Fremantle Arts Centre

The Fremantle Arts Centre is an historic landmark building in Fremantle, Western Australia. It was built using convict labour between 1861 and 1868 as a psychiatric hospital, initially called the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum, and later known as the Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

History

The imposing building on the convert|2.4|ha|acre site overlooks the harbour city and was the largest public building constructed by convicts in the State after the Fremantle Prison which had been built in the 1850s. The design, in colonial gothic style was by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Henderson, the Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia, and built to accommodate 50 people. Over the next thirty years a number of additions were incorporated, principally designed by government architect George Temple-Poole.

The Asylum continued to operate for its intended purpose through to the early 1900s, when following two suspicious deaths which provoked comment from the local press, the Government set up an enquiry which concluded with a recommendation that the building "...be demolished as unfit for purpose for which it is now used." [ [http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/M%20Reg/museum%20%26%20arts%20centre%20%28P%29.PDF Register of Heritage Places. Permanent Entry] ] Patients were then moved to alternative locations in the metropolitan area between 1901 and 1905.

The building was used shortly after for housing for homeless women and later as a midwifery school. Until World War II it was known as the Old Women's Home. During World War II it became the headquarters for the American armed services based in Western Australia, and after the war it was used for a time as an annexe of Fremantle Technical School.

In 1957, the State Education Department proposed its demolition in order to use the land as playing fields for the adjacent John Curtin High School. A public outcry and opposition campaign led by the Mayor of Fremantle, Sir Frederick Samson halted the demolition. After many years of lobbying for State and Federal government funding, a major restoration project commenced in 1970 and since 1972 it has housed the Western Australian Maritime Museum (now relocated to Victoria Quay), the Fremantle Arts Centre and the Immigration Museum.

In 2001, the City of Fremantle adopted the Fremantle Arts Centre Conservation Plan, a guide for its conservation. In January, 2007, conservation works were completed with the gable finials on the west façade restored to their original state, following their demolition at the turn of the 20th century.

Ghosts

The building is reputed to be haunted by several ghosts from its lunatic asylum days. There are said to at least 10 spirits lurking within the grounds.

One of these is said to be a former female inmate who became deranged with grief after her daughter was abducted. She is believed to have jumped to her death from a first floor window. The woman's ghost has apparently been seen throughout the building while she searches for her daughter. Due to the countless spiritual encounters, the Fremantle Arts Centre is known as the most haunted building in the Southern Hemisphere. [cite web | url = http://www.haunted.com.au/news/takefive01.html | title = Fremantle Arts Centre and History Museum, Fremantle, WA | accessdate = 2008-02-22 | author = Jan Goldie | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = 2001 | month = August | work = The whole country's haunted: Australia's creepiest landmarks | publisher = The Haunted Bookshop | quote = Citing: "Take Five", Issue 31, 1 August, 2001, pp 6-9 ]

Current activities

The centre today runs a cultural program which includes exhibitions of contemporary visual art and craft, creative arts courses and free music concerts on Sunday afternoons, as well as major concerts from Australian and international acts. The centre participates in local arts festivals and hosts the biennial Perth Writer's Festival.

The highly successful Fremantle Arts Centre Press was started from the Arts centre in 1976.

Funding is received from the City of Fremantle, ArtsWA and the Australia Council.

References

ee also

* Convict era of Western Australia

External links

* [http://www.fac.org.au/ Fremantle Arts Centre]
* [http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/viewplace.html?offset=0&place_seq=875 Heritage Council of Western Australia database record]