Portal:Western Australia/Selected article/July 2007

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Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The 60,000 m² site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art. The prison was built by convict labour in the 1850s, and transferred to the colonial government in 1886 for use as a gaol for locally-sentenced prisoners. During World War I and World War II, the Australian Army took over part of the prison and used it as a military prison. The gallows room was the only legal place of execution in Western Australia between 1888 and 1984, with 43 men and one woman hanged in this period. It closed as a prison in 1991 and reopened as a historic site and is now a public museum, managed by the Government of Western Australia. One of the notable features of the history is the preservation of art and graffiti on the walls in some cells.