a project was begun to sink three new wells, connecting them with shafts, drives andtunnels underground in the north-east of the Prison. Water from this complex was pumped into
a new storage facility in the East Reservoir, built in two stages in 1890 and 1897. Excavatedout of solid rock, it took 8,000 days of prisoner labour, more than 200,000 bricks and 740
barrels of cement to build. After all the effort and hard work completed by the prisoners, in1899 analysis of the water showed that rising levels of organic salts in the water system madeit unsuitable for domestic use.

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By 1910 new sources of fresh water had been found, and the Prison was connected toFremantle’s metropolitan water supply scheme and its own water supplies ceased to be thelifeblood of the town. From then on the water reservoir at Fremantle Prison was only used toirrigate the Prison’s own gardens and lawns.
This map is a blueprint of the tunnels, drives and shafts at the Fremantle Prison Pumping
Station. Drawn to a scale of 50 feet to 1 inch, it has been printed on linen. It is signed by J W
Lawson, Engineer for Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage, and A Hopkins, Acting Chief
Draftsman, and is dated 5 August 1921.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: 1922 Plan of Sewerage System
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1978.125

Historical Notes
The hygiene and sanitation standards at Fremantle Prison underwent little modification
throughout the site’s history. Upon the initial completion of the Establishment in 1859, the Main
Cell Block incorporated a series of small single cells, each featuring a wash basin with runningwater. These amenities were considered a rare luxury at the time and were reportedly enviedby the free settlers of Fremantle. Despite the initial intention to provide prisoners with highsanitation standards, the wash basins proved to be an expensive failure, due to their constantneed of attention, the overflow of water from tap leaks and the pungent smell of waste. It wasunder the recommendation of the Establishment’s Surgeon that the wash basins were
eventually removed from the cells.
With the removal of the wash basins, prisoners were instead provided with two separate
buckets; one for clean water and one to use as a toilet. The toilet buckets, or ‘slop buckets’ as
they were also known, would become a prominent feature within the lives of most prisoners,
representing what they considered to be the dehumanizing conditions of the prison system.
The emptying of these buckets was incorporated into a daily routine that rarely changed during
the course of the Prison’s occupancy. Every morning the prisoners would be released fromtheir cells, and would be instructed to ‘file off’ to their Division’s yard, wherein they would
empty their toilet buckets into septic traps before leaving the buckets on marked white lines tobe disinfected by an appointed prisoner. The disinfection of the buckets was only introduced in
the mid-twentieth century.
In 1853 four water closets were installed in the Main Cell Block, and in 1855 a further eight
were installed, with more to be added to the exercise yards. Two tunnels formed the main
drains of the Prison, and carried the sewerage from the various parts of the site. The toilets
were flushed twice a day using the water from the baths, washing sheds and cells, and themanure, in a highly diluted state, would be applied to the Prison gardens. This systemremained in place until 1922, when the first dedicated sewerage lines were installed. This planis the first recording of those dedicated sewerage lines. It is printed on linen, and is titled,'Sewerage Plan Fremantle Goal, Amended Plan, Scale 30ft to one inch, 1922’.

Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria

High

Low

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Aesthetic SignificanceHistoric SignificanceSocial/ Spiritual SignificanceScience/Research
Rarity value
Condition
ProvenanceInterpretative Potential
International Significance x

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
National Significance 

3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Entertainment Programs
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1993.199-200, 1999.310, 2001.464, 2016.5

1993.199

2001.464

1999.310

2016.5

Historical Notes
At the northern and southern ends of the Main Cell Block, during the convict era, were
Association Wards. Each Ward consisted of two floors, and were designed to accommodate
convicts who were getting ready for release into the community. Under the separate system,
prisoners spent most of their time segregated in single cells, so living in these Wards allowed
convicts to experience the complexities of communal living before being released. In 1925 theground floor of the northern Association Ward was converted into a concert hall, complete withstage, known as the Crown Theatre. Between the 1920s and the closure of Fremantle Prison
in 1991, concerts and variety shows where held here to entertain the prisoners, some of whichwere written, produced and performed by prisoners themselves. Others involved productions
presented by various outside individuals, groups and organisations. Johnny O’Keefe andHelen Reddy were two of the more famous entertainers to perform in the Crown Theatre.

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In 1923 a piano was purchased with the help of the Prison Gate Committee. The piano
remained in the Crown Theatre until the Prison’s closure in 1991. In 1925 an upper balcony
was erected at the rear of the Theatre so women from the Female Division could watch theentertainment, but still be segregated from the male inmates. In 1927 a fire proof enclosure forthe projectionist was constructed, implying that films were being shown more frequently.
After World War II, a greater diversity of activities took place in this area. By 1948 a newcinematograph machine was installed, and concerts and films became regular monthly
occurrences. They were provided from a fund paid into by the prisoners themselves, assistedby the Prisoners’ Aid Society. It was not until 1967 that films were provided by the Western
Australian Prisons Department. By the 1960’s, a projection box was installed and the Prison
began to regularly show films, once a week on a Saturday or Sunday.
After the 1988 riot at Fremantle Prison, all performances were stopped and the Crown Theatre
was rarely used. Inmates could now purchase their own televisions for their cells, and mostfound entertainment through television programs.
The entertainment programs in the Fremantle Prison Collection were printed for a variety of
performances and concerts which were held in the Crown Theatre. They date from the 1920s,
1930s and 1940s, and all were produced in the Prison’s Print Shop.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: The Newsletter (bound volumes)
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1993.17.1-5

1993.17.1

Historical Notes
Stemming from the Victorian attitude that honest labour could reform the criminal mind, convict
run workshops were in operation at the Convict Establishment from the 1850s. Printing was
one such industry, and would continue at the site throughout its history. In operation before theEstablishment was even completed, the Print Shop began using two printing presses from1854.
Between 1858 and 1870 the Print Shop became the official Government Printer for Western
Australia. When this association was renewed 80 years later in 1950, Fremantle Prison’s Print
Shop soon became the most profitable of all the Prison’s industries. Here prisoners printed
stationery for government departments, including lined note pads for use in state schools,
record cards for the police, as well as in-house newsletters and publications. The first Prison
publication to be distributed amongst prisoners at Fremantle Prison was The Newsletter.
Authorized by the Comptroller-General for distribution to, “well-conducted persons under
detention in the gaols of Western Australia”, the first issue was printed in January 1924, andwas edited by the Prison’s Anglican Chaplain. These weekly issues were printed and bound in
the Prison’s Print Shop. The Newsletter was usually four pages long and of a simple style,similar to public newspapers of the day. It contained news items, though there were few stories
relating to Fremantle or even Western Australia, with the majority of stories being about eventsin Great Britain or Europe. For the most part The Newsletter used a dry tone for its reportage,often patriotic, but not overly personal or informal. Occasionally jokes, crosswords or othergames would be included, as well as local football fixtures. Publication of The Newsletter
continued throughout the 1930s and early 1940s.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Pardelup Prison Farm Booklet
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1993.10

Historical Notes
In 1927 Pardelup was a penal outstation of Fremantle Prison. Whilst Superintendent Badger
had overall authority over both establishments, there was an Officer-in-Charge who had local
control over the inmates at Pardelup and the farm’s operations. The inmates of Pardelup were
mostly first offenders or men chosen as suitable for reintegration into society. The prisoners
were chosen for their good behaviour and ability to execute farm work. It was a privilege to bechosen as one of the 20 to 40 prisoners to reside at Pardelup. There were no barred cells or
locked doors, and no armed warders or harsh discipline. Every effort was made to assist men
in reestablishing their self-respect and in many cases they returned to society in better
physical and mental condition.
Inmates at Pardelup were quartered in well-constructed huts, with each man having a separate
room. Many added to the standard equipment of a bed, mattress, six blankets, locker andtable. Some also carried out tasteful interior decoration, adding items such as rugs made fromrabbit and fox skins, or framed photographs.
While serving their sentence, the inmates had ample opportunity to work on tasks suited totheir abilities. Employment included tending the pine nurseries, maintaining roads andfirebreaks. Those with a flair for handicrafts were given work in the carpenters’ shop or theblacksmithing workshop, and assisted with various buildings and construction work. The
engine room offered scope for the mechanically minded, while other men were employed in
the vegetable gardens, orchard and dairy. The farm also had its own shearing shed. A tally on
the wall of the shed stated that the record was 272 sheep shorn in a single day in 1941.
Following successful community consultation in June 2002, Pardelup Prison Farm wasconverted into a work camp housing approximately 12 minimum-security prisoners. It thenreopened as a Prison Farm in February 2010, due to the increase in the State's prison
population. Today, the prisoner’s at Pardelup are given the opportunity to complete certificatesin topics such as horticulture and construction.

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Throughout Pardelup’s history, it has played a vital role in the Western Australia prison
system, providing constructive work for minimum-security prisoners, helping them rehabilitate
and reintegrate them back into the community.
This booklet contains information and regulations which governed the Pardelup Prison Farm. It
was printed in 1928, one year after the farm was opened.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2
International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: PEJ Sketchbook
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1987.3

Historical Notes
During the initial construction of the Convict Establishment there were no plans to include afemale division. This had to change in 1886 when the site ceased to be for the exclusive use ofconvicts, and was handed over to the Colonial Government. In 1887 it was recommended to
the Colonial Secretary that all prisoners from Perth Gaol be transferred to Fremantle Prison,
including the women. The female prisoner population at this time was relatively small, with anaverage of between 12 to 16 individuals on any given day, most of whom were serving shortterm sentences. So in 1889 the north-west corner of Fremantle Prison was walled off andbecame the basis for the new Female Division (Women’s Prison). The buildings which had
been housing the kitchens, the bakehouse and the washhouse since the beginning of theConvict Establishment were transformed for use by the female prisoners. Initially, theWomen’s Division included 16 cells, a bathroom, a lying in room, an association room, two
kitchens, the Matron’s quarters and a storeroom. In 1895 the first floor of a new wing was built,
containing 22 additional cells, another bathroom, day room, hospital, chapel and lying in room.
By 1909 a first floor level had also been added, containing a further 24 cells.
Conditions for female prisoners were intermittent, and all too frequently dependent upon asocial belief that as females they would respond to minimal interventions, such as pastel
colours for the décor and lighter uniforms. In 1911 the Superintendent of Fremantle Prison,
Hugh Hann, was moved to describe their environment as ‘harsh to a degree’ and the female
prisoners as ‘fallen’ women. Their work was limited to knitting socks, dressmaking and thetough laundry work. On 13 March 1970 the Female Division of Fremantle Prison was vacated,
and all female prisoners were relocated to the new Bandyup Rehabilitation Centre.
The donor of this artefact chanced upon this sketchbook at a rubbish tip in 1987. The PEJ
sketchbook offers an alternative view of female inmates, challenging many of the popular
discourses about criminal women in the mid-twentieth century. The sketchbook contains 10
pages of illustrated poems, dealing with social attitudes and conditions in the Female Division
during the 1940s.

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The author of this work was originally identified as Audrey Laurel Cecelia Pearson, by what
was believed to be the author’s prison number, which accompanied the initials ‘P. E. J.’ on thefront of the book. However Pearson’s dates of incarceration did not fit with a date recorded
inside of the book, “Fremantle 1943”. It is now believed that the author of this work is Patricia
Elenor Jakins, an inmate at Fremantle Prison during the 1940s, both of whose dates ofincarceration, and initials, fit with the author’s.
In 1942 Patricia Elenor Jakins was sentenced to three months imprisonment for being idle anddisorderly. Specifically, she was charged and convicted on the grounds that she had no visible
lawful means of supporting herself. This was one of eight sentences she would serve inFremantle Prison. It is believed that it was during her incarceration in 1943 that she createdthis sketchbook. Jakins’ observations of everyday prison life show a stark alternative to thedomestic depictions offered by the media of the time.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Penological Reform Booklet
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1994.149

Historical Notes
Prisons serve four main functions in society; to punish offenders, protect the community from
criminals, act as a disincentive to people considering crime and provide prisoners theopportunity to reform before their release back into the community. Fremantle Prison, whilst aplace of harsh punishment, also provided prisoners with positive opportunities such as
education, religious observation, technical training and trade apprenticeships.
Imprisonment during the convict era in Western Australia is usually associated with severe
forms of punishment, such as floggings, the use of leg irons, and solitary confinement.
Although the system was designed to punish criminals, the ultimate aim of convict
transportation to Australia was colonisation. Ex-convicts were expected to become productive
citizens of the new colony. Successive Fremantle Prison administrators, like ComptrollerGeneral Edmund Henderson and Superintendent Thomas Dixon, believed in the capacity ofconvicts to reform. They introduced reformative measures into the Prison system to help
convicts make the transition from prisoner to free citizen.
By the late 1890s Fremantle Prison reversed its efforts to reform prisoners. The progressive
policies of Henderson and Dixon were overturned by subsequent administrators who
reinstated a prison system that emphasized punishment over reform. When subsequent Royal
Commissions examined the prison system in 1899 and 1911, both were highly critical of thetreatment of inmates at Fremantle Prison. Little changed until the appointment ofSuperintendent Hugh Hann in 1912 who arrived with an agenda to modernise the Prison.
Hann had visible Prison markings removed from uniforms and ordered ties, hairbrushes, handmirrors and razors to be issued to the inmates. In 1915 the prisoners ate Christmas dinner
together in the Main Cell Block, eating off a plate with a knife and fork for the first time. For the
first time prisoners were also allowed to elect representatives from amongst themselves toform a Prisoner Committee. This ten member group negotiated with administration to improveconditions and assisted in the maintenance of discipline.

