FREMANTLE PRISON

Daily Routine

1

Rules

1

Convict Clothing2

Convict Diet

3

Punishment

4

Religion5

Tickets of Leave

7

Work Parties

9© Government of Western Australia 2009
Published by Fremantle Prison, Department of Treasury and Finance – Building Management and Works, Government of Western Australia
The Terrace, Fremantle, Western Australia, 6160, Australia
All rights reserved. This publication is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, classroom teaching, research, criticism or review, as permitted under
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Fremantle Prison’s Key to Knowledge resources have been produced by Fremantle Prison for general classroom use. Teachers may duplicate the resources for education purposes only.
Research and Text: Luke Donegan
Design: Axiom Design Partners
Text editing: Maia Frewer, Oonagh Quigley
Acknowledgements:
Fremantle Prison would like to thank the following organisations and individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of this resource – State Records Officeof Western Australia, State Library of Western Australia, National Library of Australia, Western Australian Museum, History Teachers Association of Western Australia, City ofFremantle - Local History Collection, St Patrick’s Primary School, Margaret McPherson, Maree Whitely
Front cover illustration:
Flogging Prisoners, Tasmania - detail c1850s, James Reid Scott (1839-1877)
National Library of Australiaiwww.fremantleprison.com.au

CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONDAILY ROUTINE
Daily life for the convicts was strictly controlled anddefined by routine. One day melted into the next withlittle change to mark the passing of time. The tablebelow shows the daily routine for convicts in 1855.

Muster was when the convicts wereassembled so that they could be checked off
to make sure no-one was missing. In 1855
most of the convicts would have workedon the prison site building the prison. Afterthe prison was completed in 1859, many of
the convicts worked on building projects inFremantle and Perth and out in the countrybuilding roads.

1

RULES
At the Convict Establishment
there were strict rules which theconvicts had to obey. In 1851,
the year after the convicts firstarrived at Fremantle, the rules
were as follows:

No prisoner shall disobey the orders of
the overseer or any other officer … or
be guilty of swearing, or any indecent
or immoral expression or conduct,
or of any assault, quarrel, or abusive
language, or smoking inside the ward,
cell, privy cookhouse, washhouse, orworkshops, or any talking or othernoise during meal-hours, or after
the silence-hours at night; leaving
the square allotted as their exerciseground on any pretence, except to thecloset, or converse or hold intercoursewith any other prisoner or tradesman
employed about the yard, except asauthorised by the prison rules, orcause annoyance or disturbanceby singing, whistling, or making
unnecessary noise, or pass or attempt
to pass, without permission, out of
his ward or beyond the bounds of theward or other place to which he may
belong, or when at work go without
leave beyond the limits assigned forsuch work, or disfigure the walls orother parts of the prison by writing onthem or otherwise, or deface, secrete,
destroy, or pull down any paper ornotice hung up by authority in or about
any part of the prison, or wilfully
injure any bedding or other articles,
or commit any nuisance, or have inhis bay or possession any articles
not furnished by the establishment or
allowed to be in the possession of a
prisoner, or shall give or lend to or
borrow from any other prisoner any
food, book, or other articles without
leave, or refuse or neglect to conformto the rules and regulation or orders of
the prison, or otherwise offend.
Rules and Regulations for the Convict Department Western
Australia, 1862.

If a convict disobeyed any of these rules
he was quickly punished.
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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONCONVICT CLOTHING
Like the daily routine, clothing and food werestrictly controlled at the Convict Establishment.
Imperial prisoner uniforms called ‘slops’
were issued once a year from England. In
1862 the convict uniform consisted of:• a leather belt
• two pairs of boots• four pairs of socks• four handkerchiefs• four cotton shirts and two flannel shirts.
In winter they received one fustian (coarse
dark grey wool) jacket and one duck
(untilled cotton or canvas) jacket, a woollen
vest and a pair of grey trousers. In summer
they received one vest, two pairs of trousers
and a felt hat.1 Convicts involved in messy
work wore a long-sleeved, knee-length
smock of duck or calico. Convicts working
on pilot boats on the Swan River wore
oilskin coats like drizabones.
Convicts sentenced to work in leg irons
on work parties were made to wear theparticoloured or ‘magpie’ uniform. This
uniform was a descendant of the ‘fools’ or
jesters’ uniform designed to further shame
the convict and make him stand out.

