2-979-526 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fremantle in Western Australia: Rottnest Island, the Proposed New Convict Establishment, in the distance, 1857. 'By reference to the report of the important measure introduced to the House of Commons...by Sir George Grey, it will be seen that Western Australia is the locality for the Government experiment of the deportation of convicts sentenced to penal servitude..."Western Australia...possesses a fine climate, and is unconnected with other parts of Australia (at present) except by sea, and is as much an island as if surrounded by it. Convicts can only escape by sea, and the natives would very soon bring them back if they attempted the bush; indeed, the convicts well know it...Rottnest Island, about fourteen miles from Fremantle, is well adapted for the refractory convicts; and there is ample room for a large number, and employment for years to come in erecting forts and other necessary public works".' From "Illustrated London News", 1857.