Browse Descriptions for: Fremantle Prison

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Rating: 5 | Votes: 1 | Date: 04/06/2026 14:03:00

Built by convict labour from limestone quarried on the site, Fremantle Prison is the largest convict-built structure in Western Australia and the most intact convict establishment in the country. Construction began in the early 1850s after convicts started arriving to ease a labour shortage in the young Swan River Colony, and the first prisoners moved into the imposing Main Cell Block in 1855. Known at first as the Convict Establishment, it held thousands of transported men before transportation...