This book is a vital addition to both Steves recent book on the Roundhouse and the earlier collections of the WA Dictionary of Biography series. The roundish stone building which appeared on Arthur Head at the western end of High Street, Fremantle in 1830, might look like a fort but it was built as Fremantle Gaol. For 25 years after being opened in January 1831, it was Western Australia's most important gaol. Its eight cells were used for over 3,600 incarcerations of men, women and children. Some prisoners were just kept overnight for petty offences, some were on remand pending trial, the rest were serving sentences of up to two years, all with hard labour and with no time off for good behaviour.
Some of the 3,600 weren't actually prisoners, they were simply mentally or physically ill but with no other place where they could be looked after.
Its closure in 1856 is sometimes linked to the opening in 1855 of the permanent Convict Establishment - later renamed Fremantle Prison - but was entirely due to building a large gaol in Perth which still stands as part of WA Museum.
No convicts were sent directly to the Round House but those given a ticket-of-leave, their former Pensioner Guards (and the Guards' wives) filled it to bursting.
Including 35 individuals imprisoned in a stranded ship used as a temporary gaol, there were over 2400 individuals locked up in Fremantle civic gaols before the new Perth Gaol opened.
These are their stories.