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Between 1920 and 1950 Fremantle Prison had no formalised education program, and juvenile
offenders were kept occupied during the day by stuffing mattresses in the Juvenile
Reformatory.
In 1950 the Education and Prisons Departments employed a full-time teacher to run a Prison
schoolroom. Attendance was compulsory for prisoners under 20 years of age and voluntary forthe remainder of the inmate population. The curriculum included maths, English, history,geography and civics. After the 1950s the Prison developed extensive opportunities for
prisoners to work and learn trades. Prisoners were engaged in carpentry, metalwork,
automotive repairs, bookbinding, printing, painting, tailoring, and making boots and helmets.
Prisoners also made cement products such as concrete slabs, worked in the kitchens, theboiler room and in the gardens.
This booklet, titled Penological Reform in Western Australia, was written by the authority ofFred WM Simpson at the Government Printer in 1916. It contains 20 pages of in-depth
analysis of the prison system in Western Australia, with specific references to Fremantle
Prison and the 1911 Royal Commission into prison standards. A typed note on the inside
cover of this booklet states, “This book was presented to the Director Department ofCorrections, by Mr. Hornbrook, Comptroller of Prisons - Tasmania, in 1981. Mr. Kidston has
kindly donated the book to the Gaol Museum”.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Shiner Ryan Artworks
Category: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 1998.2, 1982.2, 1988.13, 2002.18, 2016.56

1982.2

1998.2

1988.132016.56

Historical Notes
Ernest 'Shiner' Ryan was an artist who served time in Fremantle Prison during 1905, from
1932 to 1936 and again in 1938. Born in 1886, his criminal career began at an early age, when
he was first charged with larceny at the age of 16. He is noted as being the first criminal to use
a motor vehicle in a getaway, after he and Samuel Freeman robbed the Everleigh Railway
Workshop in Sydney in 1914. Convicted of this crime, he spent ten years in a New South
Wales gaol.
After his release, Shiner Ryan was sentenced to a further eight years imprisonment in
Adelaide for breaking into a bank. His term was later increased after a skillful escape when
Ryan managed to make clay molds of the various locks in the Prison, from which he made his
own set of keys and walked out the gates. When he was recaptured, Ryan presented the keys
he had made to the Governor, who was so impressed with their workmanship that he added
them to the official collection for the Prison’s regular use.
Once released from Adelaide, Ryan moved to Western Australia, where he was caught shopbreaking and first sentenced to time at Fremantle Prison. Whilst serving a later sentence at
Fremantle in 1934, Ryan drafted the original drawing of his painting, The Reclamation. The
painting, “symbolises the Saviour showing his love for mankind by reclaiming a black sheep ofsociety - a prisoner who has just been released from gaol”.
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Following his release from Fremantle Prison, Ryan donated this painting, of which 400 copies
were made and sold to raise funds for the Fremantle Citizens' Reception Council, an
organisation that provided entertainment for serving troops.
Ryan also made model boats from glass, sand and other available materials, including
porridge. His model ship, the Kathleen Anne was named after a friend. While serving time atFremantle Prison, Ryan also looked after the Gatehouse clock. He is noted as being the only
person in 50 years to make the clock keep time. It was also discovered that he had been
making fake coins in the Prison’s workshop, when a senior Prison Officer was found spending
them in Fremantle’s hotel bars.
After his release from Fremantle Prison, Ryan worked as a painter, well sinker, locksmith andwatchmaker in the local area. Ryan then married Kate Leigh in 1950, though they separated
six months later. By 1953 Ryan was in poor health from asthma, and could no longer work or
pay rent. It is reported that one day he presented his landlord with a huge bunch of keys,
jokingly saying, “Take these instead of rent, they’ll open any door in Fremantle”.
Shiner Ryan died in 1957, aged 71. The Mayor of Fremantle at the time, Frederick Samson,
was a pallbearer at this funeral. When Kate Leigh heard the news, she proclaimed, “His brain
was in his finger, he could open any lock with a coat hanger.”
The model boats in the Shiner Ryan collection where made by the artist during his
incarceration at Fremantle Prison. The landscape painting on tin (1998.2) was donated by avisitor to the Prison, whose extended family member had received the painting as a personal
gift from Ryan. The handwritten poem (2016.56), signed by Ryan and dated 1942, wasdonated to the Prison’s Collection by a visitor, who had acquired it from his grandfather andwho was acquainted with Ryan.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY
119Name: Matrons in Garden PhotographCategory: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 99.732

Historical Notes
Records show that in 1916, in the exercise yard in the Female Division of Fremantle Prison,stood a parterre or flower bed. The women from the Female Division tended and cared for theflowers and plants. The interest in the flower beds is evident by the care taken by the female
inmates to adorn the hospital ward with fresh flowers.
The walled garden area in the north-west corner of the Female Division was originally attachedto the Matron’s quarters and was most likely a private garden under her control. It appears tohave continued as a form of special place after the Matron ceased to live within the complex.
There were plantings of shrubs, which encroached on the sterile zone along the northperimeter wall, and there may have been a tree growing in the space. An article in the West
Australian in 1964 describes a weekend recreation garden planted with grass, palm trees andflowers. Some of the trees are said to have been planted 50 years prior, by one of the Prison’s
regular inmates Maggie McGill when she was 17 years old.
This photograph is believed to have been taken between 1895 and 1910. Information from Dr.
N. Hills, the great-grandson of one of Fremantle Prison’s Matrons Jane Cook (née Findley),
believes she is the Matron on the right in this photograph. Jane Cook was at Fremantle Prison
when Martha Rendell was hung. Also, according to Dr. Hills’ mother, Matron Cook would also
travel by boat to work at the prison on Rottnest Island every fortnight.
Other photographs taken in 1975 reveal that this garden still existed at that time, with threemature Canary Island Date Palms growing in the centre of the space. There was also a shelterwith a garden plot alongside, planted with shrubs. Since that time all of the plants havedisappeared, including most of the grass.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

Low
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY
121

Name: Vegetable Gardens PhotographCategory: Early 20th Century (1902-1946)
Accession Number: 99.733

Historical Notes
The large courtyard in front of the Main Cell Block at Fremantle Prison, today known as the
Parade Ground, had long been a blank expanse of limestone. In 1912 this was drasticallychanged and the area covered with gardens, soon after which this photograph is believed tohave been taken. Neatly kept lawns were bordered with flowers, and on the terraced banks ofthe south knoll vegetable gardens were planted, which added a practical purpose. By 1942
there was a parterre garden added on the north side of the inner gate.
By the 1960s the gardens were embellished with decorative features such as brick edgings,
flower pots and an ornamental fish pond in the south bed. Roses, chrysanthemums, gladioli,
petunias, carnations and other horticultural favourites were cultivated in flowerpots, with prize
winning specimens being entered in the Perth Royal Show.
An ex-officer of Fremantle Prison remembers the garden beds being removed in the late1960s when it was discovered that prisoners were finding ways to make drugs from theflowers. By the late 1970s the extent of the vegetable gardens had also been reduced, with thelower gardens at the southern end of the Parade Ground being converted to lawn, which wasthen used as a clothes-drying area. The gardens were a highly successful innovation which
provided “at once a task and a recreation” and received favourable comments in annual
reports throughout the years of their use.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Individual Key items: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Objects
Ankle Straps
Barber’s Chairs
Cell Furniture made at Fremantle Prison
Heidelberg Platen Printing Press
Modified Book
NoosesOccasional Tables
Plaster Sculptures from the Catholic Chapel (Mary and Jesus)
Tattoo Apparatus
Toilet Buckets
Archives
Christmas Spend Slips
Day-to-day Administration Documents
Ad Rem Prison Newsletters
The News Review Prison Newsletter (bound volume)
Newsletters
Plans of Cell Stool and Chair
The Jarrah Post Prison Newsletter
Artworks
Peter Cameron Prints
Jim Dempster Painting
Jimmy Pike Paintings
Landscapes (assorted artists)
Jackie McArthur Painting
Papillion Artwork
Prisoners in Yard Painting
Reggie Moolarvie Paintings
Revel Cooper Artworks
Reynold Hart Artworks
Tommy Karadada Painting
Photos1991 Karin Calvert-Borshoff Photographs
Library Photographs
Prisoners Baking Bread Photograph
Oral Histories/Audio
1991 Film Footage
1980 Prison Riot Film Footage
Oral History Program___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Statement of Significance: Late 20th Century
This most recent era of the Fremantle Prison Collection expresses an altogether more
personal prison experience for those incarcerated at this site. The artefacts form this era
convey personal expressions of individual experiences, feelings and culture, through artwork,
handmade furniture and documentary evidence.
No less significant for its lack of years, the artefacts from the late twentieth century have highsocial and historic significance, with some pieces retaining national importance. Of note is theinclusion in this era of the first examples of film footage and oral histories in the collection. The
1991 film footage captures a candid and comprehensive record of everyday life in the Prison
before its closure, marking the end of fourteen decades of occupation, and as such has very
high historic value. Meanwhile the Prison’s oral history program captures the real, and often
confronting, stories of those who lived and worked inside the Prison. This candour, and theinformation provided, gives these oral histories some of the highest social significance of any
object in the collection, providing the uncensored story of prison life from those who actuallyexperienced it.
Meanwhile, this era of the collection also contains the highest quantity of artwork, which allcomprise a high level of social and aesthetic significance. Particular pieces of artwork in theFremantle Prison Collection which hold national significance are those pieces representative of
the Carrolup art movement. This style of artwork has magnified social significance with its links
to aboriginal culture and recent aboriginal struggles with a European based justice system.
The Carrolup style brings together the traditions of country and the sufferings the artists
endured. It became a national art movement, popularizing Aboriginal art both in Australia andoverseas. Overall, the sharp increase in the number of artworks in the Fremantle Prison
Collection from this era also represents a wider social significance: they provide evidence of a
dynamic shift in prison operations which saw an increase in education opportunities for
prisoners, including art tuition.
Together, the artefacts from the late twentieth century hold strong historic significance on astate wide level, with objects like the 1991 film footage and the Karin Calvert-Borshoff
photographs giving a candid and in-depth view of the last years of the Prison’s occupation.
This era of the collection also represents high social significance on a more personal level.
Objects like the prisoner artwork demonstrate how the system and structure of prison life
evolved, and developed into the modern era, whilst the toilet buckets for instance, tell the storyof how the site itself still retained its historic and outdated, infrastructure.

