The drive through the outskirts of Perth, through Freemantle and a bit further south to Coogee Beach C'van Park was stress free with the phone on navigator. The park is very pleasant, on the beach and not far from all of the city attractions so we will stay a week or so.
Day 1. Went to the Fremantle market for terrific fresh fruit, veg, salami, cheeses etc. wonderful. This very exotic butterfly on stilts was there for the enjoyment of all the shoppers!
Then to meet Joan at Ange Crisp's house in Cottesloe for lunch and to meet new babe Joni who is a petite, pretty, fine featured little girl of 3weeeks. Had several wonderful cuddles and then we were off to get Heidi. We had a photo shoot there with 6 mth Scarlett and her parents. Then we left her with dad Mark and we five girls, including Joni, went to the Hyatt for high tea. We had a busy time eating everything and drinking the constant stream of wine... Joan and I that is, as the girls are nursing mothers so only had a small amount of champagne!
Day 2. Glenn and I went to the Shed market which wasn't as interesting as the Fremantle market the day before... Smaller and without the wonderful gourmet food. Nearby, we discovered people sitting all along the harbourside so investigated. To our surprise, we had stumbled onto the start of the Fremantle Classic Yacht Race so spent the next three hours watching and learning what was involved.
At one stage I left to explore the vintage market in the warehouse just behind and bought a dress for the immense sum of $5 and a gorgeous handbag. I was amazed at the large number of young and not so young women there all decked out in vintage attire. They were so interesting, individual and beautiful. How I love such flair and creativity in clothing.. each person making a statement of their own, rather being decked out in chain store uniformity!
We finished the day with the Crisp family again for a delicious baked lamb dinner, a few reds and more cuddles of the babies. It was a wonderful day with exciting happenings and old friends.
Day 3. An interesting day exploring the city of Fremantle on foot, admiring the gracious old buildings, small houses beautifully renovated and the street sculptures. We thought it had a vibrant sense of history and a European flavor with narrow, winding streets, corner cafes with tiny tables and umbrellas on the pavement, and a lot of trees featured in small squares with old lampposts and bench seats.
Just after we bought a parking ticket for two hours, a generous girl gave us one with five hours remaining. We thanked her and then gave our ticket to another family. When we returned to the car we still had almost an hour left so passed it on again. Great system!! All parking in the city is metered and policed and there are enough places to make access very convenient. Most parking is reasonable... $1.50 ph .. so people use it.
We spent hours in the Japingka Indigenous Fine Art Gallery where we saw the work of Alma Nungarrayi Granites which depicts the star dreaming of her Walpiri people from the Tanami Desert. Her "Seven Sisters Dreaming" paintings are utterly amazing. They represent the 'sisters' in the night sky with star-lit luminosity, movement and vibrancy. They are exceptionally beautiful. A second exhibition of small works by twenty leading Central Desert artists captured the burnished colours of the desert heartland. The gallery itself was a handsome building with WA jarrah floors and balustrades.
Day 4. This was our 'gaol' day at the Fremantle prison, built by convict labour in the 1950s. It is a heritage listed site which has been restored to its original condition. Firstly we did a tour and were treated as newly arrived convicts, going through the process of admission until finally arriving in our cells! We were spared the indignity of stripping, showering and donning prison garb and escaped the shackles.. We saw the exercise yards, the kitchens, and the single cells no bigger than our toilet. We shut ourselves in the solitary confinement cells, with a bucket for company and had some sense of what apalling conditions prisoners endured.
Unlike our modern prisons of cold steel, the Fremantle prison is a thing of beauty, constructed from handcut limestone blocks with WA Jarrah doors and ceilings and flagstone floors. it is four storeys high with cells lining both sides of a central passage. It is perfectly symmetrical and well proportioned.
Unfortunately, Glenn had to be flogged with a cat-o-nine-tails for his crimes over the last few months!
After going to 'capacino alley' for lunch, we returned for an afternoon extreme adventure tour of the tunnels under the prison. We watched the video, filled in the waiver form and were breath tested to determine our level of sobriety. Glenn and I both scored zero! We then were kitted out with overalls, gum boots, helmets and headlamps, life jackets and harnesses and again asked if we were claustrophobic or afraid of heights. Then the adventure began with each of us being locked on by a gadget on our harness, to runners which followed the rungs of the ladder down 20 metres to the tunnels below. There were small platforms below each section of ladder where we had to negotiate a change of direction which was tricky. At the bottom we unhitched from the runners and began the walking section. It was very dark and wet underfoot and mostly we moved in a bent position because of the lack of height. This is where the helmets came into their own, protecting heads from the roof of the tunnels. We saw shells in the walls and fine tree roots growing through the ceilings as well as casts where tree roots had died and rotted away leaving holes in the roof.
