Campbell Street Gaol
Encyclopedia
H.M. Gaol Hobart or Campbell Street Gaol was an Australia
n prison
facility located in Tasmania
, Australia
.
The original portion of the gaol, at first known as the Hobart Town Prisoner's Barracks, was built by convicts in 1821, to accommodate 640 men. As thousands of convicts were arriving each year, the barracks was found to be too small almost immediately, and it was extended in stages over the next decade until it could hold over 1,200 men, by using every inch of available space, including the ceiling cavity.
After transportation ceased to Tasmania in 1853, the barracks was converted into the Hobart Town Gaol, replacing the older building of that name which had become structurally unsound. A new cell-block was constructed to the north of the original one, and the gaol remained more or less in this form until its closure.
Found to be too old and small in the late 1940s, movement of the inmates to the new Risdon Prison began in 1961. Campbell St. Gaol closed in 1963, and all the buildings on site were demolished except the court rooms. These remained in use until 1983, when they too were replaced as courts by new buildings in Salamanca Place. The older buildings in Campbell St. remained standing and were given over to the care of the National Trust, and they are open to the public. Of the rest of the former gaol, only fragments of the outer wall remain standing today, and are visible along the length of Campbell St. where the gaol formerly stood.
Following the closure of the Port Arthur establishment in 1877, it was the only prison in Tasmania where executions could be carried out. A total of 32 people, including one woman, were executed at the gaol between 1857 and 1946, when the last hanging in Tasmania took place. The death penalty was legally abolished in Tasmania in 1968. The scaffold was removed for a time but has been re-constructed. Tested every month while the gaol was still in use, it remains operational.
The gaol's most notable inmate was Ronald Ryan
, who carved his name into the wall of the holding cell he occupied in 1963.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
facility located in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The original portion of the gaol, at first known as the Hobart Town Prisoner's Barracks, was built by convicts in 1821, to accommodate 640 men. As thousands of convicts were arriving each year, the barracks was found to be too small almost immediately, and it was extended in stages over the next decade until it could hold over 1,200 men, by using every inch of available space, including the ceiling cavity.
After transportation ceased to Tasmania in 1853, the barracks was converted into the Hobart Town Gaol, replacing the older building of that name which had become structurally unsound. A new cell-block was constructed to the north of the original one, and the gaol remained more or less in this form until its closure.
Found to be too old and small in the late 1940s, movement of the inmates to the new Risdon Prison began in 1961. Campbell St. Gaol closed in 1963, and all the buildings on site were demolished except the court rooms. These remained in use until 1983, when they too were replaced as courts by new buildings in Salamanca Place. The older buildings in Campbell St. remained standing and were given over to the care of the National Trust, and they are open to the public. Of the rest of the former gaol, only fragments of the outer wall remain standing today, and are visible along the length of Campbell St. where the gaol formerly stood.
Following the closure of the Port Arthur establishment in 1877, it was the only prison in Tasmania where executions could be carried out. A total of 32 people, including one woman, were executed at the gaol between 1857 and 1946, when the last hanging in Tasmania took place. The death penalty was legally abolished in Tasmania in 1968. The scaffold was removed for a time but has been re-constructed. Tested every month while the gaol was still in use, it remains operational.
The gaol's most notable inmate was Ronald Ryan
Ronald Ryan
Ronald Joseph Ryan was the last person to be legally executed in Australia. Ryan was found guilty of shooting and killing prison officer George Hodson during a prison escape from Pentridge Prison, Victoria in 1965...
, who carved his name into the wall of the holding cell he occupied in 1963.