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Name: Ankle Straps
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1985.2.1a-b

1985.2.1aHistorical Notes
Fremantle Prison became Western Australia’s only official place of execution in 1888. The first
execution held at Fremantle Prison in the newly erected gallows took place on February 2,
1889, and over the next 75 years Fremantle Prison saw the execution of 42 men and one
woman.
On the day of an execution the condemned person was woken at 5:30am, allowed to shower,
and given breakfast. They were then transferred from death row, located in New Division after
1907, to the ‘Death Cell’ in the Solitary Confinement Block, where they were kept underconstant surveillance. Here they were allowed a visit from a priest and offered the option of a
glass of whisky or brandy. Before 8am, the prisoner was escorted to the gallows where theirfeet and hands where bound with leather ankle and wrist straps. A canvas hood was thenplaced over their head, followed by the noose. The noose was not formed by a knot, as isoften believed, but by a free-running steel eye, which was adjusted to sit under the jaw, withthe eye at the back of the neck. When the trap door was opened the condemned would drop,
and the noose would cause instantaneous death through fracture of the neck, not by
strangulation.
The Superintendent of the Prison and four Officers attended the hangings, and together signed
as witnesses. Other attending witnesses varied, but on average there were often 12 otherpeople present. In the case of Martha Rendell, the only woman ever to be hanged at
Fremantle Prison, there were 25 people who witnessed her execution. One officer was
positioned in each corner around the trap door to ensure the prisoner stood up straight, thougha chair was provided in case the prisoner was unable to stand. In most cases preparation wastimed so that just as the first stroke of 8am was sounding on the Prison’s clock, the trap door
lever was pulled.
Once the sentence had been carried out, the body of the deceased was taken down andplaced on a stretcher in the pit below the trap doors. A doctor waiting on the lower levelexamined the body and declared the person dead. The undertakers would then arrive a shorttime later to collect the body, by backing up their hearse to the main doors in 2 Division.
The last person to be hanged at the gallows in Fremantle Prison was Eric Edgar Cooke, in
1964. Cooke was a serial killer, and although only charged with one murder, supporting
evidence and his own voluntary confessions, indicate that he killed a number of people during
his three or four year reign of terror in the suburbs of Perth. Allegedly this pair of ankle straps
in the Fremantle Prison Collection were used by the hangman to secure either the hands orfeet of Eric Edgar Cooke during his execution.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Barber’s Chairs
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1995.47, 1995.193

1995.193

Historical Notes
A Prisons Department Annual Report from June 1970 is the first to mention a modern barbershop at Fremantle Prison. The report records that a barber shop, complete with three chairs,
was installed in the previous financial year, though it is not until a 1988 site plan of Fremantle
Prison that its location is first recorded. The barber shop is located in cell 17, 2 Division of theMain Cell Block, however the site plan records the shop in the cell next to this location, though
this is likely to be a mistake on the plan.
The two barber chairs in the Fremantle Prison Collection are made by Belmont. Belmontbarber chairs first appeared in the 1930s in Japan. At that time, the manufacturer was called
Takara Chuzo Ltd. which was founded by Hidenobu Yoshikawa. The 1950s marked Takara’s
entry into the world market by establishing a subsidiary in the United States. It brought about
the creation of Takara Company NY Inc., which eventually became Takara Belmont USA, Inc.
In the same decade, the company released its first hydraulic barber chair. In the 1960s,
Takara rapidly expanded into Europe by teaming up with Wella, and also began selling dental
and cosmetic products. When Takara entered the barber supply market in the United States,
there were already several established manufacturers that dominated the industry, such as
Koken and Emil J. Paidar. However, Takara soon established itself within the market becauseof its capacity to mass produce and access less expensive suppliers. Both industry leaders
were caught by surprise when Takara released its Belmont barber chairs in the US market.
They were cheaper and almost had the same quality as the more costly Koken or Paidar
barber chair. Ultimately, it made more sense for barber shops to make the switch. By the endof the decade the Koken Barber’s Supply Company was sold to Takara.
The barber’s chairs in the Fremantle Prison Collection where left in the barber shop when the
Prison closed in 1991.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Cell Furniture made at Fremantle Prison
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1988.26.1-3, 2000.164, 2000.165, 2000.166, 1995.28, 1995.123-124,
1995.218, 2001.520, 2005.16, 2012.91, 2013.3, 2014.17.1-12

1988.26

2013.3

Historical Notes
Workshops were a necessary part of the Convict Establishment and were some of the firstbuildings constructed on site. The Carpenters Workshop was originally a wooden building at
the front of the Prison until 1858, when it was moved next to the Blacksmith’s Shop at thesouth-eastern corner of the site. Whilst carpentry was regarded as a difficult skill to learn, andnot many of the convicts were trained to work with wood, carpenters were essential in the new
Establishment’s construction. Convicts were trained to lay the joists, floors and roof, and build
the scaffolding required around the new Prison buildings. They also built the wooden portable
houses used by road parties, wagons, trucks and coffins.
In the later years the Carpenters’ Shop was reputedly one of the most productive shops in the
Prison. Apprenticeships were relatively easily to obtain, with prisoners serving four years or
more. The apprentices who worked in the shop and demonstrated an aptitude for the job were
eligible to apply. In the Carpenter’s Shop, along with an instructor, there would be several
prisoner tradesmen, allowing the apprentices an opportunity to learn. The work varied from a
regular production line of all the cell furniture used at Fremantle Prison, to the finer art of teakfittings for yachts and quality handmade furniture.
When Fremantle Prison closed in 1991 the Carpenters’ Shop was still a productive prison
industry. The cell furniture in the Fremantle Prison Collection, made in the Carpenters’
Workshop, was left onsite when the Prison closed in 1991.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Heidelberg Platen Printing Press
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 2015.5

Historical Notes
Printing operations were part of the Convict Establishment's original infrastructure, when in1854 convicts were instructed in the use of two printing presses, which were housed in thetemporary accommodation of Scott's Warehouse. By 1857 the printing presses had been
moved to the Prison site, and printing operations soon became so successful that theEstablishment functioned as the official Government Printer for Western Australia from 1858
until around 1870. This status was rewarded to Fremantle Prison again from 1950, andprisoners were printing gazettes, forms, books, letterheads and official documents for the WA
government.
Around 1960 the printing operation was moved into one of the West Workshops on theFremantle Prison site, and was renamed the Print Shop. This dedicated workshop was built
between 1900 and 1901, and was the outcome of the 1898-99 Royal Commission, which
recommended that more workshops be established at Fremantle Prison. Many internal
documents were printed in the Prison's Print Shop, including the successive internal
newsletters published during the twentieth century, such as The Newsletter, The Jarrah Post,
and Ad Rem. The August 1961 edition of The Jarrah Post records the Print Shop’s output forthe 1960-61 financial year as including 196,000 ruled pages, 2,900 mixed cards, 4,000 butter
wraps, 400 copies of The Stepping Stone, and 1500 copies of The Jarrah Post. Also produced
were address labels, ‘gummed labels’, envelopes, brown paper bags and correspondencepads.
On the 22 of January 1979, there were recorded to be 17 prisoners working in the Prison’s
Print Shop. During the 1980s the daily average was 25 prisoners in the Print Shop at one time,
however, at times of high workloads there could be up to 40. The workshop was kept efficientby dividing the work structure into small, manageable tasks. New prisoners would be placed atthe ‘bag table’, which was a bench for folding paper bags. They would remain here for aminimum of one week, after which those prisoners who proved co-operative, efficient andhardworking were allowed to stay in the Print Shop.

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By the 1970s the Print Shop’s equipment had become very outdated and inefficient, so in 1971
this Heidelberg Platen Letterpress printing machine was purchased. This Press, regarded bypressmen as “The Prince of Presses,” was made in West Germany by Schnellpressenfabrik
AG Heidelberg in the 1960s. The Heidelberg Press features heavy-duty construction withmassive base and platen of specially cast alloy and shaft of steel, and used lead letters of typeto print.
Until its closure in 1991, Fremantle Prison was the only prison in Western Australia with its
own printing operation. The Heidelberg Printing Press was still in use when the Prison closed,
and was then taken to Casuarina Prison, where it was used onsite before being
decommissioned in 2015 and donated to Fremantle Prison.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Heritage TODAY131

Name: Modified Book
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1978.14

Historical Notes
While little has been published officially about drug use and contraband at Fremantle Prison,
there is evidence to suggest that during certain periods of its history, such as the 1970s, drug
use was particularly rife and difficult to control. According to one ex-Fremantle Prison inmate, it
was not uncommon for prisoners to, “store up the quota of drugs they are entitled to for
medical reasons”, which would then be taken all at once to get a stronger effect. He alsosuggested that tranquilizers had a similar effect to, “other drugs available on the market”, andthat this often led to prisoners overdosing and spending time in the Prison’s Hospital. Thisparticular ex-inmate then goes on to say that it was easy to get drugs from the doctors at the
Prison, such as barbiturates and sleeping pills. This meant that the abuse of prescription drugs
obtained from inside the Prison was a more common and serious problem than the use ofillegal drugs, such as marijuana or opium, being smuggled in from the outside.
Records show that during the 1970s the problem of prisoners stockpiling their medications wasrecognized by certain prison officers, who discussed with the Prison’s doctors the possibility ofdispensing prescription drugs in liquid form. There was also a suggestion at this time that
prisoners on more potent medications should be housed in the Prison Hospital, though thiswas never carried out, likely due to a lack of resources at the hospital. There were also
legitimate concerns about safety at the Prison’s drug dispensary, with some Prison Officers
fearing it wasn't secure. According to surviving meeting minutes, there was a desire from some
Prison Officers to lessen the amount of prescription drugs given to prisoners, a move that was
resisted by the Prison’s Psychiatrist.
Being caught with contraband would lead you to be ‘slotted’ or to be taken to ‘the chokey’, acolloquial name for Solitary Confinement. The Solitary Confinement block consists of twelve
punishment cells with windows and six slightly larger dark cells with ventilation only. Each cellhas double chambers with inner and outer doors for added security which also prevented
communication between prisoners. In the modern era, the prisoners were kept on a diet ofbread and water and spent 23 hours in their cells, with one hour exercise daily including four
minutes for a shower. The ‘chokey’ developed a reputation where prisoners endured beatings
at the hands of the Prison Officers, and where the rules of the prison did not apply.

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This led prisoners to come up with more ingenious ways of hiding drugs and contraband.
Drugs were secreted in the walls, crevices and even modified books, such as this one. This
book is believed to have been made by an inmate working in the Prison’s Library during the1970s, and was left onsite when the Prison closed in 1991. The inmate’s sense of humour isevident through the title he gave the book: Nil Desperandum; Atque in Perpetuum.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
1 
2Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Nooses
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1985.1, 2012.79, 2012.83, 2014.25

1985.12012.83

2012.79

2014.25

Historical Notes
Fremantle Prison became Western Australia’s only official place of execution in 1888. The first
execution held in the newly erected gallows took place on February 2,1889, and over the next
75 years, 42 men and one woman would be executed at Fremantle Prison.
On the day of an execution the condemned person was woken at 5:30am, allowed to shower,
and given breakfast. They were then transferred from death row in New Division to the ‘Death
Cell’ in the Solitary Confinement Block, where they were kept under constant surveillance.
Here they were allowed a visit from a priest and offered the option of a glass of whisky orbrandy. Before 8am, the prisoner was escorted to the gallows where their feet and hands
where bound with leather ankle and wrist straps. A canvas hood was then placed over theirhead, followed by the noose. The noose was not formed by a knot, as is often believed, but by
a free-running steel eye, which was adjusted to sit under the jaw, with the eye at the back of
the neck. When the trap door was opened the condemned would drop, and the noose would
cause instantaneous death through fracture of the neck, not by strangulation.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY134

The Superintendent of the Prison and four Officers attended the hangings, and together signed
as witnesses. Other attending witnesses varied, but on average there were often 12 otherpeople present. In the case of Martha Rendell, the only woman ever to be hanged at
Fremantle Prison, there were 25 people who witnessed her execution.
One officer was positioned in each corner of the trap door to ensure the prisoner stood up
straight, though a chair was provided in case the prisoner was unable to stand. In most cases
preparation was timed so that just as the first stroke of 8am was sounding on the Prison’s
clock, the trap door lever was pulled.
Once the sentence had been carried out, the body of the deceased was taken down andplaced on a stretcher in the pit below the trap doors. A doctor waiting on the lower levelexamined the body and declared the person dead. The undertakers would then arrive a shorttime later to collect the body, by backing up their hearse to the main doors in 2 Division.
The last person to be hanged at the gallows in Fremantle Prison was Eric Edgar Cooke, in
1964. Cooke was a serial killer, and although only officially charged with one murder,
supporting evidence and his own voluntary confessions, indicate that he killed a number ofpeople during his three or four year reign of terror in the suburbs of Perth.
When an execution had been carried out it was procedure to destroy the noose used, as it
could only be used once. Whilst some of the nooses in the Fremantle Prison Collection are
unused, and were left on site, some former prison officers allege that one of these ropes wasused to execute Eric Edgar Cooke.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Occasional Tables
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1999.131, 1999.904

