21. Prisons to Parks

We had some time to spare in Fremantle after the wedding before driving home and decided that the best thing to do would be to look around Fremantle Prison, now a world heritage site. 

It's not possible to just wander around unaccompanied so we took a tour which gave an introduction to the prison and its development from its beginnings when it received those unlucky souls sentenced to transportation in the early 1800's through to its closure in 1991. The guide gave us an extremely interesting, entertaining and thought provoking talk throughout the tour, mixing factual information with some amateur dramatics.

Overall it was a fascinating couple of hours and a stark reminder of the darker side Britain's colonial past. By today's standards the early years accommodation and facilities were positively inhumane and even the latter day facilities were grim. Every single detail of the custodial sentence was meticulously planned...for example there were three steps up to the chapel representing the Holy Trinity, the sixth commandment had been changed from Thou shalt not kill to Thou shalt not murder, so as to absolve those soldiers who had legitimately slain enemies during battle and the solitary confinement block was specially designed so as to amplify noise, talking being forbidden by those condemned to this special punishment.

Once the tour was finished we helped the grooms load up the cars with luggage, cards, presents, flowers and leftover wedding cake and headed home. Over dinner and a glass or two of Mandoon winery's finest sparkling wine we reflected on the events of the momentous weekend with numerous anecdotes, amusing stories and observations.

Next morning (Monday) we set off reasonably early in order to catch the train into Perth city. After a little exploring we headed for the Western Australia Mint for a tour explaining about the history of the most precious of metals and the effect the gold rush had on the State as well as the Mint's current operations and responsibilities. This was followed by a demonstration of pouring molten gold into an ingot (unfortunately there were no free samples), but as an amusing aside we had our weight measured in terms of the current price of gold...literally finding out what we were worth. I was valued at some A$4.7 million. 

We then had lunch at the Grosevnor Hotel across the road from the mint and the same place that the mint workers would go drinking after a hard days smelting. We did wonder if a finger would be enough to pay for our meal but stopped short of amputation and trying.

Moving onwards we had time for a brief look at St Mary's Cathederal before catching the bus across the city to Kings Park. The Park affords panoramic views over the city and the Swan River as well as being a haven for many plant species and birds. We spotted a couple of kookaburras as well as numerous rainbow lorikeets, the latter being just as brightly coloured as their name suggests.

By now it was late afternoon and we made our way back home amongst the rush hour commuters, another busy and interesting day complete.