Fremantle

Back on the convict trail with a visit to Fremantle Prison. Like so many built by convicts for convicts but unlike similar institutions such as those at Botany Bay and Port Arthur, the convicts were invited at the request of the settlers to provide much needed labour to the flagging Swan River Colony. And so on May 1, 1849 transportation began of prisoners to work on the prison. In the day it was believed that redemption could only be received in the eyes of God and so it wasn't until the chapel was completed in 1855 that the convicts began to take up residence. Our guide and jailer (and former guard) Brett was a wealth of information both of the prison itself and in some of the occupants over the years. There are so many stories I could tell but I'll settle for this gem.

Joseph "Moondyne Joe" Johns was sent to Fremantle prison in 1866. As a habitual escapee he was presented with his specially constructed cell upon his arrival. The standard limestone cell had been completely lined with jarrah wood sleepers, nailed to the walls with 1000 150mm iron spikes. Two additional sets of bars were added to the window opening and when admitted, Johns was chained by his neck to one of those sets of bars. So confident was he that Johns would never escape Governor John Hampton stated that if he should he would personally pardon him. In early 1867 on the advice of the prison doctor, Johns was let out of his cell for extended periods for the good of his health. He was set to back breaking hard labour, crushing rocks with a pick. Over time though the guards got lazy and didn't have the pile of rocks cleared that were building from Johns' efforts. One day the continual hammering of the pick stopped. Investigating the lack of noise, the guards found that Johns had begun to alternate between the rocks and the external wall of the prison. Having dug through he had subsequently made his escape. Johns remained at large for two years before his recapture. He wasn't given his pardon on a technicality, since he had escaped from the prison grounds and not his cell and instead given a further 4 years hard labour. However, in 1871 word of Hampton's promise having reached the senior establishment Moondyne Joe was given his letter of leave in May of that year and set free.

Me without a plan is a nightmare. I knew what I wanted to do but not really where anything was and having gone to the information centre to pick up a map I should have really taken the time to sit down and... plan. However, time was a wasting and so I plodded down to my first site of the day, the Roundhouse, the Swan Colony's original prison. Next was my visit to Fremantle Prison, at the other end of town. Onwards and downwards back to the harbour (more or less next door to the Roundhouse) to visit the Maritime Museum (my extra is of one of the display vessels HMAS Ovens) before heading along to Fishermans Harbour for tea then back up the hill to the war memorial for sunset. Then back down to the harbour side to catch the train to Perth.

My poor tootsies! ;-)