The architecture of Fremantle Prison includes the site of the former prison on The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. Limestone was quarried on-site during construction, and the south-western corner (the South Knoll) and eastern portion of the site are at a considerably higher ground level. The Fremantle Prison site includes the prison cell blocks, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and related infrastructure.
The Main Cell Block is the longest and tallest cell range in Australia, and a dominating feature of the prison. New Division, constructed between 1904 and 1907, continues the façade alignment of the main block. Service buildings were converted into the separate Women's Prison. Fremantle Prison is surrounded by limestone perimeter walls, while a two-storey limestone gatehouse, with a central clock, presents an imposing entrance. North and south of the gatehouse, on The Terrace, are several cottages and houses – three of which are built in Victorian style in contrast to the Georgian style of the others.
A tunnel network exists under the prison, built to provide the prison, and later the town of Fremantle, with a supply of fresh water. Other elements of the site include the hospital building, prisoner workshops, open spaces, and a limestone ramp on the axis of the gatehouse, heading down towards the port area of Fremantle. Archaeological zones and sub-surface remains of varying levels of significance are found throughout the area of the convict grant.
Background
Fremantle Prison dates from the early years of European settlement, when it was constructed as the centre of the British Imperial Convict Establishment in Western Australia. While the colony was established as a "free settlement" in 1829, by the 1840s the early reluctance to accept Britain's convicts was overcome. Cheap convict labour could overcome the significant shortage of manpower in the colony. However, the arrival of the first convict ship on 2 June 1850 was unexpected. While a sailing ship had been sent ahead to inform of the pending arrival of seventy-five convicts, it had been blown off course. The Round House was full to capacity, almost overflowing, so the convicts had to be left on the ship. There was also no prepared accommodation for the warders, pensioner guards, Captain Edward Walcott Henderson, Comptroller General of Convicts, or his clerk, James Manning. Rents for accommodation in Fremantle quickly rose due to the sudden increase in demand, leaving Henderson paying more for his basic lodgings in Fremantle than for his house in London. Eventually Henderson leased two properties in Essex Street for £250 per year, at the site of the modern-day Esplanade Hotel. He used his convicts to convert the buildings into a temporary prison. Meanwhile, Henderson was looking for a site to build a permanent convict establishment. Whilst he favoured Mount Eliza (now known as Kings Park) due to its height, which gave it pleasing vistas and supposedly healthier air, Governor Charles Fitzgerald rejected that proposal. Henderson ultimately settled on the current site on a hill, in a raised and dominant position overlooking the port city of Fremantle.
Site
Description Fremantle Prison was built on a land grant of about from limestone quarried on-site, and timber cut from Mount Eliza. The site exhibits considerable changes in ground level, natural and man-made, as a result of its location and former use. The ground level is considerably higher in the south-western corner of the site with what remains of the natural landform, formerly known as Church Hill, now referred to as the South Knoll. The eastern portion of the site is also considerably higher than the ground level established around the main cell block. It is a comparatively level terrace and is the highest part of the precinct.
Fremantle Prison comprises substantially intact convict era structures, including the limestone perimeter walls of exceptional heritage significance. Other structures, dating from the time the precinct was in use as a colonial and state prison, are also significant. The convict era complex includes the 1859 main cell block, chapel and wards, yards and refractory cells; perimeter walls, gate house complex and prison officer residences on the Terrace; service buildings and hospital; south-eastern workshops; ramp access tramway (Fairbairn Street) and Henderson Street Warder's Cottages. Other elements which contribute to the site's overall heritage significance include the western workshops (1900); new division (1907); and conversion of service building to the female division and the addition of an eastern range (1889–1909).
Layout A boundary wall encloses the prison grounds, with a gatehouse in the centre of the western wall, facing The Terrace. Other roads bounding the site are Knutsford Street to the north, Hampton Road to the east, and Fothergill Street to the south. Cottages, which housed prison workers and officials, are located outside the wall either side of the gatehouse. Inside the walls, the parade ground is located east of the gatehouse. Beyond it is the Main Cell Block at the centre of the site, which contains two chapels. North of the main block is New Division, and west of that, in the north-western corner, is the former Women's Prison, previously the cookhouse, bakehouse and laundry. The hospital building stands in the north-eastern corner, while the former workshops are located in the south-eastern corner, as well as to the north of the gatehouse. A system of tunnels, constructed to provide fresh water from an aquifer, runs under the eastern edge of the site.
