Perth Gaol
Encyclopedia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
between 1854 and 1856 to house convicts and other prisoners. It operated until March 1888 when the last prisoner was transferred to Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art...
. The main gaol building, minus the yards, stands today adjacent to the Western Australian Museum
Western Australian Museum
The Western Australian Museum is the state museum for Western Australia.The Western Australian Museum has seven main sites: two in Perth within the Perth Cultural Centre, two in Fremantle , and one each in Albany, Geraldton, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder...
in Northbridge
Northbridge, Western Australia
Northbridge is an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia, separated from Perth's central business district by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines...
, a suburb of Perth. In addition to a number of displays of colonial and prison related artefacts, the building houses the museum's retail shop and coffee shop.
History
Prior to the construction of the Perth Gaol, the Swan River ColonySwan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...
had only the Round House
Round House
The Round House is the oldest building still standing in Western Australia. It is located at Arthur Head in Fremantle, and recent heritage assessments and appraisals of the precinct of the Round House incorporate Arthur Head....
in Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, the partially completed Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art...
(construction began in 1851 and completed in 1859) and a six-cell lock-up which had been built in about 1830 opposite Government House
Government House, Perth
Government House in Perth is the official residence of the governor of Western Australia and was built between 1859 and 1864. The buildings and gardens are listed on the Western Australian Register of Heritage Places and are open to the public from time to time.-Description:The building is a two...
in Perth. With the growth of the city it was deemed that the latter was an inappropriate location for a gaol and it was demolished in 1855 (the site now occupied by The Deanery
The Deanery, Perth
The Deanery is located on St Georges Terrace, at the intersection of St Georges Terrace and Pier Street, Perth, Western Australia.It was built in the late 1850s as a residence and office for the first Dean of Perth, Reverend George Pownall...
). A new site was selected by the Colonial Secretary
Colonial Secretary of Western Australia
The Colonial Secretary of Western Australia was one of the most important and powerful public offices in Western Australia, in the time when Western Australia was a British colony. The Colonial Secretary was the representative of the British Colonial Office in Western Australia, and was usually...
, Charles Piesse and the Surveyor-General
Surveyor General of Western Australia
The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia.In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public offices...
, John Septimus Roe
John Septimus Roe
John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...
and reserved on a rise on what is now near the intersection of Beaufort and Francis Streets.
With the expanding population and with the importation of convicts in 1850 to provide a labour force for public works, there was a need for a facility to house inmates near the city. A proposal was submitted to Governor Charles Fitzgerald
Charles Fitzgerald
Captain Charles Fitzgerald was the Governor of The Gambia from 1844 until 1847, then Governor of Western Australia from 1848 to 1855....
in December 1853 for such a facility comprising two floors with a basement. The project was approved but construction took longer than expected and substantial modifications to the original design were made while work progressed. The final building comprised a cruciform layout with cells, a chapel, gaolers' quarters and prisoners' yards.
Richard Roach Jewell
Richard Roach Jewell was an architect who designed many of the important public buildings in Perth during the latter half of the nineteenth century....
, the city Chief of Works who had only recently arrived in the colony and who went on to also design a number of other public buildings in the city, including the Barracks Arch and the Perth Town Hall
Perth Town Hall
The Perth Town Hall, situated on the corner of Hay and Barrack streets, is the only convict-built town hall in Australia.Designed by Richard Roach Jewell and James Manning in the Victorian Free Gothic style, the hall was built by convicts and free men between 1868 and 1870...
. The gaol was built using sub-contract labour with stone provided by convict labour. The stone was cut from limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
cliffs in Rocky Bay
Rocky Bay
Rocky Bay is a small bay, with numerous rocks lying in the bay and at its entrance, situated immediately north of Ducloz Head along the south coast of South Georgia. The presence of this bay seems to have been first noted in 1819 by Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen who roughly charted a small inlet...
near Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
and floated up the Swan River
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....
on barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s. The first stage cost £2220/15/10 ($4443).
While construction was underway, the Enquirer newspaper appealed for provision of facilities for hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
s at the gaol.
- On Wednesday last the execution of Samuel Stanley and the aboriginal native Jacob took place a little distance from the Perth CausewayThe CausewayThe Causeway is the name of the traffic crossing of the Swan River in Western Australia at the eastern end of Perth Water. Made up of two bridges on either side of Heirisson Island, the crossing links the City of Perth and Victoria Park....
, ... While on this subject we cannot help expressing a hope that a portion of the new Perth Gaol may be appropriated to a fitting place of execution. If such an arrangement were carried out, such spectacles we have here recorded would soon cease.
The first execution took place in 1855 in an execution yard on the south side of the site. After complaints, the sides of the gallows were enclosed to hide the executions from public gaze. The gallows remained until the gaol ceased operating in 1888.
Colonial prisoners were mainly housed in the gaol from its opening, but in 1858, control transferred to the Imperial Convict Establishment which managed the convicts, and the colonial prisoners were transferred to Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art...
. Transportation of convicts ended in 1868 and in 1875 the gaol was handed back to the colonial government. In 1886 it was reported that the gaol was overcrowded with 128 prisoners and at times the inmate population had reached 150. Later that year the Convict Establishment was disbanded, leading to the imminent demise of the gaol. The last prisoner was transferred to Fremantle in about 1888 and it ceased being used as a gaol from that date.
It was used briefly as the Perth courthouse before that returned to Stirling Gardens, and for a few years it had occasional use by the Police and other government departments.
Perth Museum
Swan River Mechanics' Institute
Established in 1851, the Swan River Mechanics' Institute was the Swan River Colony's first cultural centre and housed an extensive and well-used subscription library and a natural history collection including botanical, zoological and mineral specimens. In 1909 it was renamed Perth Literary...
museum collection as well as a collection of aboriginal artifacts from the Police Department. At about the same time, the building was substantially modified with the roof lowered and the entire central cell block removed. A northern wing was built in 1895.
Construction of the adjacent Jubilee Building
Jubilee Building
The Jubilee Building is part of the Western Australian Museum in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It was opened in 1897 and was designed by George Temple-Poole and his 1895 successor John Grainger in the Victorian Byzantine style....
commenced in 1897 and finished in 1899 which gave a new home to the museum, with the gaol continuing to be used until the present day as a museum annexe for displays and storage.
From 1968 until about 1976, major renovations of the gaol were undertaken including raising the roof to its original height and alignment. As few original plans were available, it was not attempted to return the building to its exact original configuration, however the exterior is now substantially restored. Fire doors were fitted with improved ground floor and first floor access for visitors.
The building is now a part of the Perth Cultural Precinct which includes the Western Australian Museum
Western Australian Museum
The Western Australian Museum is the state museum for Western Australia.The Western Australian Museum has seven main sites: two in Perth within the Perth Cultural Centre, two in Fremantle , and one each in Albany, Geraldton, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder...
, the Art Gallery
Art Gallery of Western Australia
The Art Gallery of Western Australia is a public gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth, Western Australia. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia...
, the J S Battye Library
J S Battye Library
The J S Battye Library is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia...
and the State Reference Library
State Library of Western Australia
The State Library of Western Australia is located within the building known as the Alexander Library Building, in the Cultural Centre of Perth, Western Australia....
.