1999.131

1999.904

Historical Notes
Workshops were a necessary part of the Convict Establishment and were some of the firstbuildings constructed on site. The Carpenters Workshop was originally a wooden building at
the front of the Prison until 1858, when it was moved next to the Blacksmith’s Shop at thesouth eastern corner of the site. Whilst carpentry was regarded as a difficult skill to learn, andnot many of the convicts were trained to work with wood, carpenters were essential in the new
Establishment’s construction. Convicts were trained to lay the joists, floors and roof, and build
the scaffolding required around the new Prison buildings. They also built the wooden portable
houses used by road parties, wagons, trucks and coffins.
More recently the Carpenters’ Shop was reputedly one of the most productive shops in the
Prison. Apprenticeships were relatively easily to obtain, with prisoners serving four years ormore eligible to apply, by working in the shop and demonstrating an aptitude for the job. In the
Carpenters’ Shop, along with an instructor, there would be several prisoner tradesmenallowing the apprentices an opportunity to learn. The work varied from a regular production lineof all the cell furniture used at Fremantle Prison, to the finer art of teak fittings for yachts andquality handmade furniture. When Fremantle Prison closed in 1991 the Carpenters’ Shop wasstill a productive prison industry.
Art was also an important component of the Prison’s educational and industrial programming.
In the early 1980s prisoner education was overhauled and new measures where implemented,
including the employment of art teachers. The popularity of the resulting art program is evident
by the fact that these classes saw more than 2,000 prisoners enroll within the first five years.
The resulting artwork produced by the prisoners allows us a valuable insight into their personalprison experiences; it gives these men a voice. In the context of Fremantle Prison the artcollection also provides an insightful and much more informed perspective on the lived
experience of incarceration.
These occasional tables show an interaction between the workshops and the more personalart pursuits of the inmates in Fremantle Prison, by combining the hand crafted tables made in
the Prison’s Carpentry Workshop, and the hand painted scenery undertaken during art
classes. Sometimes high quality, completed pieces like these tables were exhibited and sold at
local agricultural shows during the 1960s.
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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Plaster Sculptures from Catholic Chapel (Mary and Jesus)
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1988.1, 1988.20

1988.1

1988.20

1999.749.9 Image documenting the damage in the Catholic Chapel following the 1988 riot

Historical Notes
Initially there was no provision for a Catholic Chapel within Fremantle Prison, as the majority of
the colony's population was Anglican or Protestant. In 1857, a request was put to Henry
Labouchere, the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, when the Catholic community
requested the building of a separate chapel at the Convict Establishment. Labouchere replied,“I can find no precedent in any part of the Queen's dominions for undertaking to supply prisonswith separate chapels for those belonging to different religious persuasions - I think, therefore,that they must continue to be accommodated, as hitherto, with a separate apartment for thepresent purpose.” Despite this initial rejection, continued pressure from both catholic prisoners
and colonists resulted in the upper floor of the northern Association Ward in the Main Cell___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Heritage TODAY138

Block being converted into a Catholic Chapel in 1861. Further improvements were made in1862 when a doorway was created, allowing access directly from the Main Cell Block into the
Catholic Chapel. Previously the Chapel could only be accessed by using a circular staircase
located on the outside of the building. Much later in the 21st century, the chapel was furnishedwith catholic imagery, and these plaster statues of Jesus and Mary stood on plinths on eitherside of the altar.
On the 4th of January 1988 inmates at Fremantle Prison began to riot. At lock up time,
prisoners in 3 Division yard stormed into the Main Cell Bock and attacked the Officers. Using
anything that came to hand, including boiling water, five Prison Officers were taken hostage.
Prisoners then lit spot fires inside some of the cells and on the landings, which wereencouraged to burn with the use of newspapers, magazines and fuel from the Prison’s
lawnmower, which the prisoners had secretly been stockpiling in preparation for the riot. The
top floor cells were opened, and wooden tables and stools were smashed and set alight.
Mattresses and other combustibles were added until the flames reached the 130 year old
jarrah roof of the Main Cell Block, which soon caught alight. The fire in the roof spread, andcaused the collapse of the ceiling above the Catholic Chapel. As a result the Jesus and Marystatues, which had been on display either side of the altar, where knocked off their plinths,
sustaining the damage which is still evident on these objects today. The riot lasted through thenight and into the next day before the Prison was bought back under control. The repair work
carried out on the Main Cell Block, to fix the damage cost 1.8 million dollars.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Tattoo Apparatus
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1999.382, 2001.178, 2001.179

1999.382

2001.178

2001.179

Historical Notes
In the early convict system, tattooing was used by custodial authorities as a stigma, to degrade
prisoners. There is evidence that convict tattooing was common aboard ships transporting
prisoners from the United Kingdom. Such tattooing had the twin purpose of surveillance, as
well as to humiliate prisoners as subjects of discipline. Once arrived in Australia, the culturalshift from the enforced imprint of tattoos, to convicts voluntarily tattooing themselves, wasevident from very early on. Traditionally, prison regimes attempted to eradicate the individualityof inmates, relying on uniforms, codes, rules and regulations to transform individuals into
conforming prisoners. Realising the potential role of tattooing in defining their sense of identity
within prison institutions, inmates took to voluntarily tattooing themselves with words andimages to create systems of values and cultural identification.
There are two important differences between ‘professional’ tattoos and ‘prison’ tattoos. Firstly,
while professional tattooists appropriately trace designs templates onto the skin, prison tattoos
are usually drawn ‘free-hand’. Secondly, since the invention of the first electronic tattoo needle
in 1891, most professional tattooists use three to eight tightly bunched non-hypodermic
needles which move rapidly up and down on the skin between two to three thousand times per
minute. Owing to the necessity for improvisation in prisons to perform what was essentially an
illicit activity, prison tattoo application ranged greatly. One example of a more primitive way of
applying a prison tattoo is hand-plucking, whereby a sewing or hypodermic needle isrepeatedly dipped in ink and stuck on the skin until a line is achieved. These tattoos look moreprimitive than tattoos created with a machine, because a continuous line is difficult to achievewith a hand-plucked tattoo. Often this form of prison tattoo was self-administered, meaning
they were often applied to visible parts of the body, such as the hands or lower arms.

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More sophisticated application techniques for prison tattoos usually involved the use of an
improvised rotary machine, though unlike professional tattoos, this machine could only befitted with one needle at a time. The rotary machine was made by the prisoner using a motor
taken from something like a cassette recorder, an electric razor or electric toothbrush, which isthen connected to a guitar string or sewing needle, which vibrates up and down the barrel of aball point pen. This form of application appears to be the more common method of tattooing
among prison inmates.
The cultural significance of tattooing involves marking members as belonging to the same
culture, as much as it involves distinguishing members of one group from another. Prison
tattoos were generally regarded by inmates as a way of establishing or re-affirming
community, either with those who were left outside, (via tattooed names and pictures of loved
ones or gang names for instance), or with those who are inside the prison, or both. Tattooing
in prisons is sometimes used as a proto-language. For instance, certain tattoos on the hands
and face can denote a specific event or membership in a prison gang.
The tattooing apparatus in the Fremantle Prison Collection were left on site when the Prison
closed in 1991, either by the prisoners themselves or after having been confiscated by prison
officers.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Toilet Buckets
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1996.- (assorted)

1996.404.17

Historical Notes
The hygiene and sanitation standards of Fremantle Prison underwent little modification
throughout its history. Upon completion of the Convict Establishment, the Main Cell Blockincorporated small, single cells, each featuring a wash basin with running water. Suchamenities were considered a rare luxury at the time, and were reportedly envied by the freesettlers of Fremantle. Despite the initial intention to provide prisoners with high sanitation
standards, the wash basins proved to be an expensive failure for the Establishment, due totheir constant need for repairs, the overflow of water from tap leakage, and the pungent smellof waste. It was under the recommendation of the Establishment’s Surgeon that the washbasins were eventually removed from all the Prison’s cells.
With the removal of the wash basins, prisoners were instead provided with two separate
buckets; one for water and another to be used as a toilet. The toilet buckets, or ‘slop buckets’as they were also known, would become a prominent object within the lives of most prisoners
throughout the history of Fremantle Prison, representing the dehumanizing conditions of thesystem to which they considered themselves subjected.
During the 1970s there was an attempt to replace the toilet bucket with portable chemical
toilets inside the cells. However, the introduction of these portable toilets proved to beunsustainable and impractical, as prisoners would both destroy the toilets and brew illicit
beverages from the chemicals. As a result, the Prison returned to the traditional method of‘slopping out’ with toilet buckets, a method which would endure until the Prison’s closure in
1991.
The emptying of toilet buckets was incorporated into the prisoners’ daily routine, whichchanged little over the course of the Prison’s occupancy. Every morning prisoners would be
released from their cells, where they would be instructed to ‘file off’ to their division’s yard,
wherein they would empty their buckets into septic traps before leaving the buckets on marked
white lines to be disinfected by an appointed fellow prisoner. It is worth noting that thedisinfection of the toilet buckets was not introduced until the mid-twentieth century.
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The toilet buckets had a damaging effect on the mentality and psychology of prisoners and thelack of hygiene would ultimately contribute to the closure of the Prison. While some prisoners
found it easier to accept the practice of toilet buckets, others found it repulsive anddehumanizing as one inmate recalls in 1991, “It’s really dehumanizing you know, just even touse one, to even have to look at one is dehumanizing. Lots of people don’t realise that outside.
Has a very big effect on you morally you know.”
The toilet buckets in the Fremantle Prison Collection were all left on site when the Prison
closed in 1991, because the new maximum security prison Casuarina had adequate seweragefacilities.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Christmas Spend Slips
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1993.130.2 (a-b), 1993.611.1, 1993.611.2-175

1993.130.2

1993.611.2

Historical Notes
The Christmas period at Fremantle Prison saw some subtle changes in the everyday lives ofthe prisoners in the late twentieth century. More movies were shown in the evenings, extra
activities were available and supplementary items were obtainable on the supplies list. On 11
and 12 December 1990, a Christmas concert was held at the Assessment Centre for prisoners
and their families. The store WA Salvage provided presents for the attending children. while
the remaining attendees were given presents provided by Outcare, a body that supported
prisoner’s families.
In order to purchase their own festive food and supplies, prisoners submitted spend slips. A listof available items and prices was displayed in each divisional yard. Payment was made by
gratuities, such as the money earnt by prisoners through their prison work, or by spending alimited amount of cash. Spend slips were usually completed weekly but Christmas spends
covered two weeks, with an increased purchase limit of $100. Some planning was required as
the Christmas spend slips had to be submitted by December 2, and since prisoners had nomeans of refrigeration, purchases consisted mainly of preserved foods. Many items weretinned, such as rice cream, fruit salad, oysters, mussels, deli ham, strawberries and cream.
Items like HP sauce, chilli sauce and spicy steak sauce were also popular, as suchcondiments offered the opportunity to customise the standard and often bland food provided.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2
International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Day-to-Day Administration Documents
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 2015.15-424

2015.105

Historical Notes
The Administration Offices form the undercroft to the three story Anglican Chapel above, whichsits on the western side of the Main Cell Block. Many different people used these offices
during the Prison’s history. In the 1850s they were used as a robing room and office for the
Anglican Chaplain, along with offices for the porter, Surgeon and the Superintendent. By 1987,plans of the Prison show that these offices had been adapted to the time period, as they now
included an information office, a boardroom, a records office, a security office and a rosters
office. The signs which still remain above each door in the Administration Wing represent therole of each office at the time of the Prison’s closure.
Handling the administration of the Fremantle Prison site, and its prisoners, was an extremely
important and complex task, requiring a wide range of organisational and managerial skills.
The Superintendent had overall authority over the Prison, and was ultimately responsible forsecurity, maintaining discipline amongst prisoners and officers, and for devising management
policies. Across Fremantle Prison’s operational life, there were 19 Superintendents. Thomas
Hill Dixon, the first Superintendent at the Convict Establishment, was described as reformingand humane, and arrived in Fremantle in 1850. Superintendent Dixon was responsible for the
day-to-day management of the Convict Establishment, and as such introduced significant
reformative measures. Unfortunately Dixon lost the respect he had earned from those aroundhim, when he was caught siphoning Prison funds into his personal bank account to pay off his
debts. He fled the colony before he could be tried in court.
Another notable Superintendent at Fremantle Prison was Hugh Hann, who arrived in 1911 witha reformative agenda. Hann believed that education rather than punishment was the key toreform, and as such one of his first decisions was to abolish the Separate System. He
continued his reforms by demolishing ‘the cage’ in 1912, a circle of 30 radiating yards. Hann’szeal for reform was met with opposition and an enquiry in 1918 found Hann to be incompetent,
and negligent in the discharge of his duties. Despite a review by the Public Service
Commissioner leading to his eventual exoneration, Hann retired in 1919 owing to poor health.
Andrew Badger, another notable Superintendent, served 13 years from 1920 to 1933.
Described as kind, considerate and sympathetic by the prisoners upon his retirement, Badger
was associated with many reforms to the Prison’s system, including the establishment of thePardelup Prison Farm. Badger died two years after his retirement in 1935.
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In 1966, Colin Campbell was appointed to the position of Superintendent at Fremantle Prison.
Campbell had a degree in psychology, and brought with him extensive experience working inchild welfare. His main achievement was to oversee the introduction of non-uniformed staff, as
well as social services for prisoners, pulling Fremantle Prison into the modern era.
During the later years of the Prison, most Superintendents only occupied the role for a few
years. During the final two years of the Prison’s operation there were two Superintendents;
Alan Haldan from 1989 and 1990, and finally Peter Moore from 1990 to 1991, who supervised
the closure of Fremantle Prison.
This collection of assorted day-to-day administration documents was found in the
Administration Wing offices in 2015 during an audit of the rooms. They contain documents
used on a daily basis by the staff for the operation and administration of the Prison, from thelate 1980s through to 1991.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance12
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Ad Rem Prison Newsletters
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1992.2.1-7

