Fremantle Prison — Attraction in Fremantle

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5-Star Google Review – Historical Fremantle Prison Tour

Our visit to Fremantle Prison yesterday afternoon was nothing short of extraordinary. We joined the 2:00 pm historical tour, and from the very first moment, it was clear we were in for something special, immersive, and deeply informative. This isn’t just a museum or an old building—it’s a living piece of Western Australia’s past, brought to life with vivid storytelling and hauntingly beautiful architecture.

Our tour guide was an absolute standout—passionate, knowledgeable, and engaging. Their ability to weave the complex history of the prison into an interactive and thought-provoking journey made the entire experience unforgettable. With just the right balance of seriousness, dark humor, and historical detail, we were taken deep into the stories of the prisoners, guards, and everyday life behind these formidable limestone walls.

We explored cell blocks, solitary confinement cells, exercise yards, the gallows, and various other parts of the facility. Each section of the prison seemed to hold its own unique story, some chilling, others fascinating, all contributing to a greater understanding of what Fremantle Prison once was. The guide didn’t shy away from the more intense elements of the prison’s history—capital punishment, overcrowding, escape attempts, and the harsh conditions endured by inmates. Yet they presented everything with deep respect for the people who lived and worked there.

What impressed us most was how well-preserved and authentically presented everything was. The restoration work and attention to historical accuracy is exceptional. You can feel the weight of history as you walk through the corridors. Nothing felt overly commercialized or diluted—the atmosphere was raw and real, and it gave us a genuine sense of what life must have been like during the prison’s operational years.

One surprising highlight was the original prisoner artwork, still visible on the walls of some cells. It was both haunting and beautiful—testaments to the human need for expression even in the most oppressive environments. It reminded us that this was more than just a building—it was once a place where thousands of people lived out incredibly difficult chapters of their lives.

The tour lasted just over an hour, but it flew by because of how well-paced and captivating it was. We left feeling not only informed but also reflective about the social and cultural legacy of the prison system in Western Australia.

Fremantle Prison is an absolute must-visit for anyone visiting the area, whether you’re a history buff or just curious about local heritage. It’s more than just a tourist attraction—it’s an eye-opening, unforgettable journey into the past.

A powerful, beautifully run historical site that truly honors its complex legacy. Highly...

Visiting from Melbourne, this was our first time to Perth and many people had recommended to visit the Fremantle Prison.

After visiting, all I can say is that we deeply disappointed.

The prison of offers a few different selections of tours, however, you aren’t allowed to walk around and admire the site at your own leisure.

Furthermore, On the tours, you’ll be accompanied by people who have audio tours. These are for non-English speaking visitors.

This meant that the tour guide had to act not only as a tour guide for the English-speaking visitors but also in a sense, a school teacher for the non-English speaking visitors and tell them which buttons to press during different stages of the tour. We were constantly being hurried along as well, and it did feel like we were back in primary school. We were told where to go and where to stand. This made the experience feel very uncomfortable as we weren’t allowed to admire and absorb the ‘here and now’ of the environment. It was difficult to take photos or take selfies.

I would highly suggest to the staff of the prison, To offer a separate tour for the non-English speaking visitors… It is simply too uncomfortable and too much for the tour guide To offer a guide while trying to explain things to the visitors as well as look after the non-English-speaking visitors. Aside from this, There should be areas that you can allow to wonder, Just like you can add a museum.

The staff at Fremantle prison claim they don’t allow people to wander because it used to be a prison, however I have visited the Old Melbourne Gaol and they do allow people to have an option of doing a guided tour, a self guided tour or indeed wonder at your own pace like you would in a museum.

The staff at Fremantle prison, also claim that their way of business and consolidating the tour as one helps prevent discrimination, however as mentioned before I’m from Melbourne, which is the biggest multicultural city in Australia, and many of our museums have different options when it comes to tours. Audio guides, a generally optional.

Did try to provide feedback on the day, however they wouldn’t hear of it. First rule of owning a business, customers are right. Without customers, you have no business.

I don’t think I got my money‘s worth, And I certainly felt like I was being pushed along. Very uncomfortable, and I wouldn’t...

There were different tours to choose from. The one I did was a guided tour of the prison. To cater to all needs, the prison offers audio in a preferred language for others to understand. Although, I think this is a good option, it became rather distracting during the tour because I would be listening to the tour guide and then the non speaking English visitors would have their audio guides but couldn’t understand what number audio they had to listen to and when and so the tour guide had to continually break what they were saying just to help the audio guide travellers. Due to this, it caused my experience of the prison tour less favourable.

At the old melbourne gaol, they have self guided tours and they may have been catered to different languages. The signage clearly shows what number they need to listen to if they are interested in learning about it and also came with a map that indicates the numbers for the audios to listen to.

As an extra, they do provide a guided tour which is characterised to pretend that the people on the tour are the in-mates, however there was nobody holding devices to understand English as I’m guessing everyone who buys these tickets already know they would need to have some understanding of English to get something out of that tour.

As a suggestion for improvement, maybe you need an extra staff to go along on the tour and their job would be to solely help the audio guide travellers so that it is less of a distraction to the main staff holding the tour as well as a distraction to the other attendees of the tour without audio guides.

Or maybe the audio guided tourists to have their own explicit tours, I’m not really sure.

My point being, is that mixing these 2 forms of tour in one was extremely unpleasant for my experience of the prison. Lovely place, lovely staff, just didn’t fully enjoy my...