To examine the history of Fremantle, Western Australia’s first purpose-built asylum.
Method:
A range of primary sources were consulted.
Results:
Fremantle was opened in 1865 to house inmates away from the populace and for the most part under the care of Dr HC Barnett. Attendants as well as inmates were occupied with work roles that kept the asylum functioning cost effectively.
Conclusion:
Within 15 years, the structure was neglected and overcrowded. Changes to the Penal Servitude Act limiting convict transportation, petty crime and a need to manage its proliferation resulted in large numbers of people being incarcerated at Fremantle.
CSO Letter Book (Convicts) 1156/C8 22May1865 p. 484.
2.
SROH of WA AUWA A660.
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MaudeP. Treatment of Western Australia’s mentally ill during the early colonial period: 1826–1865. Australas Psychiatry2013; 21: 397–401. DOI: 10.1177/1039856213492863
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Attfield Surgeon Superintendent Annual Report of the Comptroller General. 1865. House of Commons of Parliamentary Papers, 1866 (3735).
5.
MegaheyN. Living in Fremantle Asylum: the colonial experience of intellectual disability 1829–1900. In: CocksEFoxCBroganM, et al. (eds) Under blue skies: the social construction of intellectual disability in Western Australia. Perth: Edith Cowan University Press, 1996, pp.1–52.
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Perth Enquirer, 18th January1871.
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JacksonM. The borderland of imbecility: medication, society and the fabrication of the feeble min in late Victorian and Edwardian England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000.
13.
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14.
MartyrP. ‘Unlikely reformer: Dr Henry Calvert Barnett (1832–1897). Australas Psychiatry2017; 25: 497–500. DOI: 10.1177/1039856217715992
15.
Western Australian, 10th February1891.
16.
Inquirer, 2nd April1890.
17.
Western Australian, 10th February1891.
18.
State Records Office of Western Australia. AUWA A1223.
