Behind Bars - Fremantle Prison

This week's gallery is 'Door'.

 Fremantle prison in Perth, Western Australia was built as a convict barracks and used from 1855.  It continued to be a fully functioning prison until 1991.

The death penalty was carried out here, the last man was in 1964.  The death penalty was abolished in 1984 in Australia.

It's now open as a heritage site and you can go on many different types of tours around both the men's and lady's prisons.

We have been on a few of them over the years.  It's a really interesting place to go around.  It just hasn't been changed much across the years, even whilst it was a working institution.

It is very much about doors.










And containment.

You can look through one cell door and see something so clever like this.

And yet look into another and see this.

This is a death row cell.

You would walk out of this door...

...to this

43 men and 1 woman were hung here.

It is interesting in the chapel that on the ten commandments painted on the wall, the 6th has been altered from 'thou shalt not kill' to 'thou shalt do no murder'.  Execution was not murder.















This would not have been a nice place to be.

If a man tried to run up this hill to get to the grassy area at the top, he would have been shot.

The gun tower guard was armed and watching.

The heat in the exercise yard was quite unbearable.

Intially you walk around thinking you are looking at something from the 1800s but the fluorescent strips and modern fittings really bring home how you are walking around a prison where the prisoners are not long gone.

They were moved out to Casuarina in 1991.


If you find yourself out in Fremantle I really recommend the prison as a great day out.

You can only go on a timed tour so sometimes there can be a wait, but there is a nice cool cafe and good toilet facilities.  There is an interesting exhibition to be looked at and a convict database so you can look up your relatives.

There is also an art exhibition.  The last time we went is was art done by prisoners, a lot of it aboriginal but not all of it.  I really enjoyed it, good quality work with real depth, really worth taking the time to look around it.

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Everybody went Guiding without me

I saw Cog off on the coach for an International adventure in Switzerland.   

She'll have a great time.

After seeing her off, I hot footed it to a Police Station where the international team I was supposed to be going away with were 'breaking out of jail' and off on their exciting adventure around Europe.

The girls were good and ready to go.

I'm so sad not to be part of it any more.  I worked hard fund raising, writing to so many companies, bag packing, raffle ticket selling, sock monkey making, pen selling.  I feel like I've had a lot of pain without any gain!

Thanks to my lovely and ever helpful friend in Italy, they will be met by a scout off the first plane and taken for tea and to the hostel.

And thanks to SubZero they will have their own sheet bags to sleep in.

Many people like the U3A and my mum have put a lot of effort into this to help me help them.  I hope I have made a difference to their lives.

I left them after the 'break out' in a happy huddle having a final team chat.  I was welling up a bit, so how apt that the photo seems to have misted up.

I feel a bit usurped by my replacement leader, which is interesting because I think it's how the other Ranger leader I partner with at my local Ranger unit is feeling about me right now and I'm not sure she still wants my help.

I'm at a bit of a Guiding cross roads at the moment and I don't know where I am headed. I'm hoping my ever OldWiseBird will always be wanting my help at Brownies but I do like some of the extra challenges the Senior Section girls give.  But saints preserve me I am never going near a Guide unit, that I do know!

So it was a tearful run I had tonight, the slowest ever I think, with lots of stopping and staring at the sunset.  Trying to work out just where my life is headed right now as the rest of the world seems to speed on without me.

There are worse places to stand feeling a bit lost though.  If I'm going to be lost, this is probably where I would choose to be it.

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Things to do in Canterbury

My favourite things to do in Canterbury were the boat trips and visiting the Cathedral, but after that what to do...

 Let's start with cafe life.  There are lots of them and the closer you get to the cathedral the more numerous they get.  They are well geared up for hot and cold weather.  Take the time to try them out.  It has a great French feel about it, but with helpful waiters.  Ask for what you want, not just what's on the menu, they mostly seemed very happy to oblige, this lovely frothy iced americano was the result of a conversation about what I felt like and wasn't on the menu.

Visit the Canterbury Tales.  We went early, there for 9:30 opening.  It was empty and it was great, some live actors but mainly statues and imagery.  A few of the Canterbury Tales are told (in precis) in a very amusing manner.  Despite the bawdy nature of the stories even the Miller's tale is suitable for young children here.  I think if it is busy it would be hard work and not as enthralling but I really enjoyed it.  It's all indoors but it looked like any queueing to get in would be outside.










The Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge.  It is small but interesting, especially after we had gone under it on the boat trip.  Only £2 to go into, don't expect much but I was happy to see the list of masters and look at the rates of change, especially during the plague years.  There are also some interesting history boards to read.

Did you know the term 'to canter' (as in horses) comes from Canterbury, it meant to ride at a pace like that of Canterbury pilgrims who needed to get to the city gates before they were closed for the night.

Greyfriars house, chapel and garden dates back to 1267 and is free to look around.  There is a cell downstairs and a lovely reflective chapel upstairs.  The gardens are nice to sit in by the water on a nice day.

