Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Slacking
Time: 12.20pm
Currently having my lunch break now.. 2 apples for lunch an I'm already full. Haven got any appetite for anything these few days. Had instant noodles and sausages for dinner ytd. Got free beef pies from one of the ppl there. Apparently they were too full to finish all the 4 pies so they gave it to us. And we gave 1 to this grandma who just moved in 4 days ago. She looked lonely and so we decided to talk to her. It was funny just trying to figure out what she's saying. But i was able to understand most of it. Dee and Bee kept nodding their heads at whatever she said. It was so comical.
Back-track abit to last Sat and Sun.. Finally our long waiting weekend arrived. We went to Fremantle on Saturday. The bus fare is so expensive. It cost $3.20 just to take a bus to Fremantle! There are 150 shops in Fremantle. Saw lotsa of billabong, quiksilver,roxy and rusty stuffs. I was so tempted to buy them! There were also lotsa sales going around. I bought 1 shirt from Jay Jays for $15 and 2 shirts from JeanWest for $35.
We had Chinese food for lunch. The stall owner was rather strange. We paid $7.90 for the large plate and she said we could take as much food as we can as long as the food can fit the plate. So Ben, Devester, Chuan Bee and I shared 2 plates of overloaded food.
Before
After. =)
Later in the afternoon, we went to Fremantle Prison for a tour. It cost $16 and the tour lasted for 1hr 30 mins. So it's still a reasonable price. The tour started at 5pm and the guide, Steve told us a brief history of the prison. The prison was built by convicts in the 1850s. It became a colonial prison in the 1880s and its inmates extended to include women as well as men. It was officially closed down in 1991 and the Inmates and staff of Fremantle Prison were transferred to the new metropolitan maximum security prison at Casuarina, about 20 kms south of Perth.
He told us that sex-offenders and some others were separated from the other convicts. This was to protect them from the sex-offenders. Also, there were no proper sanitation in the prison. Hence the inmates had to do their 'business' in a bucket. Even if 2 inmates were sharing the cell, they only had 1 bucket. Imagine the smell during summer when the temperature is as high as 50 degree. The stench is so unbearable. The guide said that after the inmates moved, it took 1 yr for the smell to go away.
Doesn't this look like Prison Break?
Kitchen
There's only 1 toilet and over 100 inmates had to share it in the morning. And they only have 5 mins to wash up.
Painting was not allowed in the prison until a few months before it was closed.
The paintings have faded due to long exposure to light and rain. But all of them have 1 thing in common. FREEDOM. All the pics did not contain any barrier.
Church in the prison
This was drawn in the cell.
This was where flogging was done. The person would be tighted to this structure and the warden would use a whip, cat of 9 tails to whip the person. After that, the inmate would laid on their backs and the warden would use salt and rub it on their backs. That is excruciating pain. The most number of whips that they gave was 100.
This is the solitary room.
This room is the last place where the inmates would wait for their hanging. Hanging took place only on monday at 8am. The guide also said that monday was the day where they had the high rate of absentees of officers. This was because the Superindentant would only inform the officers if they were going to witness the hanging of the inmate on that day itself. And many of the officers didn't want to do it cause it was a traumatizing experience.
This is where hanging took place. It is the same as the one we have in Changi Prison. Australia has already abolished death by hanging but in Singapore, we're still carrying out. The person will push the handle bar and smack! The 2nd and 3rd vertebra of the neck would snap. The last sound that the inmate would hear would be the pushing of the handle bar. It's a really loud bang sound. To the inmate, it would be like firing a gun shot. A total of 44 people, inculding 1 woman were hung at this prison. The last person to be hang was Eric Cooke on 26 Oct 1964.
The experience at Fremantle Prison was rather ....... (I don't know what word could describe my feelings). You must be there in order to understand and feel what they felt while living there.
Okay. This is a long entry for today. Off to lab for work again! =)
1 more pic before i go.
think again. 11:15 AM
