Henderson was immediately faced with three major priorities.
First, he had to acquire secure temporary premises to house the convicts. For this purpose he hired a warehouse from local merchant and Harbour Master Daniel Scott, refurbishing it to suit his needs (Conservation Plan p20). The Esplanade Hotel currently occupies the site where that warehouse was once located. This temporary prison became home for an ever-growing population of convicts over the next 5 years (June 1850 – May 1855).
Secondly, cottages needed designing and building as quickly as possible, for prison staff and their dependants.
Thirdly, a site for building the new convict establishment required to be selected so he could get on with his original project.
Having, in 1850, quickly attended to the first priority, the following year he set about embarking on two building projects which would answer the second most pressing problem — the provision of accommodation for both himself and prison staff.
Accommodation [in Fremantle, after the Scindian arrived] was immediately stretched to the limit, and some local families obviously decided this was too good a chance to miss, for Henderson was soon complaining to his superiors in London that rents in Fremantle were much higher than in England and he himself was having to pay a portion of his salary, as well as his quarters allowance, to secure accommodation which he considered only minimally fit for a man in his position. (Warders’ Cottages 2.2.01)
It was, he argued, ‘too expensive to house officers privately’, and the terms under which prison staff were engaged in England, guaranteeing them adequate living quarters, made independent housing an urgent necessity (Conservation Plan p21):
1851
The site for the Convict Establishment was selected, Henderson’s first choice of land being within a location later to become Perth’s King’s Park; but the Governor and his advisors frowned at having a convict institution ensconced permanently in the midst of the capital.
A more appropriate site (as far as the authorities were concerned) was selected at Fremantle.
Since very little suitable building timber was available in the immediate vicinity of the land grant, limestone, plentiful in the area, was adopted as the major, cheapest and most convenient source of building material.
One of the first things constructed was the ‘ramp’ or ‘tramway’ – a graded limestone-capped slope (later Fairbairn Street) embedded with metal rail tracks, and leading down the hillside into what was later to become William Street, almost in the heart of Fremantle. The rails were used for hauling materials, up the hill to the building site.
Warders’ Cottages – whilst building was well under way in August, Henderson sent the first set of plans for them to London, pleading their urgent requirement as an excuse for his uncharacteristic haste in commencing a project before approval had been given. He gained consent for his actions from the British authorities by presenting plans emphasising no frills, and maximising every economy.
The first range of Warders’ cottages was built.
Instructing Warders’ cottages were commenced.
1852
The second range of Warders’ cottages was built.
Instructing Warders’ cottages completed.
No. 10 The Terrace, the Chaplain’s first house, building commenced. (PD 257)
The 20th Company Royal Sappers and Miners arrived, comprising 95 men commanded by Lt. Henry Wray.
Wells – 40foot well sunk at Convict Establishment site.
Joshua Jebb’s design suggestions for the Main Cell Block were officially adopted.
Main Cell Block - building of the Main Cell Block for the Convict Establishment commenced in November.
1853
No. 10 The Terrace completed. (PD 254)
Boundary Walls – 400 linear yards completed and some parts up to 15 ft. high by 31 December (Wray’s Half- Yearly report of works 14 January 1854).
Main Cell Block – southern wing commenced.
Building refuse disposal sites – two were established: one at the front and one at the back of No. 10 The Terrace.
1854
No. 10 The Terrace (first built for the Chaplain) occupied as offices – described (in 1860) as similar to the Superintendent’s house but with 3 extra rooms. (PD 1184)
No.16 The Terrace, the Superintendent’s house – building commenced:
… being in every respect similar to that erected for the Chaplain (now occupied as offices)… the carpenters are putting on the roof. The accommodation consists of three sitting rooms, four bedrooms, two dressing rooms, one kitchen, one washhouse, one shed, one cellar and one privy." (PD 101)
Gatehouse and Main Gate - main front gateway entrance erected (PD 201) – buildings on either side (the ‘towers’) nearing completion:
That on the north side to afford accommodation for the gatekeeper on the ground floor (consisting of a waiting room, sitting room and kitchen), the upper floor (consisting of two bedrooms) being appropriated to the Deputy Superintendent, is complete, except the finishing coat of paint. That on the south side (for the Deputy Superintendent) is roofed and floored, and the plasterers are now employed there. The total accommodation for the Deputy Superintendent in the above buildings consists of two sitting rooms, four bedrooms, one kitchen, one cellar, shed and privy. (PD 201)
Guard Rooms (two) completed - one on either side of the inner iron gates – one for the military, and one for the warders.
