What I did Thursday...

A bit in Danish and English…

Thursday morning we drove to Fremantle to see the jail which closed in 1991, mainly due to the fact that there was no running water or toilets in the cells. We took the “Doing Time” Tour which is basically a tour of the daily prison routines – then a short walk in Fremantle centre, followed by the “Great Escapes” Tour.
This is one of my favourite tourist things ever! Since we visited last they have made a “Tunnels Tour” which is 2,5 hours by rapelling and boats in the tunnels under the prison. Next time!!! Even though we have been on the Doing Time Tour previously, there was so much new information and the 2nd tout took us into the womens prison, the death row cells, the hospital, the catholic church and the movie theatre.

The jail was partly built by settlers, but when they realized what a big project it was, they sent for “convict labour” from England, and this could be people imprisoned for a number of reasons – from murder to stealing an apple from your neighbor. It took 9 years to build – without sunscreen, shade or sunglasses!
Fængslet blev bygget delvis af settlers, men da de fandt ud af hvor stort et projekt der var sendte de bud til England efter convict labour – folk der var fængslet for alverdens kriminelle gerninger – hvis man f.eks. stjal æbler fra naboen risikerede man at få 6 måneder i Australien.

Der var kun 40 pladser i kirken så de fleste fangere måtte høre prædikken fra cellen eller gangen. Kirken er nok den eneste i verden hvor den 6. commandment er ”Thou Shall not Do Murder” frem for ” Thou Shall not Kill” . De havde svært ved at forklare at det var ikke OK at slå folk ihjel nar der var indsatte der blev hængt på den anden side af gårdspladsen!!!
There were only 40 seats in the church – so most of the prisoners had to hear the sermon from their cells. The church is most likely theonly one on the world where the 6th commandment is not “ Thou Shall Not Kill” but changed to “Thou Shall Not Do Murder”. They had a hard time justifying that they were hanging people on the other side of the courtyard!!!

Billedet viser en af gangene hvor der er celler på begge sider af gangen, og bygningen er i 3 etager med celler på hver etage. Der var mindst lige så mørkt som billedet viser. Cellen på billedet foroven var stadig i brug da fængslet lukkede. Den er 2x3 meter og der er en seng og et lille bord. Hvis man havde været en artig indsat kunne man få radio eller tv.
The picture shows one of the passages with cells on either side, the building is 3 stories high with cells on each floor. It was as dark as the pictures show! The cell in the picture was still in use when the prison closed. It is 2 x 3 metres and there is a bed and a little table. If you were wll behaved you could earn a TV or radio.
Billedet viser et net der strækker sig fra den ene side af gangen på 1. sal til den anden. I starten af 1900 tallet var der en der begik selvmord ved at springe fra 3. sal. Alle blev enige om at det måtte de gøre noget ved. Det blev i 1920….Nettet var også for at undgå dødsfald såfremt man blev ” skubbet ” fra 2. eller 3 sal…
The pictures shows a net that streches from one side of the passageway to the other on the first floor. In the beginning of the 1900’s somebody committed suicide by jumping from the 3rd floor. Everyone agreed something had to be done. That happened in 1920…The net was also to avoid deadly injury if you were “pushed “ from the 2nd or 3rd floors. All the railings came from parts of ships bringing in the prisoners. And when you were set free from jail there was no ship to take you home – you had to make your own way back – so many stayed!
Billederne her viser gården, den eneste opholdsmulighed for fangerne udover deres celler. Om dagen, hvis man ikke kom på arbejde, opholdte man sig i gården, uanset hvordan vejret var – højeste temperaturer målt var 53 grader. Der var 8 af disse gårde i alt. Nederst til højre på billede 2 er der en lille brønd. Hver morgen når fangerne kom ned fra deres celle havde de deres ” natpotte” spand med der blev tømt i brønden, vasket og saniteret. På et tidspunkt havde fangerne fået tilladelse til at få tennis ketsjere. Problemet var at de brugte tennis boldene til at flytte stoffer og beskeder rundt i fængslet – over murene!!!
The pictures show the yards – the only place for the inmates to be except in their cells. In the daytime, unless you were working, you were in the yard, regardless of weather conditions – highest temperatures recorded where 53 degrees. There were 8 of these yards in all. In the bottom of the 2nd picture there is a small”well”. Each morning the prisoners came from their cell, with their night potty, and it was emptied, washed and sanitized. At one point the prisoners were allowed to have tennis raquets and balls – this was stopped soon after as they used the balls to send drugs and messages through the prison – over the walls!

De næste to billeder var på den ene væg i gården vi så. Normalt var det naturligvis ikke tilladt at tegne på væggene men i forbindelse med at fængslet skulle lukkes var der mange frustrationer blandt de indsatte – for mange af dem var det deres faste holde punkt, deres hjem. Derfor blev der givet tilladelse til at lave de tegninger.
The next two pictures were painted o none of the walls in the yards. Normally it was not permitted to draw on the walls but when the prison was closing there were many frustrations amongst the inmates – it was their home. That was why permission was granted to paint on the walls.

De næste billeder er lavet inde i cellerne, igen i perioden 1990 – 1991. De første var lavet af en aboriginal mand hvis familie har senere besøgt fængslet efter mandens død. De tog billeder af malerierne – for de havde ikke en eneste selv – alle originaler var brugt til at betale advokater med – så de hænger alle sammen i advokat firmaer i Perth. Billedet af ”slangen” er en dreamtime billed af hvordan Swan River blev formet.
The next pictures are made in the cells, again in the period 1990-1991. The first pictures were done by an aboriginal man whose family have later visited the jail after the man’s death. They were taking pictures of the paintings – they didn’t have a single painting themselves – all the originals were used to pay the lawyers and are hanging in different Perth law offices. The picture of the serpentine is a dreamtime picture of how Swan River was formed.

I England er der fortsat fængsler af denne type, dog med vand i cellerne. Det var først i starten af 1900 tallet at der kom aboriginal fangere til fængslet. Inden da blev de sendt til Rottnest Island. De indfødte havde svært ved at forstå de hvides love og regler – de hvide kom og spiste kænguruer og wallaby’s men en aboriginal blev smidt i fængsel for at spise et får. Men i 1950 blev de anti racistiske love sat i kræft og aboriginals blev integreret i fængslet i Fremantle.
In England there are still prisons of this type, but with water in the cells. It was only in the beginning of the 1900’s that aboriginal prisoners came to this prison. Before that they were sent to Rottnest Island. The aboriginals had a difficult time understanding the settler’s rules – they came and ate kangaroo’s and wallaby’s but an aboriginal was thrown in jail for eating a sheep! But in the 1950’s the anti racial laws came into use and the aboriginal criminals were integrated in the prison in Fremantle.
Billedet viser hvor de dødsdømte blev hængt. Den sidste blev henrettet i Fremantle 1960’erne. The picture shows where the deathrow criminals were hung. The last execution took place in Fremantle in the 1960’s.

One part of the jail is now rented out to small businesses just starting up...they have a very reasonable rent and get an office in a cell!!!

Thursday evening was spent in the company of Westurn border collies and some very interesting agility people for Renes birthday.

We have a chane of plans for the weekend. We have been unable to get anywhere to stay in Kargoorlie so we are going up to Wave Rock Sunday instead!