top of page

Surfaces (Pedestrian Surfaces)

Fremantle Prison has a variety of existing surface treatments including concrete, bitumen and grass. Roads, paths and defined lawn areas or garden beds are often edged in brick and concrete. The terraces on the south and east of the site are typically grassed, as is much of the Parade Ground.


Original or early surface treatments at the Prison included unsurfaced open spaces such as the dirt and grass evident in early images of the entry court. The Parade Ground was historically surfaced in crushed limestone.


Additional research is required to date the sequence of earlier and extant surface treatments but the use of concrete and bitumen, and edgings in brick and concrete, are evident in many images from the twentieth century. These are, as might be expected of a prison environment, robust utilitarian materials that are not ‘precious’ or individually significant in heritage terms.

SPECIFIC POLICY 59:  As a general policy, the ongoing use of the current surface and edging treatments to the paths, roads and open spaces can be maintained, and if replaced the new treatments should draw on the palette of existing materials.

​

SPECIFIC POLICY 60: The overall balance of hard and soft surfaces should be maintained, meaning that grassed areas should generally continue to be grassed, and hard surfaced areas should generally continue to be surfaced in concrete or bitumen.

SPECIFIC ACTION 37: Maintain the edges that delineate the general alignment and form of the roads and paths, although the specific edge treatments can be replaced, preferably on a like for like basis.

​

SPECIFIC ACTION 38: The raised and defining brick and concrete edges of the garden and lawn beds need not all be retained, especially if improved access is required. Some representative examples can be retained, but otherwise these specific edge treatments can be removed and replaced with a smoother landscape treatment.

bottom of page