Location | Castlemaine, Victoria |
---|---|
Opened | 1861 |
Closed | August 1990 |
The Old Castlemaine Gaol is a former prison, located in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. The building was modelled on Pentonville prison in London, replacing the original, designed by Inspector General John Price, which was never occupied. Built in 1861 to house offenders from the goldfields and nearby towns, it served various functions in the penal system before it was closed in 1990 and its prisoners transferred to HM Prison Loddon.
From 1861 to 1908, the gaol housed all manner of criminals, including lunatics and debtors, and ten men were hanged within the walls. In the later of these years however, the gaol housed mostly short-term prisoners and first-time offenders.
Between 1909 and 1951, the gaol was converted into a reformatory school for boys aged between 16 and 25. Most were under 21.
The gaol then closed for a number of years, before reopening in 1954 to accommodate medium-security prisoners from across the state. It remained open until August 1990.
After it ceased prison operations, it was used as a hotel and tourist attraction. It served as the studio for local community radio station WMA FM/Main FM 94.9 as well as various small businesses.
In 2018, the old gaol was sold to artist David Bromley.
The grounds were originally landscaped by renowned landscape gardener Hugh Linaker. [1]
Name | Year of birth | Date of execution | Crime |
---|---|---|---|
David Young | 1831 | 21 August 1865 | Murder of Margaret Graham |
Long Poy | 10 March 1866 | ||
William H Terry | 31 July 1867 | ||
John Hogan | 1815 | 14 August 1868 | |
Ah Pew | 23 May 1870 | Murder of Elizabeth Annie Hunt | |
James Wilkie | 1844 | 20 May 1872 | |
Samuel Wright | 1813 | 11 March 1873 | |
Pierre Barbun | 1841 | 20 May 1873 | |
Ah Kat | 9 August 1875 | ||
John Duffus | 1820 | 22 May 1876 | Criminal Assault of daughter |
Castlemaine is a town in west central Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The population at the 2021 Census was 7,506. Castlemaine was named by the chief goldfield commissioner, Captain W. Wright, in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine.
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HM Prison Geelong was a maximum security Australia prison located on the corner of Myers Street and Swanston Street in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The prison was built in stages from 1849 to 1864. Its panopticon design is based on Pentonville Prison in England. The prison was officially closed in 1991 and prisoners were moved to the newly built HM Prison Barwon in Lara. The building now functions as a museum for the history of the prison.
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Thomas William Johnson murdered two residents of a boarding house in the delicensed Windsor Castle Hotel in Dunolly, Victoria, in October 1938. He was an itinerant labourer with a record of violence and petty crime. Johnson confessed to the brutal killings, but at his trial he pleaded not guilty for reason of insanity. He was convicted and executed at Pentridge Prison in January 1939. Johnson was the fourth of eleven people to be hanged at Pentridge Prison after the closure of Melbourne Gaol in 1924.