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Much more will be discovered about Fremantle Prison - one of the State's most fascinating archaeological sites - thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed this week by what was known as ‘the Establishment' and The University of Western Australia.

In 2010 Fremantle Prison became one of 11 Australian Convict Sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Fremantle Prison is the only site of built heritage on the World Heritage List in Western Australia and holds the potential for extraordinary archaeological and historical research.

UWA's Discipline of Archaeology will work with the Prison to advance the management and interpretation of historical archaeological resources and to develop a program to teach UWA Archaeology students.

The Prison - one of the largest surviving convict prisons in the world - was built as a convict barracks in the 19th century and remained in continual use until 1991. It was a place of hangings, floggings, dramatic convict escapes and prisoner riots. Inmates included imperial convicts, colonial prisoners, enemy aliens, prisoners of war and maximum-security detainees.

The first convict transport sailed into Fremantle Harbour in 1850. The Convict Establishment, as the prison was first known, was built by convict labour between 1852 and 1859 using limestone quarried on the site. The first prisoners moved into the main cell block in 1855.

The Establishment was renamed Fremantle Prison in 1867. After the Rottnest Island Aboriginal Prison closed in 1903, prisoners from Fremantle Prison were sent to the island to carry out public works. During the Second World War, the Australian Defence Department sequestered part of the prison as a military detention centre. A large number of Italian Australians, identified as ‘enemy aliens' were incarcerated at Fremantle during the war.

Following a series of prisoner riots and growing concerns with conditions, a royal commission in 1983 recommended the Prison's closure. Female prisoners had already been transferred to a new facility at Bandyup Women's Prison in 1970. Fremantle was decommissioned on 8 November 1991 and its prisoners transferred to Casuarina Prison, replacing Fremantle Prison as the State's main maximum-security prison.

After its closure the WA State Government embarked on a long-term conservation plan to ensure the Prison's preservation for future generations.

Under the terms of the MOU, all excavated materials will remain the Prison's property.

Media references

Assistant Professor Thomas Whitley (UWA School of Social Sciences)  (+61 8) 6488 4307
Luke Donegan (Manager Heritage Conservation, Fremantle Prison)  (+61 8) 9336 9215
David Stacey (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716