The carpenter's workshop was originally located at the front of the Prison. It provided scaffolding for the construction of the buildings and the men assisted in laying the floor joists, the floors, the roofs and some walls. They also built the wooden portable houses used by the road parties, the wooden stables erected for the government horses, furniture, wagons, trucks, wheel barrows, mortar hods, pick handles and coffins. In 1857 the carpenter's workshop was relocated next to the smith's shop leaving sufficient space for plumber's and painter's shop and for a printing office, the whole to be enclosed and entered by gates from the prison yard. A well [was] sunk inside the yard for the use of the shops.
The east workshops were expanded to include a metal workshop in the 1950s as a result of an increase in the Prison population and a consequent need for more work opportunities. Output from the metal workshop included buckets, baking dishes and other utensils for use in the Prison and other government institutions. In the 1960s ablution blocks were constructed, the metal workshop increased in size and a paint shop added. However despite these additions the need for further work opportunities remained a challenge for the Prison administration until the Prison closed.
The original carpenter's workshop is now leased to two artists and the blacksmith's shop to the local model railway club. The remainder of the space provides large open spaces suitable for theatre performances, art shows, conferences and the like.
(Currently Houses: WA School of Art, Design and Media - TAFE)
Technical Diagrams
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© Fremantle Prison 2002
