Prisons & Parks!

Hi to CIEE Family & Friends! 

We've still been busy venturing out of Murdoch University, visiting the town of Fremantle and exploring one of the largest innercity greenspaces; King's Park, also known as the Goonininup (to the Noongar people who first found and settled on this land). 

Frementle:

It's located only about 25 minutes outside of Perth but immediately you are able to step into a completely different world where independently owned coffee shops, restaurants, cafes, and art galleries are the norm, and large chains like Subway and McDonald's have shut down due to lack of business. 

Another interesting thing about Fremantle that we learned during our city tour is that its city council allows "illegally" painted murals in public areas so long as the artwork uses some type of creative technique and conveys a meaningful message for the citizens of Fremantle to be aware of. 

One of the most popular graffiti artists within Fremantle is ROA and he was commissioned by the city to paint a masterpiece. What he created features an 82 foot long mural of a numbat! Started at 1pm on a Friday and finished early Saturday morning. ROA had chosen the numbat because of its endangered species status as a reminder to folks to not forget about the native species that originally inhabited the spaces we now call home. It is said that he "thinks people who live in cities forget about their natural environment," and wanted to use this mural as a reminder to folks to understand the importance of animals. 

Fremantle Prison!

The Fremantle Prison was a functioning prison from 1887-1991 and now holds a "World Heritage Site" status. 

Fremantle was originally inhabited in the 1830s by only a handful of free immigrants from the UK. Soon they realized there would need to be more people to build and sustain an infrastructure needed to create a city. It was decided that prisons from the UK would be sent over by ship and used to as free labor to create Fremantle. 

The first ship arrived in 1850 with 75 convicts aboard. They ended up building roads, houses for the prison guards and even their own jail cells. One unique thing about this specific prison that it never had a fully functioning sewage system. Inmates were forced to urinate into buckets in their rooms, that were emptied daily, even up until the prisons closing in 1991. 

The next day students spent the day in King's Park; touring a Seed Bank and meeting with Rickeeta (a native Noogar person)! 

The seed bank has collected over 10,000 samples (with 3,500 different species) of seeds in hopes to preserve future generations of plants. 

Rickeeta talked to students about the area of the park (also known as "Whadjuk") and a little bit about the different species of plants that reside there.

• Wonnil or "Peppermint tree" was used as some of the first cold and flu medicine! 
• Banksie which were used as candles, the core of this flower could burn for up to 4 hours! 

She also spoke to us about the SIX seasons the Whadjuk Noongar people have as opposed to our four seasons. For them, their seasons depend on the weather and what plants are in bloom/can be used, and then travel around based on those seasons. They tend to stay in certain areas for only a few months at a time. 

Tomorrow is our first class with Charlotte and the kids get to play some "football" with some local Australians! We'll see who wins! 

xo,

Jing, Peaches & Alex