The next section was negotiated by boat, two of us to a boat. They were very sturdy and we had a paddle each but often used hands against the walls of the tunnel where it narrowed, to move the boat along. The water was crystal clear and provided drinking water for the entire colony for a period of time. Without that supply, the colony would not have survived its infancy. Interestingly, Fremantle was not a penal colony originally, but settled by free man and women. It was only when it became obvious that there was not sufficient manpower to build necessary infrastructure that convicts were sent from England to provide a labour force. The prison was condemned and closed in 1991, largely due to the fact that modern fire engines could not pass through the entry which was designed for horse and cart vehicles.
The 2.5hr tour ended with a steep climb back up the ladders, a photo opportunity and a return of gear. We were each given a certificate of achievement and signed a piece of paper to say we'd returned to the surface unharmed! It was an excellent tour with an informative guide with a sense of humour.
Looking down into the 20 mtr shaft
After the tour we looked at Humaninside, an exhibition in the prison gallery which looks at the past but also has photographs of contemporary aboriginal people in cells and urges viewers to listen to how their lives are affected now. These people stand side by side with their children, parents and aboriginal advocates of human rights. It aims to have us consider the fact that our system of punishment is not working as numbers of aboriginal people in custody are increasing. " Why is this the case? Is it because we remain in pursuit of the idea that the role of 'justice' is primarily punishment?"
There is a true story about an orphan boy brought out from England under the child migrant plan, who, as an adult, meets an aboriginal woman and several children are born. The father leaves his young family in search of work as many men did and the young mother doesn't cope. When welfare come, her children are taken into care. The eldest boy Grahame is 5 and his brothers just toddlers. They are moved several times and run away trying to get back home. They are severely punished and shifted from one institution to another, including juvenile reformatories. Finally, after a series of court charges for absconding and a small crime, Grahame is made a ward of the state. At sixteen he does his first stint in Fremantle Prison, where he'll spend most of the next nine years and where he secretly begins to write in his cell.
PRISON Grahame Dixon (extract)
There must be another way
To punish
Penalize
Those of us
Who stray
And break
The rules
That protect the taxpayers
From us
The reef of humanity's
Wrecks.
Day 5.
We went to Fremantle to the Shipwreck Gallery which features a comprehensive display relating to The Batavia, it's cargo, structure, artifacts and written records. It was the most notorious of the many wrecks strewn along the Ningaloo Reef coastline.
Then a short walk to The Roundhouse, which is set high overlooking Fremantle Port and surrounding coastline. it was built to house the first prisoners of the colony and is partially restored. Like most buildings here, it is constructed from local limestone and is beautiful.
We ate local seafood at 'Lucious Lips' on the waterfront.
That evening we were guests of Glenn's cousin Rex and his wife Debbie at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club. We had a delicious dinner and filled in many gaps in the family history. It was wonderful to see Rex after forty years and to meet Debbie.
Day 6
We started the day with a swim in the ocean, just over the sand from our camp ground, followed by a short lie on the beach to soak up some sun. The wind has a edge to it as we move south and the water is cooler. Grandson Alex skyped us so we had a chat to him and then 'played' with our computers.
That evening we drove around the southern part of Perth to Cannington, to have dinner with another of Glenn's cousins, Denise, her husband Steve and sister Elaine.
Day 7
We spent a great day in the beautiful King's Park and the Botanic Garden! The park is the result of the vision of Andrew(?) Forrest, the first member of parliament for WA. who wanted following generations of Australians to see the area in its original state. An enormous amount of work has been done to stabilize the banks and eradicate feral species of plants.
The day was sunny and the views over the city spectacular. We wandered along all the trails lined with an astonishing variety of native trees and flowers, many of which we'd never seen before. The iconic Kangaroo Paw grows from miniature to very tall and was striking in mass plantings and the flowering gums shaded the pathways. There were Boabs and grass trees and banksias and tiny bush flowers. All the way along the walking paths are explanations of how the indigenous people used the plants for food, medicine, tools and shelter. At the war memorial on Mt. Eliza there were hedges of rosemary for remembrance and lavender to signify the battlefields of France.
On an open, sloping, grassed area known as 'The Green', workers were setting up for an open air concert that night. The venue is roped off and concert goers sit on low chairs or blankets. It is similar to the Twilight Concerts at Taronga Zoo except the viewing area in Perth is much larger and is a perfect auditorium. I may sound parochial, but it lacks the 'Wow' factor of the Sydney Harbour views!
Day 8.
Glenn's cousin Rex and wife Debbie invited us to their home for a birthday celebration for Rex, where we met Debbie's family, children and grandchildren, first cousins Denise and Frank and families. All these welcoming relatives are on the maternal side .... Glenn's mother Laurel. There was lots of talk about the family history and the cameras worked overtime! We were sorry Glenn's mum and sister Denise weren't there to enjoy it too.
