page_title: Fremantle Prison
section_title: Tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Fremantle Prison / Tourism
caption_attribution_description: Artwork found under whitewash in James Walsh`s cell Fremantle Prison
context_page_description: Fremantle Prison, sometimes referred to as Fremantle Gaol or Fremantle Jail, is a former Australian prison and World Heritage Site in Fremantle, Western Australia. The six-hectare site includes the prison cellblocks, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, and tunnels. It was initially used for convicts transported from Britain, but was transferred to the colonial government in 1886 for use for locally-sentenced prisoners. Royal Commissions were held in 1898 and 1911, and instigated some reform to the prison system, but significant changes did not begin until the 1960s. The government department in charge of the prison underwent several reorganisations in the 1970s and 1980s, but the culture of Fremantle Prison was resistant to change. Growing prisoner discontent culminated in a 1988 riot with guards taken hostage, and a fire that caused $1.8 million worth of damage. The prison closed in 1991, replaced by the new maximum-security Casuarina Prison.
  The prison was administered by a comptroller general, sheriff, or director, responsible for the entire convict or prison system in Western Australia, and a superintendent in charge of the prison itself.
context_section_description: Fremantle Prison receives international and domestic tourists, as well as ex-prisoners, former prison officers, and their descendants. Tourist numbers increased each year from 2001/02 to 2009/10, up from almost 105,000 to nearly 180,000 over that period. As of 2018, the prison has won, been a finalist in, or received other commendation at tourism or heritage awards each year since 2006. While the tourist experience is based on authenticity and heritage values, some details are concealed or de-emphasised, such as prison tattooing, riots, and graffiti portraying revenge, sexuality, or brutality.
  Attractions include guided tours, a visitors' centre with searchable convict database, art gallery, café, gift shop, and tourist accommodation. Educational activities are regularly held for school children, as are exhibitions and re-enactments of historical events. Functions such as theme parties and dinners are held in the prison, with re-enactments serving as entertainment. Tours of the prison show aspects of prison life and recount successful and attempted escapes. Sections of the tunnels are accessible, and night tours focus on the prison's reputation for being haunted.
  The Fremantle Prison Collection contains around 15,000 items associated with the prison's site, history, or the experiences of its workers and prisoners. It is also involved in preserving oral histories, with interview transcripts stored at Fremantle Prison and recordings archived in the Battye Library Oral History Collection. Recollections have been recorded since 1989, and include the experiences of authorities, staff, volunteer visitors, and prisoners. The Fremantle Prison records and collections, including archaeological, provide a substantial resource for researchers.
  The Prison Gallery showcases and offers for sale the artworks of current and ex-prisoners of Western Australia. It also hosts other exhibits related to the history of the prison, including historical artefacts. Many cells and areas of the prison depict prisoners' artwork, including that of the 19th-century forger James Walsh, whose artwork was hidden beneath layers of white-wash for decades. Painting or drawing on walls was originally forbidden, though graffiti, which could be viewed as art or vandalism, occurred throughout the prison's operational years. This rule was relaxed in special cases – including, from 1976, long-term prisoners within their own cells – but only for work considered art and not graffiti. Art, or art therapy, was not officially permitted until the 1980s; graffiti was never formally permitted, but in the prison's last six months, with closure imminent, the rule was not enforced.
  A more contemporary prison artist was Dennis (NOZ) Nozworthy, who stated that he found art on death row, in 1982. Some of his work currently is held in the collections of Curtin University, Perth Central TAFE, and the WA Government, Department of Justice.
  Other cells contain Aboriginal artwork, many by unknown artists. The Walmajarri artist Jimmy Pike started painting in Fremantle prison, having received tuition from Steve Culley and David Wroth.
caption: Drawing found in James Walsh's cell
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