Project 04: Fremantle Prison & Tunnels
Fremantle Prison is one registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, as one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites. The prison is of local, State and National cultural heritage significance and a premier tourist destination.
The project team at Palassis Architects comprised specialist heritage and conservation architects who ensured that the works were undertaken in accordance with the Burra Charter.
The works were guided by the conservation plans for the place and a thorough investigation of both documentary and physical evidence. This investigative approach continued throughout the project, particularly when the render finish to the Chapel was carefully removed and evidence was revealed that the western façade of the Chapel was originally bare stonework when it was constructed in the 1850s.
The thoroughness of the research and quality of the consequent conservation works were awarded by the WA Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects.
Fremantle Prison is one registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, as one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites. The prison is of local, State and National cultural heritage significance and a premier tourist destination.
The Fremantle Prison Tunnels project takes cultural heritage tourism to a new level of interaction and interpretation – cleverly designed to conserve the historic tunnels complex as well as creating an exciting adventure experience.
The tunnels were hand dug directly into the limestone by prisoners between 1880 and 1894 to provide a water supply to the prison and the developing town of Fremantle, but were largely forgotten after the water supply became saline early in the twentieth century.
The re-opening of the tunnels reinterprets the important role they played in the early physical and social development of Fremantle, and defines a new role as ‘extreme heritage’ tourism at Fremantle Prison.
Photographs © 2006 Lee Griffith