BOUND VOLUME OF NEWSLETTERS

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1937

Overview

(a) Large, bound volume of The Newsletter, comprising of Vol 1, Numbers 1 to 26, from 19 January to 31 December 1937. Some covers are in colour, though the articles themselves are printed in black on white paper. Each issue comprises four pages of selected international, national and local news items. The entire is bound together using four metal staples along the left-hand edge, and bound in red, black and white marbled cardboard covers, with a dark green buckram spine.

(b) Small, rectangular, paper, handwritten note in pencil, titled 'Flash Back', referencing the change in car design from '22 years ago'. The note is written in pencil, on a sheet of lined white paper, torn from an exercise book or similar, with three small, square cut-outs along the top edge.

Historical information

Provenanced to Fremantle Prison. Part b was found inside Part a, the bound volume of The Newsletter from 1937. It is thought to be referring to an article from that volume.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-89-1993.17.1a-b

Item type

Material

Width

284 mm

Height or length

443 mm

Depth

11 mm

Contextual Information

Stemming from the Victorian attitude that honest labour could reform the criminal mind, convict run workshops were in operation at the Convict Establishment from the 1850s. Printing was one such industry, and would continue at the site throughout its history. In operation before the Establishment was even completed, the Print Shop began using two printing presses from 1854.

Between 1858 and 1870 the Print Shop became the official Government Printer for Western Australia. When this association was renewed 80 years later in 1950, Fremantle Prison’s Print Shop soon became the most profitable of all the Prison’s industries. Here prisoners printed stationery for government departments, including lined note pads for use in state schools, record cards for the police, as well as in-house newsletters and publications.

The first Prison publication to be distributed amongst prisoners at Fremantle Prison was The Newsletter. Authorized by the Comptroller-General for distribution to, “well-conducted persons under detention in the gaols of Western Australia”, the first issue was printed in January 1924, and was edited by the Prison’s Anglican Chaplain. These weekly issues were printed and bound in the Prison’s Print Shop. The Newsletter was usually four pages long and of a simple style, similar to public newspapers of the day. It contained news items, though there were few stories relating to Fremantle or even Western Australia, with the majority of stories being about events in Great Britain or Europe. For the most part The Newsletter used a dry tone for its reportage, often patriotic, but not overly personal or informal. Occasionally jokes, crosswords or other games would be included, as well as local football fixtures. Publication of The Newsletter continued throughout the 1930s and early 1940s.

Year

1937

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Scientific or research significance

Social or spiritual significance

Comparative significance criteria

Interpretive capacity

Object’s condition or completeness

Rare or representative

Well provenanced