1992.2.1

1992.2.2

1992.2.4

Historical Notes
Printing was an essential trade performed from the earliest days of the Convict Establishment,
and continued without interruption throughout the site’s history. In 1854 convicts were
instructed in the use of two printing presses, and printing operations at the Convict
Establishment soon became so successful that they functioned as the official Government
Printer for Western Australia from 1858 until around 1870. This status was again awarded toFremantle Prison from 1950, with prisoners printing gazettes, forms, books, letterheads andofficial documents for the WA government. Around 1960 the printing operation was moved into
one of the West Workshops on the Fremantle Prison site. The West Workshops were built
between 1900 and 1901, the outcome of the 1898-99 Royal Commission which recommended
that more workshops be established at Fremantle Prison.
Many internal documents, forms, and other work were also printed in the Prison's Print Shop,
including the successive newsletters published during the twentieth century for prisoners,
such as The Newsletter, The Jarrah Post, and Ad Rem. The August 1961 edition of The Jarrah
Post records the Print Shop’s output for the 1960-61 financial year as including 196,000 ruled
pages, 2,900 mixed cards, 4,000 butter wraps, 400 copies of The Stepping Stone, and 1500
copies of The Jarrah Post. Also produced were address labels, ‘gummed labels’, envelopes,
brown paper bags and correspondence pads.
Ad Rem was a newsletter produced by prisoners in the Print Shop. Publications ran from
December 1990 until the final edition was published in June 1991. The newsletter continued
for a short while after Fremantle closed, with at least two editions produced at Casuarina
Prison. Ad Rem was a magazine style publication, in A4 format, featuring a different illustration
by a prisoner on the cover of each issue. The name ‘Ad Rem’ meant ‘to the point’ in Latin,chosen because, in the Editor’s own words, it describes “the type of newsletter we want toproduce. We don’t plan to become one of those old-fashioned jail magazines full of moans andpeople feeling sorry for themselves.”___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY147

Ad Rem gave all the inmates at Fremantle Prison a chance to contribute. It was frequently
illustrated with cartoons, abstract drawings, sketches and landscape pictures and it included
feature stories, sections on Aboriginal art and culture, historical features, short stories andpoems. Recurring subjects in Ad Rem included prison nutrition, AIDS in the prison system, thebuilding progress of Casuarina, and the Peer Support Team available in the Prison. Thesepublications were extremely popular with inmates, so much so that the Editor often had toapologise to those prisoners who had trouble getting hold of a copy. Financial constraints
meant only 200 copies could be produced of each edition, instead of the 300 required to allow
for each inmate.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: News Review (bound volume)
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1993.16

Historical Notes
Printing operations were part of the Convict Establishment's original infrastructure, when in1854 convicts were instructed in the use of two printing presses. Printing operations at theEstablishment soon became so successful that they functioned as the official Government
Printer for Western Australia from 1858 until around 1870. This status was rewarded toFremantle Prison again from 1950, with prisoners printing gazettes, forms, books, letterheads
and official documents for the WA government.
Around 1960 the printing operation was moved into one of the West Workshops on theFremantle Prison site. The West Workshops were built between 1900 and 1901, the outcomeof the 1898-99 Royal Commission which recommended that more workshops be establishedat Fremantle Prison.
Many internal documents, forms, and other work was also printed in the Prison's Print Shop,
including the successive newsletters published during the twentieth century for prisoners,
such as The Newsletter, The Jarrah Post, and Ad Rem. The August 1961 edition of The Jarrah
Post records the Print Shop’s output for the 1960-61 financial year as including 196,000 ruled
pages, 2,900 mixed cards, 4,000 butter wraps, 400 copies of The Stepping Stone, and 1500
copies of The Jarrah Post. Also produced were address labels, ‘gummed labels’, envelopes,
brown paper bags and correspondence pads.
The News Review was a newsletter printed in the Fremantle Prison Print Shop, and distributed
around the Prison between 1953 and 1959. It had an informal tone, compared to its
predecessor The Newsletter, and appears to have had some prisoner input. Unfortunately
none of the articles in the News Review carry an identifiable author’s name, although somepieces carry pseudonyms such as ‘the Bard’ or ‘the Bird’. This makes it difficult to distinguishbetween prisoners’ stories and those chosen by the Prisons Department.

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The News Review carried football fixtures on the front page of every issue. It also contained
long, more developed articles than The Newsletter, and had an editorial section. The News
Review also included a section from the Alcoholics Anonymous club that operated at
Fremantle Prison. These publications also incorporated news excerpts, probably taken fromother publications, and was only published in black and white, except at Christmas.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Heritage TODAY
150

Name: Plans of Cell Stool and Chair
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1993.808-10

1993.808

1993.810

Historical Notes
Workshops were a necessary part of the Convict Establishment and were some of the firstbuildings constructed on site. The Carpenters Workshop was originally a wooden building at
the front of the Prison until 1858 when it was moved next to the Blacksmith’s Shop at the southeastern corner of the site. Whilst carpentry was regarded as a difficult skill to learn, and not
many of the convicts were trained to work with wood, carpenters were essential in the new
Establishment’s construction. Convicts were trained to lay the joists, floors and roof, and build
the scaffolding required around the new Prison buildings. They also built the wooden portable
houses used by road parties, wagons, trucks and coffins.
More recently the Carpenters Shop was reputedly one of the most productive shops in the
Prison. Apprenticeships were relatively easy to obtain, with prisoners serving four years ormore and who worked in the shop and demonstrated an aptitude for the job eligible to apply.
There would be several prisoner tradesmen in the Carpenters’ Shop, along with an Officer
instructor, allowing the apprentices an opportunity to learn. The work varied from a regular
production line of all the cell furniture used at Fremantle Prison, to the finer art of teak fittings
for yachts and quality handmade furniture.
These plans are from Fremantle Prison’s Carpentry Workshop, and show some of the furniturethat was produced by the prisoners, including furniture for their cells.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: The Jarrah Post Prison Newsletter
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1992.3.1-17, 1992.3.20, 1992.3.24-25

1992.3.13

1992.3.15

1992.3.24

1992.3.3

Historical Notes
Printing was an essential trade performed from the earliest days of the Convict Establishment,
and continued without interruption throughout the site’s history. In 1854 convicts were
instructed in the use of two printing presses, and printing operations at the Convict
Establishment soon became so successful that they functioned as the official Government
Printer for Western Australia from 1858 until around 1870.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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This status was again rewarded to Fremantle Prison again from 1950, with prisoners printing
gazettes, forms, books, letterheads and official documents for the WA government.
Around 1960 the printing operation was moved into one of the West Workshops on theFremantle Prison site, and was renamed the Print Shop. The West Workshops were built
between 1900 and 1901, the outcome of the 1898-99 Royal Commission which recommended
that more workshops be established at Fremantle Prison.
Many internal documents, forms, and other works were also printed in the Prison's Print Shop,
including the successive newsletters published during the twentieth century for prisoners,
such as The Newsletter, The Jarrah Post, and Ad Rem. The Jarrah Post was a monthly
publication which was printed in the 1960s and 1970s. It was authorised by the Comptroller
General of Prisons and was issued to ‘well conducted’ prisoners under detention in Western
Australian gaols. In its first issue in 1960, the editorial said, “In this magazine, an attempt has
been made to produce something which is entirely new in this Prison. In it, we have been
given the opportunity to make known our views, and I feel this is a might step forward. The
Jarrah Post is our magazine and it is intended that the items published in it will be for ourinterest and information.”
The Jarrah Post was published in booklet form, with 16 to 20 pages, roughly A5 in size. Until
the 1970s, the cover page was often printed on different colour paper, and carried a cartoon
illustration created by a prisoner. Sometimes, on special occasions such as Easter or
Christmas, the cover was printed in colours. The contents of the booklet were produced bymale prisoners, and were originally intended for use by male prisoners only. A women’s pageappeared in The Jarrah Post for the first time in December 1961, but was not a regularoccurrence.
These publications included radio and movie programming, games such as crosswords, lettersto the editor and carefully selected news items. By including these news items, The Jarrah
Post allowed prisoners access to the media, if even in a small way. In theory at least, thepublications produced at the Print Shop also aimed to give all prisoners, no matter who theywere, the chance to give their opinions. One example is a poem by prisoner Bluey P, which
was published in the August 1961 issue of The Jarrah Post, “Take up your pen, and do yourmost, they may make The Jarrah Post”.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Peter Cameron Prints
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 2012.128.1-8

2012.128.1

2012.128.4

Historical Notes
Born in Geraldton in 1960, Peter Irwin Cameron was a Yamatji man. He was first sent to prisonin the mid-1970s, when he was 14 years old. In 1988 he was placed on remand at Cannington,
charged with murdering his fiancée’s lover after finding them in bed together. He wasconvicted, and sent to Fremantle Prison to serve his life sentence. When Fremantle Prison
closed in 1991 he was transferred to Casuarina Prison, where he served a further six years of
his sentence, before being transferred to Karnet Prison Farm.
While at Fremantle Prison, Cameron began studying for a Bachelor of Health Sciences, andbegan producing his art. He designed the Kulunga Research Network logo, which is run by the
Telethon Child Health Research Institute, where he regularly corresponded with Professor
Fiona Stanley. Cameron was very proud of his Aboriginal heritage. With two other prisoners,
he designed and painted the 4 Division yard mural at Fremantle Prison, a mural designed as atribute to the many Aboriginal cultures from around Australia who were represented behind thewalls of Fremantle Prison.
In 1996 Cameron was on a pre-release program, and was allowed to leave Karnet Prison
Farm unaccompanied, to attend laboratory sessions for a medical technology degree he wasstudying for at Curtin University. Cameron’s final release from prison was set for January
1997, upon which Cameron planned to complete his studies and hold a touring exhibition of
his artworks. However, Cameron died of a heart attack at 2:30am on Saturday 11 January
1997, aged 36. At that time, he was on a 36 hour leave pass, the completion of which marked
the end of his sentence. Therefore, Cameron died just 17 hours before his official release fromprison. His death is classed as an Aboriginal death in custody.
It is not known whether these linocut prints in the Fremantle Prison Collection wherecompleted by Peter Cameron during his incarceration at Casuarina or Fremantle Prison.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Jim Dempster Painting
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 94.130

Historical Notes
In 1978 Steve Culley began teaching art classes at Fremantle Prison, soon accompanied byDavid Wroth and Lindsey Pow. The popularity of their art program can be gauged by the
number of prisoners who enrolled; more than 2,000 students within the first five years. Initiallythese art classes were for Aboriginal prisoners only, but as their popularity grew the classes
were opened up to other prisoners, and were moved into a larger space in the Assessment
Centre. The Assessment Centre was considered secure enough that prisoners could comeand go freely, but when the Prison took back this space two years later, the art classes weremoved into the Main Cell Block, behind the Catholic Chapel.
This painting is in the Carrolup style, a style of painting which originated from a Native
Settlement of the same name in the South West of Western Australia. It was first establishedin 1915 but closed in 1922. In 1940 it was reopened as a farm training school for Aboriginal
boys under the Aboriginal Protection Act. In 1945 the school’s headmaster Noel White, and hiswife Lily, established educational programs in art and music for the pupils. The art produced by
the children became famous in Australia and overseas, and many pupils went on to become
established artists.
Mr White developed a rapport with the children at Carrolup, and encouraged them to draw
what they saw whilst on nature rambles. One student said, “The native children in the past
wasn’t given a chance to learn, but since Mr White took over the teaching at Carrolup we are
now getting people to respect us and our drawings”. Carrolup was closed down by the
Department of Native Affairs in 1951, viewed by many as a victim of its own success.
Unfortunately many former students of the school later found themselves behind bars inFremantle Prison, and the Carrolup art style became a common theme in prisoner art.
Bureaucracy, in one form or another, was mainly responsible for artworks being left behindwhen Fremantle Prison closed in 1991 and prisoners were moved to Casuarina. If a prisoner
created or acquired something during their incarceration, which they did not have when they
were first admitted to prison, they had to apply for that article to be added to their record, sothat such items could be taken with them when they left or were transferred. It is likely that a
number of the artworks now in the Fremantle Prison Collection were never claimed byprisoners in this way, and as a result where left behind when the Prison closed. It is believed
this painting, signed by Jim Dempster, is one such example.
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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition
1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Heritage TODAY
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Name: Jimmy Pike Paintings
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 94.119, 2011.89

