The Fremantle Round House is the oldest public building in the State of Western Australia. Opened in January 1831, just 18 months after settlement, it was built to hold any person convicted of a crime in the settlement and was used until 1886.

It is called the Roundhouse because it looks round although its a twelve-sided building and originally had 8 cells, an ablutions area.  At the front the building has two storys featuring the entrance way and guard's quarters.

A well was constructed in the centre of the building and a bakery and laundry were incorporated under the front steps and the first british convicts arrived there in 1850 but it soon became apparent that the Roundhouse was too small to house them and so a new new gaol was built the now famous/infamous Fremantle Prison.

This interview with Beth Bax is a beauty!