The Round House is the oldest building still standing in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. It is located at Arthur Head in Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

, and recent heritage assessments and appraisals of the precinct of the Round House incorporate Arthur Head.

The first permanent building in the Swan River Colony

Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

, it was designed by Henry Willey Reveley

Henry Willey Reveley

Henry Willey Reveley was a civil engineer responsible for the earliest public works at the Swan River Colony, the foundation of the state of Western Australia....

 and built in 1830.

Intended as a prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

, it had eight cells and a jailer's residence, all of which opened onto a central courtyard. The design was based on the Panopticon

Panopticon

The Panopticon is a type of building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe all inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched...

, a type of prison designed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...

.

It was used for colonial and indigenous

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 prisoners until 1886, when control of the Convict Establishment prison (now Fremantle Prison

Fremantle Prison

Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art...

) was transferred to the colony. After that, the smaller Round House was used as a police lockup until 1900, when it became the living quarters for the chief constable and his family.

The Round House had a plaque placed by the Royal Western Australian Historical Society

Royal Western Australian Historical Society

Royal Western Australian Historical Society has for many decades been the main association for Western Australians to collectively work for adequate understanding and protection of the cultural heritage of Perth and Western Australia...

 as part of commemorating historical sites in the Western Australia Centenary year of 1929.

The Fremantle City Council took over responsibility for the Round House in 1982, and it was opened to the public shortly afterwards. Currently it opens to the public seven days a week. Entry is by gold coin ($1 or $2) donation.

Further reading

• Davidson, Dianne.(2001) The rescue of the round house. Newsletter (Fremantle History Society), Summer, 2001, p. 1-3,
• Scott, Peter.(1989) Hiding history : The Round House. (Aboriginal imprisonment in the Round House). Murdoch ethos, p. 37-50, (essays in Australian history in honour of Foundation Professor Geoffrey Bolton edited by Rae Frances and Bruce Scates. Murdoch, W.A.: Murdoch University.
• Webb, David and Warren, David (2005) Fremantle : beyond the Round House Fremantle, W.A. Longley Books.

External links

• http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/viewplace.html?place_seq=896&offset=1&view=library Heritage Council Library bibliography of books, reports and studies 1984 to 2006