94.1192011.89

Historical Notes
Jimmy Pike was a Walmajarri man, born around 1940. He grew up in the sand hills of theGreat Sandy Desert, leading a traditionally nomadic life, before beginning work as a stockman
on stations in the Kimberley. Pike was convicted of murder in 1980 and sent to Fremantle
Prison. It was whilst in prison that Pike began to focus more on producing art. Making the mostof the opportunities offered, Pike worked in the Prison’s different industries, including the Boot
Shop and the garden party, and also attended a class in English literacy where he learnt toread and write, before joining the Prison’s art class. Though he had grown up carving designs
in wood, these art classes were his first experience of formal tuition. Pike participated inclasses run by art teacher Steve Culley, and it was a print making workshop, which Pike didn't
actually attend, that was the catalyst for his extraordinary talent to emerge.
The story, as told by Steve Culley, is that despite not attending the print making workshop,
which was run by printmaking tutor David Wroth, Pike asked if he could take a stack of blanklinoleum blocks back to his cell over the weekend. The artworks he subsequently produced
over the next few days had both Steve Culley and David Wroth amazed. In Culley’s own
words, this was, “the moment when the genius became absolutely undeniable”. It was fromthis event that the Desert Designs brand was born. The company, co-founded by Wroth andCulley, used designs created and licensed by Jimmy Pike. The brand heralded the height of
the Aboriginal cultural renaissance, bringing Aboriginal design into the households, andwardrobes, of thousands of white, urban Australians.
Upon his release from Fremantle Prison in 1986, Pike spent his parole years living in the Great
Sandy Desert with his partner Pat Lowe, a former prison psychologist. He continued to draw
and paint, and produce work for the Desert Designs label. He died in 2002 after suffering aheart attack.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Tim Kluwen Collection of Landscape Paintings (assorted artists)
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 2007.19.1-10

2007.19.2

2007.19.6

Historical Notes
Art has been a part of the prison experience since the convict era. Artworks in the Fremantle
Prison Collection testify to a continued practice of arts and crafts at the Prison, despite the lackof structured art education until the 1970s.
In 1978 Steve Culley began teaching art classes at Fremantle Prison, soon accompanied byDavid Wroth and Lindsey Pow. The popularity of their art program can be gauged by the
number of prisoners who enrolled; more than 2,000 students within the first five years. Initiallythese art classes were for Aboriginal prisoners only, but as their popularity grew the classes
were opened up to other prisoners, and were moved into a larger space in the Assessment
Centre. The Assessment Centre was considered secure enough that prisoners could comeand go freely. When the Prison took back this space two years later, the art classes weremoved into the Main Cell Block, behind the Catholic Chapel.
Steve Culley painted alongside his students, and his specialty was landscapes. Culley focusedon the skills of the individual students within his class, and in effect got the prisoners to teacheach other. This strategy was particularly effective with the non-Aboriginal students. Although
only Aboriginal prisoners were the initial students, one day Culley returned to class after alunch break to find a white prisoner named Johnny Chester standing with the Aboriginal
prisoners, waiting to join the class. Chester appeared to have been beaten up, but Culley
didn’t say anything, and let him into the classroom with the others. It transpired that Chester
had had to physically fight his way through prisoner resistance in the yards to join the class, as
it was viewed by others as something only Aboriginals did.
This collection of artwork is known as the Tim Kluwen collection, and comprises of 10 framedlandscape paintings, which were purchased from Tim Kluwen in 2007. They wereaccompanied by a first edition copy of the 1979 publication North of the 26th, edited by Helen
Weller, in which reproductions of these paintings appear. Kluwen had in turn purchased thiscollection of paintings at an auction by Bob Gregson’s Auctions, held in Belmont Western
Australia, on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 July 1998.

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The auction catalogue entry for each of these artworks states that they were painted by
Aboriginal artists in Fremantle Prison, under the tutelage of Steve Culley. Steve Culley ismentioned in the acknowledgements of the catalogue, ‘”for his help in procuring paintings by
Aboriginal artists.”
Steve Culley began teaching art classes at Fremantle Prison in 1978, and it seems likely thatthe artworks in the Tim Kluwen collection would have been undertaken at around that time,
given that the book North of the 26th, in which these paintings first appear, was published in
1979. The artists featured in the Tim Kluwen collection include Neville Gable, Reggie
Moolarvie, Ken Curly, Victor Frazer, Donald Fraser, and Jackie McArthur. The movement ofthese artworks from their initial creation at Fremantle Prison, through to the publication of
North of the 26th, and finally the auction in 1998, is unclear. However, the presence of otherworks by Moolarvie and McArthur in the Fremantle Prison Collection, and the association with
Steve Culley, provide the Tim Kluwen collection with a strong connection to Fremantle Prison.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Jackie McArthur Paintings
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 94.90, 94.129, 94.135, 02.102

02.102

94.12994.90

94.135

Historical Notes
In 1978 Steve Culley began teaching art classes at Fremantle Prison, soon accompanied byDavid Wroth and Lindsey Pow. The popularity of their art program can be gauged by the
number of prisoners who enrolled; more than 2,000 students within the first five years. As the
popularity of the art classes grew, they were moved into a larger space in the Assessment
Centre. The Assessment Centre was considered secure enough that prisoners could comeand go freely. When the Prison took back this space two years later, the art classes weremoved into the Main Cell Block, behind the Catholic Chapel.
Prison art provides a valuable and unique insight into the prison experience, reminding us thatsites of incarceration are first and foremost about people, not buildings. Created by theprisoners themselves, prison art allows those who have been silenced by the system a voice
and way to express themselves. In the context of Fremantle Prison the art collection also
provides an insightful and much more personal perspective on the experience of incarceration.
Aboriginal prisoners were initially the only students allowed to participate in the art classes at
Fremantle Prison. Steve Culley is recorded as saying that at the beginning he was teaching
about 15 Wongai artists from the Warburton/Mt Margaret area.

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At the Mt Margaret Mission, where a lot of these prisoners had previously been confined, theprincipals applied strict discipline. The result was that these Aboriginal artists, although they’dbeen born to a traditional tribal life, had not gone through the law. The Mission had succeeded
in isolating them from their traditional ways, forcing them into European education of reading
and writing. In the art classes at Fremantle Prison, Culley encouraged these men to embrace
their traditions. Their success meant that Culley was soon overrun with students, so he began
to make certain students into student teachers. One of these was Jackie McArthur, a Wongai
man who ran a Namatjira landscape school.
Bureaucracy, in one form or another, was mainly responsible for artworks being left behindwhen Fremantle Prison closed in 1991, and prisoners were moved to Casuarina. If a prisoner
created or acquired something during their incarceration, which they did not have when they
were first admitted to prison, they had to apply for that article to be added to their record, sothat such items could be taken with them when they left or were transferred. It is likely that a
number of the artworks now in the Fremantle Prison Collection were never claimed byprisoners in this way, and as a result where left behind when the Prison closed.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Papillion Artworks
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1993.184, 1993.198, 2001.493-506, 2005.57.1-2, 2012.120-122,
2014.6.1-75, 2017.1.1-66

2012.1202017.1.11

Historical Notes
Papillion is the self-given nickname of a prisoner who was incarcerated at Fremantle Prison
until its closure in 1991. He decorated his cell, (cell 5, in 1 Division), with multiple examples ofhis distinctive butterfly artwork, with each piece attached to the walls and ceiling using metal
thumbtacks and toothpaste. It has been suggested, though not officially confirmed, that theartist known as Papillon is a convicted pedophile, who is still in prison, and therefore his namehas been redacted.
Papillion gave himself this nickname, presumably in reference to the French writer Henri
Charrière, who was convicted of murder in 1931. Charrière wrote the novel Papillion, a memoirof his incarceration and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana. The title of the bookderives from a butterfly tattoo on Charrière’s chest, with ‘Papillion’ being the French word forbutterfly.
According to an ex-prison officer who worked at Fremantle Prison in the early 1990s, theprisoner Papillion was allowed to create his butterfly artwork as a form of therapy. When
asked, the officer denied that the butterfly artwork was a metaphor or symbol of pedophilia.
When Fremantle Prison closed in 1991, the prisoner Papillon was transferred to Casuarina
Prison and his artworks were left upon the walls of his cell.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition
1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2
International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Prisoners in Yard Painting
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1995.5

Historical Notes
The exercise yards of the Main Cell Block were established between 1855 and 1859. The
natural limestone, which was quarried by convicts from the Fremantle Prison site, was used tobuild both the buildings and install the perimeter walls, creating the exercise yards along theeastern wall of the Main Cell Block. At some stage, most likely in the early twentieth century,
the limestone ground in the exercise yards was bituminized.
Throughout Fremantle Prison’s occupation, the exercise yards saw few major changes in theirstructure. In 1909, an east-west dividing wall was built through one of the southern exercise
yards, to create an extra, separate, yard. Shelters offering protection from the elements wereadded in the late 1960s to early 1970s only. Also, as a result of the Fremantle Prison riot in
1988, the northern most exercise yard was altered and reduced in size to accommodate theSpecial Handling Unit. One final addition, which was another change resulting from the 1988
riot, was the fitting of Swiss turnstile gates outside the doors, linking the yards to the Main Cell
Block. These were intended to prevent uncontrolled rushes by prisoners which might
overwhelm staff on duty. Along with a few other minor changes, including bituminous paving
and improved toilet facilities, the character of the yards changed little over time.
By the early 1900s most Aboriginal prisoners were held in 2 Division, which they shared withdebtors and prisoners on remand. However, from the 1930s up until 1965, Aboriginal prisoners
were entirely segregated from the white prisoners. Over time 2 Division, and its associatedexercise yard, became known as the Noongar Division. Segregation was an unofficial
administrative practice at Fremantle Prison, rather than an official policy of the Prison
Department. In 1965 segregation ended and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal prisoners were
distributed throughout the Prison. Even so, there continued to be a large Aboriginal presencein 2 Division, which remained the centre of Aboriginal culture at the Prison until its closure in
1991.
This painting is a scene from the 1980s, possibly of the 3 Division exercise yard. The
estimated date of completion is assisted by the colour of the prison officer’s blue uniform,
which was changed to a khaki colour around 1988 or 1989. This painting was donated to theFremantle Prison Collection in 1995, when the people depicted in this work were identified as
Fremantle Prison inmates.

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It is presumed that the men represented are artists, Revel Cooper, Reggie Moolarvie, andpossibly Yaddabooka, an Aboriginal man from northwestern Australia.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Reggie Moolarvie Paintings
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 94.77, 96.173

94.77

96.173

Historical Notes
Art education programs at Fremantle Prison served as an introduction to further education for
most participating prisoners, both inside the prison system and upon release. From its origins
in the 1950s, the provision of art classes within the Western Australian prison system
continues through to today, providing inmates with a chance to creatively channel emotions
and to find their own voice. In this way prison art is pivotal in that it provides inmates with theopportunity to construct an identity based around positive achievement.
In 1978 Steve Culley began teaching art classes at Fremantle Prison, soon accompanied byDavid Wroth and Lindsey Pow. The popularity of their art program can be gauged by the
number of prisoners who enrolled; more than 2,000 students within the first five years. Initiallythese art classes were for Aboriginal prisoners only, but as their popularity grew the classes
were opened up to other prisoners, and were moved into a larger space in the Assessment
Centre. The Assessment Centre was considered secure enough that prisoners could comeand go freely. When the Prison took back this space two years later, the art classes weremoved into the Main Cell Block, behind the Catholic Chapel.
Born in Hall's Creek in 1947, Reggie Moolarvie worked as a stockman, though from his midtwenties he found himself in and out of prison. Whilst at Fremantle Prison, Moolarvie worked
with art teacher Steve Culley. The Fremantle Prison Collection contains several works by
Moolarvie in the Carrolup style, as well as landscapes on the cell wall of cell C30 of 4 Division.
Moolarvie also contributed to a mural in the 2 Division yard.
The distinctive Carrolup style of painting originated from a Native Settlement of the same
name in the South West of Western Australia. It was re-established in 1940 as a farm training
school for Aboriginal boys under the Aboriginal Protection Act. In 1945 the school’s
headmaster Noel White, and his wife Lily, established educational programs in art and music
for the pupils. The art produced by the children became famous in Australia and overseas, andmany pupils went on to become established artists.
Mr White developed a rapport with the children at Carrolup and encouraged them to draw what
they saw whilst on nature rambles.