The Canterbury Heritage Museum is a really interesting museum with lots of hands on stuff for the kids (I had none with me and had a ball playing!)  It's worth going just to see Oliver Postgate's story of Thomas Beckett but it covers a full history of Canterbury from the early Romans right through to present day.

The original Bagpuss is there and there is a Rupert Bear gallery which I loved but HWMBO hovered longer in the WWII exhibition and Stephenson's original Invicta Railway engine.  It would be great on a rainy day, but we went on a very hot day to get away from the heat for a bit.







The wall walk and Castle were a pleasant way to spend an hour, the wall walk takes you along the old city wall past a Dane John park with a mound, maze and glorious band stand.  The castle itself is just a shell, not much to see here but we enjoyed the stroll along.  I don't recommend going up the steps inside, it was a smelly mistake.

We also just loved exploring the streets, there were so many interesting old buildings to look at.

And interesting things to spot.  This claims that 2 Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs were built here, whereas it seems to me that it was a chitty bang bang.  There is a huge difference when it comes to the number of chitties!


As a final thought,  I recommend the Parrot and La Trapiste for a drink, the chocolate cafe for the coffee and strawberries and the Old Weaver restaurant for a traditional meal.  Don't bother with Michael Caine's Old Brewery Tavern, the food was ok but the service and cleanliness left much to be desired.

I really liked Canterbury there is a lot to see and do an a small area, but it felt like a city with a country town heart.

If you are looking for a B&B, we stayed at the White House.  It was in a perfect position and was a lovely stay.

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A chip off the old palace

This week's Gallery is 'I Made This'


I made the child that has her head buried in her phone almost as much as me.  A chip off the old block.

I made the girl that is happy to walk from chip shop to chip shop doing a review of each rather than hang around outside one all night.

I made the person with enough grit to stand on the baseline and win that tournament despite the gruelling heat.



I made the adult of the future that is the one who does turn up to man a fund raiser in uniform despite the fact that the 'cool kids' will all walk past her whilst in town.

I may have laid the foundations but she is doing a remarkably good job of building her own walls.  I hope when the roof finally goes on it will be a fine palace.

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Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral became one of the most important pilgrimage centres in Europe after the murder of Thomas Beckett here in 1170.

It is a large and beautiful building, as so many cathedrals are, but this one is special inside.  It doesn't have the majesty of Westminster or the wow of St Pauls but has that feeling that is so hard to describe in places where so many pilgrims with so many ardent prayers have trod.

It has an energy running through it's walls, if you stop and close your eyes you can feel it run through you.

There are the special parts to see like the place where St Thomas' Shrine used to be, the tomb of the Black Prince and his original funeral achievements or the tomb of Henry IV.

It's all very impressive.

But for me the real heart was in the Crypt.  An incredible place.  Dark, quiet, peaceful.  

I felt like I had stepped straight back into Medieval times.  I could have spent a long time here.  Actually I did, with a hand on the stonework feeling the energy of a million prayers and walking on the steps where a million and more pilgrims feet have worn them into hollows.

The cathedral has huge grounds and many different areas to look at.  Including the glorious window and ceiling in the Chapter House.

The cloisters, where the tomb stones make for interesting reading.

Lovely gardens where you can sit and soak up the history and learn about herbal medicine or the football scores on your blackberry apparently.

You do have to pay to get into the Cathedral and grounds but it is worth it.  Late on a Friday afternoon we pretty much had it to ourselves and it made it very special.

The afternoon was rounded off nicely with a decent and cheap cup of tea and a look around the shop.

It was everything I had hoped it would be and more.  In fairness for my own pilgrimage I would still rather be at Walsingham but for a historical and religious visit, this was quite special.

You'll find the information you need about visiting times and prices here.

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Canterbury on the Water

We started our weekend in Canterbury with a punt down the river out into the countryside.

We'd both had a hectic week and it was a long drive into Kent so this was the perfect way to start to relax and wind down the pace.

We had a lovely guy steer us along for 50 minutes for £22.

It was so quiet, the water was crystal clear, it was just perfect really.

We walked up into the main street, where there was an opportunity for another boat trip.

A completely different type, a row boat this time and through the city. 

The young guide was totally entertaining and for £8.50 each was worth every penny.  It gave me a bit of background in history and locations that helped me enjoy different places we visited across the weekend.














It is a lovely city, that feels like a country town, steeped in history so deep and wide it's impossible not to be impressed.

Perhaps the excellent weather helped everything to look so beautiful.












But I suspect I would like Canterbury in the winter just as much.

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Six More Generations

This weeks Gallery is Archives.  This picture is from one of my very early Gallery posts.

This is my mother, my grandmother, my great grandma and her mother.

Then of course Cog and I.

It's a nice feeling to know your roots.

To belong.

To be a part of an archive.

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