Particoloured convict uniform
National Library of Australia

The magpie uniform was made of coarse
wool in black or dark brown and lightbrown or yellow halves.
Convict uniforms were stamped or
stencilled with the broad arrow mark, asymbol dating back to the 17th century
that featured on all British Government
property. A black arrow was marked onlight fabrics and a white or yellow arrow
marked on dark fabrics. Because of theirpoor quality, few of these uniforms havesurvived. Fremantle Prison has three jackets(two particoloured and one plain), one
flannel short sleeved shirt and the remnantsof a belt in its collection.

1

Detail of a diorama showing the convict uniform
Fremantle Prison Collection

Rules and Regulations for the Convict Department Western
Australia, 1862, pp 32-33.

2

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONCONVICT DIET

Convict Scale of Rations 1874
Fremantle Prison Collection

Food was the most cherished part of the prisoner’s life
and the convicts in Fremantle ate quite well comparedto the colonists at the time.
On 8 August 1855 the Inquirer andCommercial News reported:
When visiting magistrates made theiraccustomed hour (sic) of inspection
throughout the establishment, on Friday
last, that men as usual complained ofinsufficient rations, but it is well known
that such complaints are without sufficient
foundation, the supply of food being ample
and both in quality and quantity superior
to that received by many labourers even inthis colony. A man, to illustrate the state towhich they were reduced in consequenceof the short supply of food, killed a cat
belonging to the Establishment and was
discovered stewing it in a glue pot which
he had taken from the carpenters shop.
For his impertinence he was ordered into
solitary confinement.

The daily ration for a convict in Fremantle
equated to roughly:• half a litre of tea and a third of akilogram of bread for breakfast• half a kilogram of meat and half akilogram of potatoes (or sometimes
vegetables or rice) plus a bowl of gruelor oatmeal soup for dinner (lunch)• half a litre of tea and a quarter of akilogram of bread for supper (tea).
Convicts in work parties outside the prison
received a better variety of food including
cocoa with milk and molasses, cheese oncea week on Sundays, mutton or beef, andsuet pudding on Thursdays.
Up until 1876 the convicts were only given
one plate to hold their food. Extra food waspoured onto their towels. The convict thenhad to use the towel to dry themselves after
their weekly bath.

3

In 1876, Superintendent Lefroy reported:
I have the honour to bring under yournotice a practice obtaining in this prison
which is not by any means consistent withthat degree of cleanliness for which theInstitution has the credit & which to mymind is an excessively dirty & objectionable
one. The practice I refer to is the mode ofserving the prisoners’ dinners (lunch). Thisis done by placing the prescribed ration ofmeat & vegetables in tin plates which arehanded to the men & on receipt by themhurriedly capsized onto towels (laid on thefloor for their purpose) with which they dry
their persons after washing; the plates being
required for their soup or gruel. Thus thesolid portion of their dinner is eaten off the
towels, the liquid portion out of their plates.
In order to remedy this I would strongly
recommend that each prisoner be suppliedwith TWO instead of ONE tin plate at dinner,viz. 1 for the meat etc & the other for soupor gruel as the case may be.

Superintendent’s Letter Book, 11 December 1876
Battye Library

Because food was one of the few cherishedpleasures available to the convicts, thepunishment of restricting their diet to bread andwater was an effective one. This punishment
was used at Fremantle Prison until the 1970s.
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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONPUNISHMENT
During the convict era punishments included hardlabour in leg irons, solitary confinement, floggingsand diets of bread and water. Apart from leg irons,
these punishments continued well into the 1900s
at Fremantle Prison.

Leg irons
Leg irons were shackles placed arounda prisoner’s ankles joined by a chain to
restrict movement. They varied in weightaccording to the severity of the punishment.
Prisoners in leg irons were assigned to hardlabour, working ten hours a day for months
on end. This severe punishment often ended
in injury. Reports in the Prison’s Medical
Journal refer to severe groin pain, bruisingof the skin, lesions and skin ruptures.