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One student said, “The native children in the past wasn’t given a chance to learn, but since Mr
White took over the teaching at Carrolup we are now getting people to respect us and our
drawings”. Carrolup was closed down by the Department of Native Affairs in 1951, viewed bymany as a victim of its own success.
Unfortunately many former students of the school later found themselves behind bars inFremantle Prison, and the Carrolup art style became a common theme in prisoner art.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance12Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Revel Cooper Artworks
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 2012.118, 94.97, 1985.3.1, 1994.95-96, 1997.43

2012.118

1997.43

1985.3.1

Historical Notes
Revel Ronald Cooper was born of Nyungar descent at Katanning, Western Australia, in 1934.
As a young boy Cooper was declared a ward of the state and placed in the Carrolup Mission
settlement. Amid conditions of poverty and degradation, the school’s headmaster, Noel White,established educational programs in art and music in 1945. The Mission is best known for
fostering the Carrolup style of painting, a style that became famous in Australia and overseas,with many pupils going on to become established artists. The Carrolup Mission was closed by
the Department of Native Affairs in 1951, and unfortunately many former students of theschool later found themselves behind bars in Fremantle Prison, where the Carrolup art stylebecame a common theme in prisoner art.

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Revel’s own work first appeared in Child Artists of the Australian Bush, written by Dame Mary
Durack Miller in 1952. Noel White intended that the training provided at Carrolup would serve a
vocational role and Cooper was employed for a short period by J. Gibbney & Son Pty Ltd, whowere commercial artists in Perth. When Carrolup Mission closed, Cooper worked locally as afarm labourer and as a railway fettler.
In November 1952 Cooper was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years’
imprisonment. Cooper subsequently served several prison sentences in both Western
Australia and Victoria. Despite these terms of incarceration, Cooper still succeeded in forging acareer as an artist. In the mid-1950s he was employed briefly at Bill Onus’ Aboriginal
Enterprise Novelties, where he became a role model for the young aspiring artist Lin Onus,
and a formative influence on later generations of Nyungar artists. With help from art collector
James Davidson and the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, Cooper exhibited
regularly during the 1960s in Victoria and elsewhere, gaining recognition for his landscapesand corroboree scenes. During a term in Fremantle Prison, Cooper undertook several art
commissions, including illustrations for the second edition of Mary Durack’s book Yagan of the
Bibbulmun, published in1976, and images of the Stations of the Cross for the Sacred Heart
Church, Mount Barker, in Western Australia.
With emerging Aboriginal self-determination, Cooper assumed a new cultural voice. While
imprisoned in Geelong, Victoria, he wrote an article, To Regain Our Pride, for the JulySeptember 1968 issue of the Aboriginal Quarterly.
In an interview for a documentary, The Broken Covenant, broadcast posthumously byAustralian Broadcasting Corporation television on 1 September 1983, he recalled his
experiences with discrimination and injustice, and, in a passionate affirmation of his
Aboriginality, attacked the materialism of a ‘white’ and ‘machine’ world.
Cooper’s struggle with alcoholism, and his itinerant lifestyle contributed to both hisachievements and the tragedy of his life. Around April of 1983 he died from head injuries
sustained when he was attacked with a heavy instrument. His body was found on 28
December 1985 at Buxton, after a Matthew DeCarteret confessed to his murder. Cooper wasburied on 30 January 1987 in the Catholic section of the Fawkner cemetery.
Cooper is regarded as a leading figure of a distinctive Nyungar landscape tradition, which is
the heritage of Carrolup. His work is represented in the Berndt Museum of Anthropology at the
University of Western Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Fremantle Prison, theFremantle Hospital and the Holmes à Court collection.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Reynold Hart Artworks
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 2012.39.6, 2012.90

2012.39.6

2012.90

Historical Notes
Reynold Hart was born in 1938 and was a Nyungar artist and member of the Pinjarup andKaniyang peoples of southwest Western Australia. Hart was taken to the Carrolup Native
Settlement near Katanning when he was four years old and was amongst the celebrated groupof young artists who were encouraged to draw and paint their surroundings by teachers Noeland Lily White, the couple that managed the Carrolup School between 1945 and 1951. Amid
conditions of poverty and degradation, Noel White established educational programs in art andmusic, intending that the training provided at Carrolup would serve a vocational role. The
Mission is best known for fostering the Carrolup style of painting, a style that became famousin Australia and overseas, with many pupils going on to become established artists. The
Carrolup Mission was closed by the Department of Native Affairs in 1951, and unfortunately
many former students of the school later found themselves behind bars in Fremantle Prison,
where the Carrolup art style became a common theme in prisoner art.
Hart’s landscape paintings and pastels, along with those of other Carrolup artists, were
exhibited and sold to wide acclaim in Australia, Europe and New Zealand in the late 1940s andearly 1950s. Hart continued painting throughout his adult life, and examples of his work can befound in the collections of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Berndt Museum of
Anthropology and the Picker Gallery at Colgate University in New York. Hart passed away in
Collie, Western Australia, in 1981.
The examples of Reynold Hart’s artwork in the Fremantle Prison Collection belonged toWilliam John Elkes (1941-2008), who was a Prison Officer at Fremantle Prison from 1968 to
1969. These artworks where donated by Elkes’ family, who recalled he had a friendly
relationship with many of the Prison’s inmates. Elkes was also a carpenter by trade, and often
assisted in the Prison’s woodworking classes. It is therefore assumed that Elkes was giventhese artworks directly from Hart himself.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Tommy Karadada Painting
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 94.138

Historical Notes
Art has been a part of the prison experience since the convict era. Artworks in the Fremantle
Prison Collection testify to a continued practice of arts and crafts at the Prison, despite the lackof structured art education until the 1970s. In 1978 Steve Culley began teaching art classes at
Fremantle Prison, soon accompanied by David Wroth and Lindsey Pow. The popularity of theirart program can be gauged by the number of prisoners who enrolled; more than 2,000
students within the first five years. Initially these art classes were for Aboriginal prisoners only,
but as their popularity grew the classes were opened up to other prisoners, and were moved
into a larger space in the Assessment Centre. The Assessment Centre was considered secure
enough that prisoners could come and go freely. When the Prison took back this space twoyears later, the art classes were moved into the Main Cell Block, behind the Catholic Chapel.
Tommy Karadada was a Wunumbal artist from the Kalumburu community in the far north-west
Kimberley region of Western Australia. In this artwork, Karadada has painted a Wandjina, (alsocalled wanjina or ounjina), which are the sacred creation spirits and source of cultural law, for
the Worrora, Wunumbal and Ngarinyin Aboriginal peoples of the Kimberley. The Wandjina
established the laws of life, marriage, kinship and obligation to country. These sacred spirits
have been artistically depicted in a unique and distinctive form by those language groups forthousands of years, first in rock paintings and now as a contemporary art form. Today these
depictions represent one of the most widely recognized symbols in Aboriginal art.
Prison Art can provide a valuable and unique insight into the prison experience, reminding usthat these sites of incarceration are first and foremost about people. Created by the prisoners
themselves, prison art allows those who have been silenced by the system a voice. In thecontext of Fremantle Prison the art collection also provides an insightful and informed
perspective on the experience of incarceration, especially for Aboriginal inmates, who havebeen removed from their country and culture.

Significance___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance12
Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: 1991 Karin Calvert-Borshoff Photographs
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 1991.2-68

1991.10.11

1991.12.15

Historical Notes
In 1991 professional photographer Karin Calvert-Borshoff took a series of black and whitephotographs inside the Prison while it was still operational. These photographs were takenover several weeks in June 1991, five months before Fremantle Prison closed as Western
Australia’s maximum security prison. Calvert-Borshoff was commissioned to document
everyday life inside the Prison by the State Government, to record the facility and its customs
before it ceased to operate as a place of incarceration. These striking images show more thaneveryday life, they offer a rare view of people’s life and the stark conditions inside Fremantle
Prison. Calvert-Borshoff captured inmates, staff and educators going about their daily routines.
This photographic series encapsulates one of the best records of everyday life inside
Fremantle Prison. The collection consists of 103 original prints signed by the author and alarger selection of negatives.
The average daily routine of inmates altered little over Fremantle Prison’s history. The daycommenced when the night officer rang a hand bell throughout the divisions at 6.45am toindicate that the cells would be unlocked in 15 minutes. After the prisoners had dressed andprepared for the day, officers would systematically unlock each cell until they reached the endof their assigned landing. The released prisoners, who had been locked in their cells for the
past fourteen hours, were required to remain standing outside the cell door until told to ‘file off’.
Once the order was given they would move away, carrying their toilet bucket and water bucket,
into the exercise yards. The prisoners would move down into the back end of the yard where
they would empty their toilet buckets into the septic traps, leaving the buckets on the whitelines nearby for hosing and disinfecting. The prisoners would then be able to clean their teeth,
shave and wash their face and hands. On Monday, Wednesday or Friday they would also be
filed off to the shower shed to bathe.
The prisoners would then return to their cells for breakfast, picking up their meal from the foodtrolley before being locked back in their cells. At 8am, the cells would be unlocked again andthe prisoners would return to the yards, where they would be marshalled for work in the Prison
workshops. Work began at 8.30am, and stopped at 12 noon for lunch in the exercise yards.
After lunch, prisoners returned to the workshops until 3.30pm. After work, they returned to theexercise yards where they picked up their toilet buckets and lined up for dinner. They werethen locked in their cells around 4pm, with lights out at 11pm. The weekend routine differed,with the wakeup call at 7.45am, no work in the workshops, and the whole day spent in theexercise yards.
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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

Low
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance Statement of Significance
These professional photographs, which record everyday life at Fremantle Prison just prior to its
closure in 1991, are a rare example of life inside a maximum security facility in the early
1990s. As further evidence of how this convict site has survived through continued use into themodern era, these images have international historic and social significance. Their excellent
condition, provenance, and high aesthetic value add to their overall significance, expressing
authentic prison experiences at this Word Heritage Listed site.

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Name: Library Photographs
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 02.137.1, 02.139-14002.137

Historical Notes
From the beginning of the Convict Establishment, there were books available for prisoner use.
The Prison’s first Superintendent, Thomas Dixon, requested the provision of books for the
improvement and betterment of convicts, soon after the Prison was first constructed.
In the nineteenth century the Anglican Chaplain was responsible for selecting texts andoverseeing the use of the Prison Library. It is not known where the Library was housed at thistime, however by the early 1900s it was located in the Administration Wing of the Main Cell
Block. By 1922 the Library boasted more than 3,000 books in its collection. It moved again,
this time into what had been the Female Division, in the early 1970s, after the female prisoners
had been transferred to the newly established Bandyup Women’s Prison. Prisoners were notallowed access into the Library at this time, and books were instead distributed by the ‘libraryman’, who delivered books to prisoners in their cells. Prisoners were only allowed one itemfrom the Library at a time, and the selection of books available was limited. Prisoners often
complained that they were not able to browse, and choose their own books.
In 1975 the Fremantle Prison Library opened as a branch of the Library Board of Western
Australia which meant that for the first time, prisoners had access to a frequently changing
collection of reading material. Also for the first time, prisoners were able to access the libraryon a roster and choose their reads themselves. They were allowed to visit the Library weekly,
and take out up to three books and two magazines at a time. The Library dramaticallyincreased its own collection, which reached approximately 10,000 books by the time the Prison
closed in 1991. Prison Officer Bob Hind occupied the role of Prison Librarian from 1975 until
the Prison closed. The Library was very popular amongst both prisoners and Prison Officers,
and by June 1988, of the 269 prisoners at Fremantle, 209 were registered members of the
Library.
The Library moved into its final location, the upper floor of the southern Association Ward in
the Main Cell Block, in 1981, where it remained until the Prison’s closure in 1991.

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Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12Rarity value
12
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Prisoners Baking Bread PhotographCategory: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: 99.735

Historical Notes
Records indicate that from the 1950s, 23 prisoners worked in the kitchens at Fremantle Prison,
under the guidance of a cook-instructor and a disciplinary officer. A job in the Prison kitchens
was a highly regarded position, and sought after by most prisoners. To acquire such a position
an inmate had to be recommended by an officer, and then interviewed by the instructor.
The Prison kitchen staff prepared up to 500 meals at a time, with daily menus planned two
weeks in advance to ensure as much variety in the meals as possible. With no communal
dining facilities at Fremantle Prison, meals were placed on trolleys and taken to the various
Divisions. Here prisoners lined up and collected their meal, before retiring to eat either in theircell or outside in the exercise yards, depending on which meal time was in progress.
A section of the Prison kitchen, which is today behind a glass wall, was originally the bakehouse where prisoners made fresh bread rolls and cakes. During the convict era, the bread
was baked to the size of a man’s ration, which was approximately one-third of a loaf of bread.
However, the Surgeon at the time believed that fresh bread was unwholesome, so the bread
was kept for a day before being served and eaten. This original bakery area was later turned
into a Recreation Room, which housed a pool table, TV, dartboards, chairs and tables, where
the kitchen workers could take their breaks.
In June 1968, growing prisoner discontent with the quality of meals culminated in a violent riot.
On the day of the riot, prisoners refused to leave the exercise yards and return to work. A
delegation of prisoners met with the Superintendent to complain about the food quality. Among
their list of demands was the improvement of the Prison’s cooking facilities, a change in menu,
better quality meat, and more sweets with their meals. The prisoners became angry when theirdemands were not immediately met, and began to riot. At this point additional Prison Officers
were called on duty, and armed guards were placed on the East Bank overlooking the yards.

