Convict Shirt Sleeve

The most significant part of Fremantle Prison is the ‘Main Cell Block’, a four-storey cell block constructed in the 1850s from limestone excavated by convicts on site designed to accommodate up to 1000 men. Within the walls of many of the cramped cells in this building remains incredible examples of daily life as a prisoner, including graffiti, art, and objects hidden or lost beneath the jarrah floors. In 2019, State and Federal governments injected significant funding to conserve failing lathe and plaster ceilings within the cells of the Main Cell Block at Fremantle Prison. Following the removal of floorboards to access the ceilings of the cells below, stashes of objects dating from the convict era to 1991 were found. A team of seven archaeologists worked over a period of five months and salvaged 1.4 tons of material from 34 cells. The resulting collection of artefacts is likely one of the most significant in Australia for its ability to provide information about 134 years of incarceration. This material is being carefully sorted, catalogued, studied, and conserved, revealing how prisoners lived and coped behind doors away from the eyes of authority.

The sleeve would have formed part of a male convict’s standard issue summer uniform, most probably the blue striped cotton shirt, worn with a matching neck kerchief (Western Australian Government 1862) The fabric is torn so that it no longer forms a cylindrical closed sleeve, and is dirty and stained; evidence of the item’s use, in contrast to other items of clothing in the Prison collection which are complete and appear not to have been issued or used and thus remaining in good condition.

Nearly 10,000 male convicts were transported from Britain to Western Australia between 1850 and 1868. In 1862 the convict uniform consisted of a leather belt; two pairs of boots; four pairs of socks; four handkerchiefs; four cotton shirts and two flannel shirts. Surviving clothing from this period is rare and there are only five pieces of intact convict clothing in collections in Western Australia today. Two pieces (a jacket and a pair of trousers) belong to the Western Australian Museum, whilst the remaining three pieces belong to the Fremantle Prison Collection. All are examples of heavy woollen outerwear, usually worn by members of chain gangs (Young 1988) Whilst incomplete and in poor condition, the shirt sleeve remnant is a relatively large piece compared to many of the fragments excavated from sub floor deposits at the prison and a valuable example of everyday issue ration clothing.

Everyday issue clothing was heavily used and no complete shirts survive from this period. A contributing factor to this was the sporadic resupply of clothing rationing from England. Clothing was supposed to be sent annually, however historical records indicate a discrepancy between rationing allocations detailed in the Rules and Regulations of the WA Convict Department, and what was issued in reality which was listed in the accounts of the convict stores. The shirtsleeve, along with other fragmentary examples has a high potential to contribute to future research regarding the supply of textiles and the everyday life of convicts in the Convict Establishment during this period.