The chain gang of Fremantle isthe depth of the penal degradation.
The convicts wear from thirty tofifty pounds of iron, according tothe offence. It is riveted on theirbodies in the prison forge and when
they have served their time thegreat rings have to be chiselled off
their calloused limbs.
John Boyle O’Reilly, Moondyne Joe: A Story from theUnderworld, 1878

Solitary
confinement

Refractory block 2006
Fremantle Prison Collection

Prisoners who attempted to escape were
flogged and locked in solitary confinement
on a diet of bread and water. There were 12
punishment cells and six windowless ‘dark’cells. Each cell had double chambers with
inner and outer doors for added security
which also prevented communication
between prisoners. The only things theconvicts had for company were a toilet
bucket, a bed without a mattress, a blanket
and a bible.
Dark cell prisoners lost track of time andbecame disorientated. Stays in solitary were
between one and six months.

The dark cell was occasionally as
much feared as the cat-o-nine tails… The braggart … whimpered
and prayed for a little light … thedark cell made him as temporarily
willing and obedient as a dog.
Convict leg irons ndFremantle Prison Collection

James Battye, Cyclopedia of Western Australia, 1912

Flogging
Convicts who broke the prison rules or who
tried to escape were often flogged. Difficult
convicts could be whipped up to 100
times. Flogging instruments included thecat o’ nine tails, a whip with nine knottedstrands or cords, and the birch, a bundle oflong birch twigs bound together by cord.
Flogging was a brutal punishment thatcaused extreme pain and physical scarring.

Cat o’nine tails nd
Fremantle Prison Collection

A prisoner being flogged was secured to
the flogging triangle, their legs were tied
to the base of the flogging post and theirhands to the top. Their back was strippedbare and a protective leather kidney belt
buckled around their waist to protect theirvital organs. A neck collar was buckled
around the neck to protect the major arteries.
Depending on the sentence, the prisoner wasthen flogged up to 100 times. The prison’s
surgeon witnessed each flogging andsometimes intervened if he felt the prisoner’s
life was in danger. If a flogging was stopped
prematurely, the flogging was completed at
a later date once the convicts wounds had
healed. After a convict was taken downfrom the flogging post his wounds wererubbed with salt to prevent infection.

… a degrading and brutalising
punishment not only so far as it
affects the person who is whipped,
but also those who have to performthe act or witness its performance.
Mr Justice Murray, 1983

4

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONRELIGION
The chaplain was the second highest paid officer in the prison administration
after the Comptroller-General. He was a central figure in the prison chain ofcommand and instrumental in the aim of reforming convicts. Reformers such as
Henderson and Dixon felt religion was the best way to turn convicts away from theevils of crime. Henderson indicated in his half yearly report in 1853 the value heplaced in the chaplain’s position: ‘I hope you will send us a good Chaplain for thisEstablishment, I attach much importance to his office, our present locum tenens isa stick and no use.’2

Reverend Richard Alderson arrived on
the Dolphin in 1857 with Doctor George
Attfield and remained in WA for almost
twenty years. It was Alderson’s job to carefor the minds and souls of each convict inthe establishment. He earned his pay, being
one of the busiest members of staff at theprison. He was required to:• read prayers in the chapel, once inthe morning and once in the evening,
every day of the year
• perform divine service every Sunday,
as well as on Christmas Day andGood Friday• visit and read prayers daily to patientsin the prison hospital• perform burials• superintend the school and direct
religious and moral instruction as wellas other lessons• keep the library, issue and approve all
reading material• keep a journal recording all
occurrences of importance• visit each convict in the prison andkeep a ‘Character Book’, which
recorded information about them• read all letters written and received
by prisoners• write a yearly report

Anglican Chapel – interior 2005
Fremantle Prison Collection

Apart from these duties, during the first
decade the chaplain also had to oversee theconstruction of the Anglican Chapel.
The Anglican Chapel was the centreof religious life for the early prison
community. Because Protestantism was
the state religion during the 1850s it
was initially decided that the Anglican
Chapel would serve all of the prisoners’
religious needs. However, after a number ofcomplaints about Catholic prisoners beingtaught by Anglican chaplains, a Roman
Catholic priest was appointed to administerto the Catholic convicts.

By 1856 services for Protestant convicts
and warders were held in the Anglican
Chapel while services for Catholic
prisoners were held in the corridor of thesouthern main cell block. Each group had achurch choir, and prisoners received marks
and remissions from their sentences forregular attendance at choir training.

• visit the inmates of the Lunatic Asylum• visit the depots and work parties inFremantle and Perth at least once a week.3

52

Henderson’s Half-Yearly Report to J. Jebb, 1853. Fremantle
Prison Research Database Document 1087.

3

Rules and Regulations for the Convict Department Western
Australia, Comptroller-General Henderson, 1862.

