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Fremantle is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. In 2016, Fremantle had a population of approximately 29,000. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is Freo.
The Catalpa rescue involved the escape, on 17–19 April 1876, of six Irish Fenian prisoners from the then British penal colony of Western Australia. They were sent on the convict ship Hougoumont, arriving at Fremantle on 9 January 1868, at the Convict Establishment In 1869, pardons had been issued to many of the imprisoned Fenians. Another round of pardons were issued in 1871, after which only a small group of "military" Fenians remained in Western Australia's penal system. In 1874 one of them managed to smuggle out a letter to America where it came into the hands of John Boyle O'Reilly, who had escaped earlier. He mounted a rescue operation involving the purchase of the merchant bark Catalpa. It dropped anchor in international waters off Rockingham and dispatched a whaleboat to shore. At 8:30 am, six Fenians who were working in work parties outside the prison walls, Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett, Robert Cranston and James Wilson, all successfully absconded and made it back to America.
Joseph Bolitho Johns, better known as Moondyne Joe, was an English convict and Western Australia's best-known bushranger. Born into poor and relatively difficult circumstances, he became something of a petty criminal robber with a strong sense of self-determination. He is remembered as a person who had escaped multiple times from prison.
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 (15-acre) 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 convict era of Western Australia was the period during which Western Australia was a penal colony of the British Empire. Although it received small numbers of juvenile offenders from 1842, it was not formally constituted as a penal colony until 1849. Between 1850 and 1868, 9,721 convicts were transported to Western Australia on 43 convict ship voyages. Transportation ceased in 1868, but it was many years until the colony ceased to have any convicts in its care.
Hougoumont was the last convict ship to transport convicts to Australia.
William Hammond was a barque used to transport convicts to Western Australia.
Guide was a convict ship that transported six convicts from Calcutta, India to Fremantle, Western Australia in 1855. It arrived in Fremantle on 9 January 1855. The six convicts were all soldiers who had been convicted by court-martial and sentenced to transportation. In addition to the convicts, there were 16 passengers on board.
City of Palaces was a convict ship that transported four convicts from Singapore to Fremantle, Western Australia in 1857. It arrived in Fremantle on 8 August 1857. The four convicts were all soldiers and sailors who had been convicted by court-martial in India, and sentenced to transportation. Other than the four convicts, there were no passengers on board.
Caduceus was a convict ship that transported a single convict from Bombay, India to Fremantle, Western Australia in 1858. It arrived in Fremantle on 5 February 1858. The convict, Patrick Devlin, was a 31-year-old soldier who had been convicted of a breach of articles of war by court-martial in Hyderabad State in December 1855, and sentenced to 14 years' transportation. In addition to Devlin, there were three other passengers on board.
Albuera was launched at Moulmain, in 1854. She made three voyages to Adelaide between 1854 and 1874. In 1858 she transported eleven convicts from Calcutta, India to Fremantle, Western Australia, arriving on 28 October 1858. The eleven convicts were all soldiers and sailors who have been convicted by court-martial in India, and sentenced to transportation. There were no other passengers on board. She was last listed in 1881.
Scindian is widely considered the first convict ship to transport convicts to Western Australia.
The Perth Gaol was a gaol (jail) built in Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, between 1854 and 1856 to house convicts and other prisoners. It is located just west of Beaufort Street.
Daniel Scott was a Western Australian harbour-master. Originally from Liverpool, England, he moved to the newly established Swan River Colony in 1829. Scott was the first chair of the Fremantle Town Trust in 1848. In addition to his civic and harbour duties, he was involved with launching a number of enterprises in early Western Australia, including the first whaling business, the first ship builders, and a lead mining business.
The history of Fremantle Prison, a former Australian prison in Fremantle, Western Australia, extends from its construction as a prison for convicts, using convict labour, in the 1850s, through to its modern-day usage as a tourist attraction. The design for Fremantle Prison was based on the Pentonville Prison in Britain, and it would be the longest, tallest prison cell block in the southern hemisphere. Construction began in 1851, and was completed by the end of 1859. The prison was transferred to the colonial government in 1886 for use for locally sentenced prisoners. Following a Royal Commission held in 1898−99, some changes were made to Fremantle Prison, including knocking down the inner wall between two cells, introducing a prisoner classification system, and constructing internal walls in the main block to create four separate divisions. A new cell block, New Division, was completed in 1907 and occupied in 1908.
The architecture of Fremantle Prison includes the six-hectare (15-acre) site of the former prison on The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. Limestone was quarried on-site during construction, and the south-western corner 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.
John Acton Wroth (1830–1876) was a convict transportee to the Swan River Colony, and later a clerk and storekeeper in Toodyay, Western Australia. He kept a personal diary that recorded life on board the transport ship and his experiences at the country hiring depots of York and Toodyay. This diary is lodged in the archives of the State Library.
James Walsh was a transported convict and artist. He is known for artworks depicting the early Swan River Colony and native Australian life. He is also thought to have been responsible for a number of fine-quality classical drawings on the wall of Fremantle Prison in Western Australia, which were accidentally uncovered beneath whitewash in 1964.
Construction of the new Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot began in February 1852 and was completed by 1856. The depot was closed in 1872. The site chosen, Avon Location 110, was an area of Crown land measuring just over 45 acres (18 ha). It was situated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream from the site of the previous Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot (1851) located at the Toodyay townsite. The previous depot had only ever been a temporary arrangement born of necessity when accommodation was required at short notice. The new depot site was surveyed by Francis Thomas Gregory in 1852.
Runnymede was built in 1854 at Sunderland, England. In 1856 she made her first voyage from London to Australia, transporting convicts to Western Australia. She was wrecked in 1866.
References
- "Western Australian Convicts - General Godwin 1854" . Retrieved 17 February 2006.