Main Cell Block – masonry of half the building almost completed. 18 punishment cells (Refractory Block) and surrounding wall nearly completed.
1855
No. 16 The Terrace – received last coat of paint (PD 260). It is described (in 1860) as "…about 40 [feet] x 40 [feet], 2 storeys high with cellar underneath and contains 8 rooms." (PD 1184)
November – building of No. 18 The Terrace (Surgeon’s house) commenced.
31st December, - No.18 The Terrace – roof ready for shingling. It is described as comprising "…two sitting rooms with folding doors, three bedrooms, two dressing rooms, one kitchen, one shed, one watercloset." (PD 145)
Main Gate in place - it "…being a close seal gate, hung folding, framed in two thicknesses, moulded in front, and herring-boned at the back, put together with white lead, riveted together, and studded with iron knobs… It works on centres (on the principle of Colling’s patent) which has been made in the smith’s shop." (PD 260)
Gatehouse south – Deputy Superintendent’s quarters completed and in occupation as offices (PD 260).
Clock tower over Gatehouse completed.
Boundary wall – 887 linear yards, 15 feet high constructed to this point (PD 260).
Drainage/ Sewerage – two tunnels to form main drains begun.
Main Cell Block – Southern wing completed. Circular stair of jarrah installed for access to upper association rooms.
Yards to Main Cell Block – two washing sheds erected in yards, and 45ft deep well sunk; temporary privies erected.
Punishment Cells – completed.
Boundary Wall – completed.
Main Cell Block – first prisoners move in to completed southern wing, from the temporary Convict Establishment (at Capt. Daniel Scott’s warehouse premises in Fremantle) on June 1.
1856
No. 16 The Terrace – stable erected 12 ft x14ft "…of wood on stone foundations and weather boarded roof, floored with wood blocks, and fitted with rack and manger pegs." (26 July Half-yearly Report of Works)
No. 8 The Terrace (Chaplain’s house) – plan drawn and sent to London.
No. 18 The Terrace (Surgeon’s house) – plan drawn and sent to London.
No. 18 The Terrace (Surgeon’s house) – completed and handed over to Barrackmaster (PD 141).
Inner Gates
"A pair of iron gates with small side gates have been prepared and fixed at the entrance leading from the outer yard to the prison. These gates have been made principally from the iron from convict ships, which from its generally inferior quality is unfit for ordinary purposes, where welding is required. They have been so constructed as not to require welding, and, as finished, present a good appearance, and are a substantial as well as economical piece of work." (PD 141). Inscriptions punched into the metal crossbars of each gate (on west side) read (left gate): "DESIGNED BY CAPT H.WRAY R.E. AND J MANNING C.W." (right gate): "EXECUTED BY SERJEANT [sic] J. NELSON 20 TH CO. R.S.M."
Tower Clock – its mechanism arrives on 10 February and is subsequently installed (PD 145).
Whirlwind – On 30 May a whirlwind threw down "…about fourteen hundred yards superficial of the wall on the west, north and south boundaries… The whole of the boundary wall has been rebuilt two feet thick, the former being eighteen inches, and from the exposed situation of the prison site it was deemed advisable to add counterforts to this wall at eighteen feet clear apart, and each counterfort two feet thick and three feet wide. As a cautionary measure, counterforts have been added to the other portions of the wall on the lee side of west and north boundary, i.e. inside the yard. The lee side of the east and south boundary is outside the wall; these last are not yet executed." (PD 141)." This makes the Prison one of the few worldwide to have counterforts (or buttresses) built against the insides of the walls in some areas – such architectural features on this kind of construction are usually kept on the outside for security reasons.
Warders’ Cottages – plans for 3rd range sent to London.
Main Cell Block – foundations of northern wing laid and about two fifths of masonry completed.
Sappers and Miners return to England on alert due to the Crimean War
Limestone deposits discovered at North Fremantle.
Plans for Hospital drawn up. (2.2/1856)
1857
No. 8 The Terrace (Chaplain’s house) – placed on Estimates.
No. 16 The Terrace – stuccoed (PD 264).
No.18 The Terrace (Surgeon’s house):
Stable built
House stuccoed (PD 264)
Surgeon moved in
It is described (in 1860) as "…having 6 rooms with enclosed yard and shed, the same as the Chaplain’s quarters." (PD 306).
