Hi,

In this blog, I will share my travel experience when I went to Perth, Australia few months ago. I love traveling and I try to have a short holiday at least twice a year. This is very useful for me to get over my fatigue and get the new spirit. Usually, I prefer to go to mountain or beach during traveling to get into the nature. The historical sight or places is one of my favorite destination. I always visit the places that have the historical value or story. It is a MUST for me.

One of the historical places when I went to Fremantle in Western Australia is the Fremantle Prison. This prison is the largest and most intact convict built prison in Australia. It is the only heritage building of Western Australia that listed in World Heritage Building. It is located in Fremantle area and it’s about 30 minutes walk from Fremantle Station.

I love the building so much. It is so heritage and showed some histories behind. There is main building in the middle of the area, which is the Fremantle Prison and it is surrounded by complex of houses. It is so beautiful area and you will get the enjoyable area while exploring the area.

I have to walk through the medium size of the road from the main entrance of the complex to the prison’s gate. It is free of charge to entry to gatehouse and there are Convict Café, gift shop, photo gallery and the visitor center.

Entry to the gatehouse is free of charge and includes the Convict Café, gift shop, prison gallery and an interactive visitor center. So, I can get the story behind the Fremantle Prison for free and I also can buy cute souvenirs from the shop. And the coffee in the cafe was also perfect!!!! I decided to get the tour for about 1.15 hours because I really wanted to know about the detail story about the prison and the story about each section inside. It costs me A$20 per person. It wasn’t expensive though, because I could walked inside the prison and gathered the story behind. The tour was conducted by a middle age of experienced tour leader. He told us the story about folklore and about the prison in interesting ways. So, we could get the chemistry while did the exploration without any boredom.

At first, I wanted to go for a Ghost Tour at night instead. It’s gonna be chalenging. However, the latest train that goes from Fremantle to Perth CBD was at 6 PM. So, I decided to take a 1.30 PM.

There were some housing complex outside the prison. Some of them were used as the residential and as the function room. We could have a look outside the houses for some of them. They do have the story behind for each house, which stated in the signage board outside each of them.

It is the video that show one of the houses that I visited.​​​

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The housing complex

One of the signage and the story behind of houses

The houses style were so vintage and so old. While I walked through the complex, I could feel the aura and the chemistry that was already built in. I love to see the style of the residences but not for stay. Haha..

Now, let’s explore about the prison. It contains numbers of building and areas based on specific functions, such as jail, field, lounge, game room, kitchen, smoking area, until the place for hanging the most dangerous convict as a final punishment. The last one was so scary and I was scare to took some photos. In terms of the jail complex, there were divided into segments based on the convict’s punishment level. Here some photos that I took inside the prison.

There was the large field that located around the building within the prison area. The field was used for many activities including the sport activities, because there was the stadium within its field.

The field near the entrance door of the prison complex

The sport stadium

The building near the field

4 levels of the jail

Each of the jail contains 4 levels with a single small room. However, there were some rooms that consist of 2 persons that based on the closeness of the convict. The area was so dark in terms of the feeling. The second floors and above were built from wood. So, the sound would squeaking, if people walked pass through the room.

The duties board in each jail group

There were the duty board that located outside the room within the jail complex. It showed the schedule for all convicts that should be obeyed.

The mailbox outside the convicts’ room

There were the mail boxes that located outside the convicts’ room. This was used for personalize each convict if they wanted to sent or receive the letters. I found the combination of the mailboxes and the doors were so antique.

There was the lounge room, kitchen and a game room near the jail. Those 3 rooms were combined and those separated by simple divider. Therefore, all convicts could be able to socialize in these rooms.

Large food containers in the kitchen area

Smoking area

There was a small area in between the jail complex that used for smoking, eating and watching TV. This was not too small though, but it was restricted with walls and this would make the area looked small. There were numbers of wood table that organized lengthwise with long benches. All convicts could also able to sit there and watched TV, which located at the end of the bench.

There was a Church inside the prison. Those convicts were regularly praying in this Church. The Church was in a vintage style and I felt like I was living on the years back. The material inside was so old and unique, which were simple and elegant. There were two levels inside the Church and there were also the separate rooms for the dangerous convicts. There were being separated into the small rooms at the back in the first level.

In the front side of the Church

 The Church was a bit dark because there was only few windows opened to let the lights went through inside the room. But we still could see the vintage style of the Church though.

The seating area inside the Church

The picture above shows the two rooms in the first floor at the back side. Those rooms were provided for the dangerous convicts. There were not putting together with other convicts with the safety reason. I love the chairs as well. Those were in solid form and looked sturdy.

There were some rooms that functioned for administration. There were divided based on the function. The room were not so big but those were very organized. The administration section was located near the exit door of the prison. It was positioned in the hall and each room opposite with one another. The style of each room was also very vintage and simple with less ornaments.

The administration section

The administration room

The painting in the brick wall

This was one of my favorite part inside the prison. There were illustrations that stick in the wall along the prison. These illustration were so organic and lively. If I’m not mistaken, the illustrations were made by convicts.

The last section that I visited was the jail for the most dangerous convicts that happened for their last punishment. The were given the last chance of punishment in this section. The area was smaller if comparing the previous jail complex. I did not take any pictures of this last section because it was not convenient for me. Why? It was because of this section was linked with the hanging room. Some of the dangerous convict hanged in this room. It was a small to medium size of the room with two entrance door in both sides. It was the scariest room for me.

I finished the tour for about 1.15 hour. And I was very happy because I could get the story behind the prison, which contains the history, the convicts’ life, the room and the function of each building. Hopefully, I can go back to this place and take other tour.

Hope this post helps you in creating the travel itinerary.

Thanks for reading.

Published by nikensmartini

I am just a girl who loves all beauty stuffs and traveling. And I am really addicted to a hot cappuccino. View all posts by nikensmartini