Constructed in late 1830 and opened in 1831, it is the second oldest surviving European building in Western Australia,[1] after the Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort on West Wallabi Island.

The Fremantle Whaling Company in 1837 requested that a tunnel be dug through Arthur Head to High street.

[1] The tunnel was 57 metres (187 ft) long and linked the Bathers Beach Whaling Station to the High Street.

This rapid progress was possible because prisoners from the Round House were used and the rock, although load bearing and sound, was capable of being mined with a pickaxe.

A number of suggestions were put forth, including turning it into a museum,[12] but these plans were interrupted by World War II.

The first person of European descent to be executed in colonial Western Australia was 15-year-old child John Gavin.

[15] The Fremantle City Council took over responsibility for the Round House in 1982, and it was opened to the public shortly afterwards.