Guard Room (eventually converted into No. 2 The Terrace) – "This building has been erected on the north front corner outside the boundary of the prison yard, and will accommodate 19 men…The walls are completed, the roof put on and shingled, door and window frames made and fixed, floor joists laid, and a flight of 43 steps in the retaining wall has also been constructed" (PD 267).
Chief Warder’s Quarters – described as "… four rooms and a kitchen detached with a privy and a yard enclosed by a wall…completed except painting" (PD 262).
By July it was painted and handed over (PD 264).
Later it was demolished; it is not known exactly when, but it is possible that this may have occurred when Fremantle Hospital was built and a road made through the hillside from John to Alma Streets by prison labour
In 1878 it was noted by Broomhall that a new road to the principal warder’s quarters
and the single men’s quarters was to be built at the same time as the stone boundary wall at the south side of the Invalid Depot was to be finished (PD 1878).
Enginehouse – this structure was built in the outer yard close to the warders’ guard room forming "…a lean-to to the wall dividing the main yard from the outer one…it is 20’ by 12’ in the clear, fitted with pegs and buckets, hose etc. In connection with this building, privies have been erected for the use of the clerks in the superintendent’s offices and warders on duty, approached from the inner yard" (PD 264).
Escape attempt through north gate recorded (PD 222).
Main Cell Block – masonry up to height of roof northern wing; larger cells on upper tier; water closets in southern association wards; roof slated except for small portion shingled; corridor paved; work in basement completed.
Anglican Chapel (Main Cell Block) – roof completed.
Warders’ Cottages 19 – 29 Henderson Street – communal kitchens added to 2 blocks, each with 3 fireplaces for cooking; privies.
Warders’ Cottages 33 – 41 Henderson Street – privies moved further from the dwellings.
Hospital - "The Half Yearly Report of Works noted that the foundations were in and the plates and joists laid for the building…" (2.1.10 Hospital) (see also 2.1.12 Hospital)
1858
Main Cell Block – stairs erected, with separate staircase for northern association ward; basins fixed in about half of northern wing cells.
Warders’ Cottages – 3rd range built.
No. 8 The Terrace – Chaplain takes possession. It is described as "…same as Surgeon’s house [18 The Terrace] having 6 rooms with enclosed yard and shed’ (PD 1184).
No. 16 The Terrace – estimate of 16 4s 4d for enlarging the yards and altering privies (PD 1654)
North gate (?) closed (PD 589).
Hospital – (February) plans drawn up and "reluctant" permission obtained from the Finance Board for the addition of "another six wards, two three bedded and four separate wards." ‘the three bedded wards are for patients under observation and the separate cells for cases of bad diarrhoea and scabies variola and for other contagious disorders and malingering etc’ (PD 1713). (2.1.11 Hospital)
1859
Warders’ Cottages – garden plots in Henderson Street enlarged.
Hospital – the building with its six new additional wards (see above, 1858) was occupied at the end of December 1859 (PD 1367) (2.1.11 Hospital)
The Convict Establishment at Fremantle - building program for permanent prison-site completed in December and buildings fully occupied by convicts and prison staff.
For the first time in ten years, Henderson and the prison staff must have felt fully prepared for shipments of convicts arriving from England.
1860
During the whole of 1860 the number of convicts sent out from England to Fremantle came to the grand total of 1 (one) - an immense irony. The struggle to complete the Establishment over a 7 or 8 year period so that the steady shipments of convicts, expected to continue arriving, could be received with greater certainty and confidence, must have seemed like it was all for nothing. The economic uncertainty (probably linked to the end of the Crimean War and the outbreak of the American Civil war) was, however, short lived. The steady stream of convicts began flowing into the colony once again the following year, and continued doing so without any similar interruptions until transportation ceased in 1868.
Warders’ Cottages, Hampton Road built – possibly 2 detached quarters on eastern boundary wall, later demolished.
Hospital
August - described by Royal Engineers Office, Fremantle, in a Memorandum of Buildings:
"A building of 130 feet by 70 feet containing General Ward for 30 patients; Fever and Ophthalmic Ward for ten patients each: four Observation wards, single; two Cutaneous wards for three patients each; also containing kitchen, scullery, bathroom, store, medical store, surgery and dead-house; also five distinct water closets." (2.1.12 Hospital)
Extra bars requested for windows (PD 484) (2.1.13 Hospital)
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© Fremantle Prison 2002
