• Fremantle prison goes purple in support of the Dockers. Photo supplied

NOTHING is immune from Grand Final fever.

Not even Fremantle prison, which has been spot-lit purple in support of the Dockers.

Prison marketing manager Tania Nelson says the historic gaol will remain purple until the Dockers win or are eliminated from the AFL finals.

The Dockers and the West Coast Eagles are both in preliminary finals and are resting this weekend.

Next weekend the Dockers play the winner of the Adelaide v Hawthorn match and the Eagles the winner of North Melbourne v Sydney.

The victors of next weekend’s matches face off at the G on October 3.

“We wanted to support our local team in their push to reach the grand final,” Ms Nelson says.

“Luke McPharlin did the prison tour a few years back and we get the odd player coming in from time to time.”

Palmyra resident and Dockers zealot Darryn Foote says late AC/DC frontman Bon Scott would have had a wry chuckle over the purple prison.

“I think Bon would be proud, because he served time in the prison and lived in South Freo, so he was definitely a Dockers fan,” he laughs.

West Coast lackey Matt Eeles, who also works at the Herald, was not so chuffed.

“I hope they bought cheap bulbs, because it will only be purple for another week,” he quipped.

Built by convicts in the 1850s, the prison is the best-preserved convict-built gaol in Australia and part of the earliest phase of European settlement in WA.

Harsh conditions triggered wild riots in 1988 and the prison was decommissioned in 1991.

It was added to the world heritage list in 2010.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK