Fremantle Prison was built in Fremantle, Western Australia, between 1851 and 1859 using convict labour. Royal Commissions in 1898 and 1911 instigated some prison reforms, but after World War II, significant reforms lagged behind those occurring elsewhere in Australia and the world. Improvements in the late 1960s and early 1970s included an officer training school, social workers, welfare officers, and work release and community service programs. Punishments varied over the years, with flogging and leg irons eventually replaced by lengthening of sentences and restriction from visitors or entertainment. More than 40 hangings were carried out at Fremantle Prison, which was Western Australia's only lawful place of execution between 1888 and 1984. There were major riots in 1968 and 1988; in the second one, guards were taken hostage, and fire damage totalled $1.8 million (in 1988 Australian dollars). The prison closed in 1991, replaced by the new maximum- security Casuarina Prison. Since then, Fremantle Prison has become a tourist attraction and World Heritage Site.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremantle_Prison

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1806:

War of the Fourth Coalition: Believing they were massively outnumbered, the 5,300-man German garrison at Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), surrendered to a much smaller French force without a fight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitulation_of_Stettin

1888:

King Lobengula of Matabeleland granted the Rudd Concession to agents of Cecil Rhodes, setting in motion the creation of the British South Africa Company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudd_Concession

1938:

The radio drama The War of the Worlds, based on the science fiction novella by English writer H. G. Wells, frightened many listeners in the United States into believing that an actual Martian invasion was in progress. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)

1965:

English model Jean Shrimpton wore a controversially short minidress to Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia – a pivotal moment of the introduction of the miniskirt to women's fashion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_shift_dress_of_Jean_Shrimpton

1995:

In a referendum, 50.58 percent of voters supported the province of Quebec remaining a part of Canada, narrowly averting sovereignty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1995

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

circumlocution: 1. A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea. 2. A roundabout expression. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circumlocution

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We think ourselves possessed, or, at least, we boast that we are so, of liberty of conscience on all subjects, and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment in all cases, and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact!   --John Adams https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Adams