What is Fremantle Prison?
Fremantle Prison is a former convict prison in Fremantle, Western Australia, built by convicts in the 1850s. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian Convict Sites.
Western Australia began receiving convicts in 1850, much later than the eastern colonies, because settlers needed labour. The prisoners built the limestone prison, known at first as the Convict Establishment, on a hill above the town.
The prison remained in use for more than 130 years and finally closed in 1991. By then it was one of Australia's most notorious jails, with harsh conditions and a history of riots and escapes.
Visiting the prison
Guided tours explore the cell blocks, chapel, solitary confinement cells and gallows. Night tours focus on the prison's darker stories, while the tunnels tour takes visitors underground by boat through flooded tunnels.
Among its famous inmates was Moondyne Joe, a bushranger known for repeated escapes. Irish political prisoners known as Fenians famously escaped from Western Australia in 1876 aboard the American ship Catalpa.
The prison was added to the World Heritage List in 2010 with ten other convict sites around Australia.
Did You Know?
Fremantle Prison was the site of Western Australia's last legal execution, in 1964.