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONRELIGION

Catholic Chapel 2009
Fremantle Prison Collection

Catholic Chapel
Catholics were amongst the first convicts to arrive in Western Australia in 1850. It isalso likely that there were Catholics amongst the Enrolled Pensioner Guards sent tolook after the convicts. At this early stage, however, Catholics were in the minority.
Throughout the 1850s the number of
Catholic prisoners increased. Eventually
Fremantle’s Catholic community asked thegovernment to build a Catholic Chapel at
the prison for the Catholic convicts, Catholic
prison officers and their families. The
Comptroller-General forwarded the request
to Governor Kennedy. He in turn referred it
to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in
London, Henry Labouchere, for advice.

Labouchere rejected the request saying
he could:… find no precedent in any part of the
Queen’s Dominions for undertaking to
supply prisons with separate chapels,they (the Catholics) must continue to beaccommodated as hitherto with a separate
apartment for the present purpose.”

6

Despite this advice, in 1861 the upper
northern Association Ward in the Main
Cell Block was set aside specifically to be
used by Catholics for daily worship. The
furniture and fittings of the Chapel were
provided by donations from the Catholiccommunity in Fremantle.

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONTICKETS OF LEAVE

Ticket of Leave issued for convict number 7892 Richard Western - detail 1868
State Records Office of Western Australia

Few convicts at the Establishment ended up serving their full sentence, particularly
if they were well behaved. Newly arrived convicts were incarcerated at theEstablishment and during the day worked on construction sites in Fremantle. If he
stayed out of trouble, a convict could be issued with a ticket of leave within one tothree years of his arrival.

Association
Wards
Convicts who were close to earning theirtickets of leave and were not deemed to beflight risks were allowed to sleep in large
shared rooms called Association Wards. The
Convict establishment had four Association
Wards, two at each end of the Main Cell
Block. These wards allowed these men toexperience communal living in preparation
for being released into the community.
Convicts who had already gained theirticket of leave but were unable to findalternative accommodation in Fremantle,
or who were yet to earn a wage to pay foraccommodation, were also allowed to stayin the Association Wards. One warder was
assigned to watch over each ward.
Convicts slept in hammocks that were
folded away each morning. Each ward
had a large wooden tub that served as
a communal toilet. The convicts had tocarefully carry these tubs outside daily tobe emptied and cleaned. Each of the wards
held up to 60 men.

Fremantle Prison library, originally the southern upper Association Ward 2009
Fremantle Prison Collection

7

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONTICKETS OF LEAVE
Ticket of leave
A ticket of leave allowed a convict towork outside the prison before theirsentence had expired and to receive awage. These men had to observe a strict
set of conditions and could quickly lose
their ticket if found breaking the rules.
For example, ticket of leave men were notallowed to drink alcohol.

Convict depots were set up throughout
the colony to serve as accommodationand employment depots for ticket of leavemen. They had to report regularly to local
magistrates and to present their ticket toanyone who asked. These men were notallowed to leave the colony. These rules were
set out clearly on the slip of paper that was theconvict’s ticket to conditional freedom.

Conditional
pardonA convict who followed the rules of his
ticket of leave eventually was given a
conditional pardon.
Once a convict received their conditional
pardon they were effectively free. However,while they could leave the colony, they
were not allowed to return to Great Britain.
They were also not allowed to join any
official organisations or associations. For
many of these men, the convict badge wasa stain on their character which they wereforced to wear for the rest of their lives.
Very few convicts ever received a free orfull pardon which would give them thesame rights as other free citizens.

Challenges for
ex-convicts
The convict era was a period of gradualtransformation for Fremantle town. Having a
population of roughly 500 settlers when thefirst convicts arrived in 1850, the townshipgrew to 1607 residents in 1854 and 2946
residents five years later in 1859.4 Ex-convicts
made up the majority of these people. In
Fremantle during the 1860s men outnumbered
women by five to one. It was difficult for freed
convicts to find a partner if they wanted tomarry and raise a family in the colony.
Fremantle during this time had a lotof anti-social behaviour and crime anddrunkenness was a major problem. Exconvicts were particularly vulnerable to thetemptation of alcohol.
But perhaps the largest problem facing exconvicts was the shame of being a ‘bondedman’. Ex-convicts found it difficult tofind work or to be treated as equals in thecommunity. Ex-convicts were not allowed
to be members of associations and were
subject to prejudice in their dealings withthe business sector and the government.
Ticket of Leave issued for convict number 7892 Richard Western 1868
State Records Office of Western Australia

8

4Hitchcock, J.K., The History of Fremantle – the front gate ofAustralia 1829-1929, p. 43.