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By 7.15pm the prisoners in New Division Yard were close to successfully breaking into theMain Cell Block and scaling the embankment leading to the perimeter wall. It was at this pointthat three prisoners were injured by rifle fire, two shot in the leg and one in his back. After this,the prisoners backed down and surrendered.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research
12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2
International Significance x
National Significance x

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: 1991 Film Footage
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: unaccessioned

Historical Notes
The 1991 Film Footage is a rare record of daily life at Fremantle Prison. Recorded shortly
before Fremantle Prison closed in 1991, the film was commissioned to record everyday life
inside the Prison, for prisoners, staff and visitors, and includes footage of the workshops,
Prison hospital, meal times and leisure activities. It was recorded in colour, with no voice overor added music. The footage includes a selection of interviews with both prisoners andofficers, however the majority of the eight hours of unedited footage simply records prisoners
and guards going about their daily and nightly, routines. Along with the 1991 Karin CalvertBorshoff photographic series, the 1991 Film Footage encapsulates one of the best records ofeveryday life inside Fremantle Prison before its closure.
The average daily routine of inmates altered little over Fremantle Prison’s history. The daycommenced when the night officer rang a hand bell throughout the divisions at 6.45am toindicate that the cells would be unlocked in 15 minutes. After the prisoners had dressed andprepared for the day, officers would systematically unlock each cell until they reached the endof their assigned landing. The released prisoners, who had been locked in their cells for the
past fourteen hours, were required to remain standing outside the cell door until told to ‘file off’.
Once the order was given they would move away, carrying their toilet bucket and water bucket,
into the exercise yards. The prisoners would move down into the back end of the yard where
they would empty their toilet buckets into the septic traps, leaving the buckets on the whitelines nearby for hosing and disinfecting. The prisoners would then be able to clean their teeth,
shave and wash their face and hands. On Monday, Wednesday or Friday they would also be
filed off to the shower shed to bathe.
The prisoners would then return to their cells for breakfast, picking up their food from the foodtrolley before being locked back in their cells. At 8am, the cells would be unlocked again andthe prisoners would return to the yards, where they would be marshalled for work in the Prison
workshops. Work began at 8.30am, and stopped at 12 noon for lunch in the exercise yards.
After lunch, prisoners returned to the workshops until 3.30pm. After work, they returned to theexercise yards where they picked up their toilet buckets and lined up for dinner. They werethen locked in their cells around 4pm, with lights out at 11pm. The weekend routine differed,___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY181

with the wakeup call at 7.45am, no work in the workshops, and the whole day spent in theexercise yards.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance 
National Significance 

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

Low
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
State Significance Statement of SignificanceThis film footage records an exceptionally comprehensive and personal insight into life in an
Australian maximum security prison in the 1990s. Its provenance, content and aesthetic value
contribute to its high significance as an important record of everyday life inside Fremantle
Prison. As a rare, firsthand account of how this UNESCO World Heritage Listed convict sitehas survived through continued use into the modern era, the 1991 Film Footage hasinternational significance.

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Name: 1980 Prison Riot Film Footage
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: unaccessioned

Historical Notes
On the morning of January 30, 1980, 550 inmates at Fremantle Prison refused to go to work toprotest against the rejection of a series of demands made to the Prison administrators. The
Prison Officers on shift that morning feared the trouble would escalate so they called in
Officers on leave and the riot squad.
The riot squad was made up of 50 professionally trained Prison Officers carrying batons andshields. They began arriving soon after 10am. Department of Corrections Assistant Director
Jim Driscoll allowed reporters into the Prison grounds to watch the incident unfold and reporton how the staff dealt with it.
Explaining how these situations can often get out of control, one Prison Officer in the footage
says, “This happened prior to the 68’ riot, prior to the 72’ riot. They just push and push and justsee how far they can go, and one day they go right over the top.” Department of Corrections
Acting Director Ian Hill stated that the sit-out, “was a clear demonstration that they [theinmates] were prepared to ignore the established procedures which they have available tothem.” The procedure for a prisoner to lodge a complaint was to have a member of the Inmate
Committee speak to the Superintendent on your behalf. Ian Hill said that this was, “the only
procedure which the Department will recognise and accept.”
Inmates used the television cameras on site to their advantage, airing their grievances. One
inmate was applauded by fellow inmates when he said to the camera, “This is not a riot
situation, that’s totally untrue. The whole place is overcrowded, there is rats and god knows
what. Why don’t you get the truth? Come down and speak to us, we’ll give you the truth.”
According to Acting Director Hill, a lot of the prisoners who participated in this sit-out did not doso, “because they wanted to, but because they were frightened of certain groups who would infact put pressure on them.”___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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The prisoners in New Division indicated the night before the sit-out that they would not returnto their cells in the morning, striking in sympathy with their counterparts in the Main Cell Block.
However, in the morning the 100 inmates of New Division returned to their cells when asked.
Eventually the prisoner’s returned to the Main Cell Block of their own accord, just prior to 1pm
on January 30. This was achieved without the riot squad taking any action. Prisoners wereconfined to their cells for the rest of the day and lost certain privileges.
Little information remains regarding this sit-out incident at Fremantle Prison, which is often
overshadowed by the later, and much more serious, riot in 1988. Its rarity makes this footage
significant, showing both sides of the incident as well as how the Prison was set up to deal
with hostile situations.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1
2
Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Name: Oral History Programs
Category: Late 20th Century (1947-1991)
Accession Number: unaccessioned
Historical Notes
Fremantle Prison was a place of incarceration from 1855 to 1991, and is a World Heritage site.
As a state institution, most of the Prison’s official records are held by the Western AustralianState Records Office or by the State Library. Apart from a few letters and diaries, first-handpersonal experiences of prisoners and staff who lived and worked at Fremantle Prison isgained through the abstract, via objects and artworks in the Fremantle Prison Collection. In
this context, oral histories are a precious testimony.
The Battye Library holds the largest collection of Fremantle Prison oral histories, consisting of
31 oral histories which have been transcribed and are available to the public. These oral
histories were conducted between 1989 and 1995 and were, along with the commissioning ofa film and a series of photographic portraits in 1991, part of the government’s effort to
document the Prison before its definitive closure. The interviewees were mainly Prison
Officers, other prison staff and their families. While the State Library of Western Australia holds
the original tapes of the interviews, Fremantle Prison keeps copies of the interviews in its
resource library. While these oral histories are not included in the Fremantle Prison Collection,
they are an important resource.
In addition to these 31 oral histories, a number of other oral histories have been collected overtime and are part of the archives located at Fremantle Prison:•

One interview was recorded in 2008 with Clinical Psychologist Patricia, who wasborn in England and migrated to Australian in 1972. She was appointed toFremantle Prison in 1976. She describes her background and her reasoning behind
her move to Australia. She speaks about the officers and what her work entails. She
shares stories about prisoners during her time at Fremantle and talks about the
Aboriginal population in prison, including her future partner, Jimmy.

•

18 interviews were recorded as part of the Fremantle Prison Oral History Program of
2012-2013. The program aimed to record the voice of ex-prison staff and ex-inmates
before too much time passes and the opportunities to do so would disappear. A
particular effort was made to find ex-prisoners and Aboriginal ex-prisoners as only
few were interviewed in the 1989-1995 project. The interviews are as follows(surnames have been redacted for privacy reasons):
1. Peter was charged with breaking and entering and served at Fremantle Prison
from 1969 to 1983. He also shares his story about an attempted suicide. He
explains his impression of Fremantle Prison, and the rules of the Prison. He also
talks about homosexuality and rape, as well as ‘old chokey’ (solitaryconfinement). Peter attempted to escape several times and explains this in his
interview.
2. William was born in 1947 in the United States and migrated to Australia in 1950.
He worked as a prison officer at Fremantle Prison from 1981 to 1991. Hisinterview focuses on his work as a supervisor in the boiler room.
3. Herbert was an aboriginal prisoner in Fremantle Prison in the 1980s. His father
and uncle served time in Fremantle Prison before he did. His interview talks
about many issues of the Prison life including officers, violence, rape andcontraband. He also speaks about art classes and escapes.

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Herbert shares how the Prison felt before and after the 1988 riot, and how thedeath of a prisoner effected the prisoners and guards.
4. Peter escaped custody while serving a prison sentence in Long Bay Gaol. On his
recapture he was sent to Fremantle Prison. In his interview Peter speaks about
his escape attempts and plans. He also shares his experience with deaths incustody, cell conditions, drugs and gambling.
5. Steve worked as an art teacher at Fremantle Prison in the 1970s. Steve was wellrespected by his students, even going into business with former inmate Jimmy
Pike. His interview focuses on his art class, the reactions from the students andthe officers.
6. Peter was sentenced to six months for assault when he was 17 years old. He
was housed in the Juvenile Centre at Fremantle Prison. In his interview, Peter
shares his first impressions of Fremantle Prison, and speaks about the Prison’s
routine, tattooing, work and religion. He also goes into detail about the 1969
mass breakout, in which eight prisoners escaped. Peter and another prisoner
were the final two recaptured after almost three weeks on the run.
7. Ronald served seven months in Fremantle Prison for arson when he was 16
years old. He was sent to the Juvenile Centre in 1956. His interview talks about
his experiences, including religion, Christmas, contraband, violence and rape inprison.
8. Fabien served time in Fremantle Prison from 1979, when he was 18 years old.
He had been in and out of jail since the age of 14. He talks about his first
impressions of Fremantle Prison and what it was like for an Aboriginal man
inside. He describes the daily routine and his work in concrete products. Fabienalso talks about violence and contraband, as well as education and recreational
activities.
9. Greg was sentenced to three months at Fremantle Prison. He talks about his
experience as an Aboriginal man in Fremantle Prison as well as the food androutine. He also goes into detail about his rehabilitation and release, which led toexcessive drinking. He also talks about how his experiences saved his sons frombeing locked up, and following in his footsteps.
10. Sealin discovered faith in the late 1970s and became a minister at Fremantle
Prison. Sealin’s interview talks about his impressions of Fremantle Prison andthe way his father and brother’s incarceration affected him. He also speaks about
the way incarceration destroyed Aboriginal families.
11. Guy was the Senior Clinical Psychologist at Fremantle Prison from 1976. Hisinterview speaks about his experiences at Fremantle Prison and the prisoners’
impressions and reactions to him and their psychiatric treatment.
12. Trevor served time in Fremantle Prison in the 1960s when he was around 15
years old. Trevor speaks about his experience in the Juvenile Centre and what it
meant to him. He also talks about his future plans.
13. Jim was a Prison Officer in Fremantle Prison from 1967 until the closure in 1991.
In the interview he shares his experience in Fremantle, the violence, contraband
and the relationship between the officers and prisoners.
14. Ray began working at Fremantle Prison as an officer in 1972. His interview talks
about his background and how he came to work at the Prison. He also shares his
experiences with the routine of looking after the prisoners.
15. Barbara was charged with assault and served 12 months at Fremantle Prison in
1968. Her interview talks about Female Division and her experience as an
Aboriginal woman in Fremantle Prison.

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Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY186

16. Merril’s father was the surgeon at Fremantle Hospital and Fremantle Prison. Her
interview talks about her childhood living at number 18 The Terrace, and herexperience with prisoners working in and around her home.
17. Shane was first incarcerated at Fremantle Prison in 1980. He talks about his firstdays in Fremantle Prison and the cell conditions. He explains his work in theconcrete products workshop, family visits and solitary confinement.
18. Bruce began working at Fremantle Prison as an officer in 1979. He talks about
the reputation of Fremantle Prison and the daily routine. He speaks about the
Purple Circle and the officers, the Aboriginal community in the Prison and escapeattempts.
Significance
Assessment and Comparative Criteria
High
Aesthetic Significance1
2
Historic Significance1
2Social/ Spiritual Significance1
2
Science/Research12
Rarity value
1 
2Condition1
2
Provenance1
2Interpretative Potential
1
2International Significance x
National Significance 

Low
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
3
4
5
State Significance ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fremantle Prison Collection Significance Assessment
Heritage TODAY187