Archaeology Archaeological zones and sub-surface remains of varying levels of significance are found throughout the area of the convict grant. In particular, the sites of the three former cottages to the east of the perimeter wall in the Hampton Road reserve, the site of the former 'cage' in the New Division courtyard and the features upon and under the knoll terraces. Other site features include those associated with the water supply system constructed in the 1890s: the brick-vaulted underground reservoir, the associated pumping station, a complex series of rock cut shafts, drives, weirs and the tunnel network. Graffiti and a tablet records the progress of the excavators.
Walls and gatehouse
The prison is surrounded by limestone perimeter walls, which define the extent of the depot and its original topography to the south, east and north. The walls are of random rubble limestone and lime mortar and range in height from . The additional four courses added in 1898 are of dark stone with a coping. Attached piers occur at approximately centres on the lee sides of the walls. There are a number of openings including both vehicular and pedestrian gates. The walls are of exceptional heritage significance being a vital part of the precinct defining its character. Sterile zones, inside the main perimeter walls and the walls encircling the female division and outside the prison wall, were standard prison practice for surveillance and contribute to the austere character of the prison.
The entry complex consists of a combined gate house and quarters, an entry court and military and civil guard houses with embrasures flanking the inner gate. The two storey limestone gatehouse, with a central clock, presents an imposing entry to the former prison. The gatehouse and associated entry complex was constructed between 1854 and 1855 using convict labour. It was designed by Royal Engineer Edmund Henderson, and constructed out of limestone. The gatehouse has two towers either side of a narrow gate, reminiscent of those found in 13th century English castles or walled cities. The gate was made from iron which had been scavenged from shipwrecks, while the clock at the top of the structure was imported from England. The clock was made in London in 1854, installed two years later, and as of 2004, was still sounding every hour.
The gatehouse also has a smaller, second, inner gate, engraved with the names of three significant figures: H. Wray RE, who designed the gate; J. Manning, clerk of works, who supervised its fabrication; and Joseph Nelson, the Royal Sappers soldier that wrought the iron. The complex was expanded and altered successively throughout the use of the entry complex for prison's functions. The entry complex was extended north to the female division as a workshop range, the western workshops, leaving a sterile zone beside the perimeter wall. The gatehouse has remained a significant feature and landmark since the closure of the prison, as the main entrance, and housing a café and office areas. Restoration was carried out in 2005, preserving the original stone facade and removing non-original rendering.
Cell blocks
Main Cell Block
Based on the English Pentonville Prison design model of Joshua Jebb, the site's key feature, the Main Cell Block, was designed by the Comptroller of Convicts Captain Henderson, and completed in 1859. Designed to hold up to 1000 prisoners, it is long and four storeys high, the longest and tallest cell range in Australia. It was constructed by convicts in the 1850s, and there have been few changes since that time. The 1859 main cell block has an impressive facade and is built of limestone ashlar blocks quarried from the site. It is significant for the ways in which its scale, position in the precinct, simplicity, material and near pristine character ensures that it is the focal and dominating feature of the prison; the evidence of its fabric, internal configuration and spaces reveals its functioning as a convict depot and subsequent prison and its atmosphere. It has come to symbolise the imperial convict era in colonial Western Australia.
The central, four-storey high cell block is flanked on either end by large dormitory wards, called the Association Rooms. Here, as many as 80 men slept in hammocks, either as a reward for good behaviour or because they would soon receive their Ticket of Leave. In contrast, the cells were a confining space measuring just . While each cell initially had a basin connected to running water, the installation was before the advent of S-bends; the smells coming up the pipes lead to their removal by the 1860s. Following a Royal Commission, the cells were made larger by removing a dividing wall from between two cells. Electric lighting was installed in the 1920s, but there were never any toilets – buckets were used for the duration of the prison's operation. Since the prison's closure, six cells have been restored to represent the varying living conditions at different times in the prison's history. The main block also houses the gallows, solitary confinement cells, and two chapels.
The single storey 1855 refractory block is on the same axis as the main cell block to its east. It consists of twelve punishment cells and six dark cells with no light. The gallows chamber, built in 1888, is between this and the main cell block and relates to the colonial use of the prison. The gallows operated via a rope tied around a beam, over a trap door, on the upper level. Opening the trap door would cause the condemned prisoner fall, and thus be hanged.