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONWORK PARTIESOne of the few images of a work party in Fremantle,
returning to the Convict Establishment c1870
Fremantle Prison Collection

A work party or chain gang was a party of convicts assigned to hard labour in chains.
Convict work parties were used to build public works and buildings throughout
the colony. Work parties worked up to ten hours a day, each convict linked to his
companions by a long length of chain. Residents of Fremantle during the 1850s and1860s would have been very familiar with the early morning sound of jangling chainsas work parties made their way through the streets to the various construction sites.

The 1850s
While the convicts were building theConvict Establishment in Fremantle they
were also working on other building projects
throughout the colony. During the 1850s
a number of important buildings wereconstructed, as well as the infrastructurethat slowly transformed Fremantle, Perthand the wider colony from a sleepy
backwater into a busy community.
Between 1850 and 1862 the convicts built
563 miles of road and 239 bridges. They
also cut down more than 4,000 trees, dug
44 wells and made 543 culverts.

Convict depots were built at North
Fremantle, Mount Eliza, Guildford,
York, Toodyay, Bunbury, Albany, andPort Gregory. These depots were usedas employment offices organising theemployment of ticket of leave men andconditional pardoners on construction sites
throughout the state.
During the 1850s convicts built the South Bay
Jetty at Anglesea Point and the North Bay
Jetty in the mouth of the Swan River.5 The
South Bay Jetty was 484 feet long and wasFremantle’s main jetty until the early 1870s.

In 1852 convicts built a road between
Albany and Perth plus overnight stations
every thirty-six miles, which formed the
beginning of the townships of Bannister,
Williams, Arthur River, Kojonup, Gordon
River, and Mount Barker. These stations
provided overnight accommodation plus
fresh horses for the coaches that carried theofficial mail service.
5

Le Page, J.S.H. Building a State – The Story of the Public Works
Department of Western Australia 1829-1985, 1986, p. 74.

A number of important public buildings
were also constructed during this time
including the Fremantle Courthouse, PerthGaol and Courthouse, Perth Colonial
Hospital, Perth Boy’s School, andFremantle Boy’s School.

South Bay Jetty c1870
Fremantle Local History Collection

9

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CONVICT Daily LifeFREMANTLE PRISONWORK PARTIES

Three convicts under supervision of gardener at Government House c1860s
State Library of Western Australia

The 1860s
During the 1860s convicts built a numberof significant public buildings including
Government House between 1859 and
1864, and the Perth Town Hall between
1867 and 1870.
Government House cost almost 20,000
pounds to build, more than twice as muchas planned and roughly the same as theConvict Establishment, making these twobuildings the most expensive in the colony.
Much of this increased cost was due to
expensive furnishings ordered by Governor
Hampton, including several very large
gilt mirrors which can still be seen in thebuilding today.
The Perth Town Hall is the only convictbuilt town hall in Australia. The tower is
120 feet high and decorated with a numberof convict motifs, including windows in the
shape of the broad arrow and decorations inthe shape of a hangman’s rope.

Convict working on road during
construction of the Perth Town Hall c1868
State Library of Western Australia

One of the most significant convict built
projects for the development of the colony
was the North Fremantle Bridge, or the
Stick Bridge, the first bridge to crossthe river linking Fremantle and North
Fremantle. Construction began in 1864 andwas completed two years later. Although
the bridge was built by convicts working
in leg irons, the construction site was thelocation of repeated escape attempts.

The bridge itself was 954 feet long and 2078
feet with the approaches.6 At the midpoint
it was 42 feet above the water to allow for
the passage of boats. On its completion the
Clerk of Works, James Manning, arranged
for the convicts who had worked on thebridge be given extra rations in appreciation
for their work. Improvements immediately
commenced on the northern road (later
to be named Stirling Highway). Convicts
used sawn sections of jarrah to strengthen
the road’s surface which were anecdotallyreferred to as Hampton’s Cheeses.

The North Fremantle Bridge c1870s
Fremantle Local History Collection
6

10

Le Page, J.S.H. Building a State – The Story of the Public Works
Department of Western Australia 1829-1985, 1989. p. 97.

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