Melbourne Gaol
Encyclopedia
The Old Melbourne Gaol is a museum
and former prison
located in Russell Street
, Melbourne
, Victoria
, Australia
. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1845 and 1924, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger
Ned Kelly
and serial killer
Frederick Bailey Deeming
. In total, 135 people were executed by hanging
. Though it was used briefly during World War II
, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the gaol being incorporated into the RMIT University
, and the rest becoming a museum.
The three-storey museum displays information and memorabilia of the prisoners and staff, including death mask
s of the executed criminals. At one time the museum displayed Ned Kelly's skull, before it was stolen in 1978; as well as the pencil used by wrongly convicted Colin Campbell Ross
to protest his innocence in writing, before being executed. Paranormal enthusiasts claim the museum is haunted, with claims of ghostly apparitions and unexplained voices near cells.
s first permanent gaol. On 1 January 1838, George Wintle was appointed to be gaoler at the prison at £100 a year; with the site becoming colloquially known as Wintle's Hotel. Construction of the gaol started in 1839–1840 on Collins Street West, but it was considered too small at the time. A second gaol was then built between 1841 and 1844 at the corner of Russell and La Trobe Streets, adjoining the then Supreme court
. The first cell block was opened for prisoners in 1845, but the facilities were considered inadequate; escapes occurring frequently. The gaol was already crowded by 1850.
With the discovery of gold
in 1851 (when the Port Phillip District became the new Colony of Victoria), and the resulting influx of population, law and order became more difficult maintain. Subsequently, a new wing, with its own perimeter wall, was constructed between 1852 and 1854; the building using bluestone instead of sandstone. The design was based on that of British prison engineer Joshua Jebb
, and especially the designs for the Pentonville Model Prison in London
(which suited the current prison reform theories at the time). The new wing was extended in between 1857 and 1859, with the boundary wall also being extended during this time. In 1860, a new north wing was built; which included entrance buildings, a central hall and chapel. Between 1862 and 1864, a cell block was built for female prisoners on the western side – it was basically a replica of the present east block (until this time, female convicts were not kept apart from the male prisoners). In 1864, the perimeter wall, and the gaol overall, was completed; making it a dominant feature of authority on the Melbourne skyline.
At its completion, the prison occupied an entire city block, and included exercise yards, a hospital in one of the yards, a chapel, a bath house and staff accommodation. A house for the chief warders was built on the corner of Franklin and Russell streets, and 17 homes were built for gaolers on Swanston street in 1860. Artefacts recovered from the area indicate that even the gaolers and their families lived within the gaol walls in the 1850s and 1860s.
’s most notorious and hardened criminals. It also housed up to twenty children at a time – including those imprisoned for petty theft or vagrancy, or simply those staying with a convicted parent. Babies under twelve months old were allowed to be with their mothers. The youngest prisoner was recorded as three year old Michael Crimmins, who spent 6 months in the prison in 1857 for being idle and disorderly. In 1851, the 13 and 14 year old O'Dowd sisters were imprisoned because they had nowhere else to go.
Prisoners convicted of serious crime, such as murder, arson, burglary, rape and shooting, would begin their time on the ground floor with a time of solitary confinement
. They were also forbidden from communicating with other prisoners, which was strictly enforced by the usage of a silence mask, or calico hood, when outside their cells. They would only be given a single hour of solitary exercise a day, with the remaining 23 hours spent in their cells. Inside the cells, prisoners would be able to lie on a thin mattress over the slate floors. They could only bathe and change clothes once a week, and attend the chapel on Sundays (with a Bible
provided to promote good behaviour). Prisoners might only have been allowed to finally socialise with other prisoners towards the end of their sentences.
The routine for prisoners was regulated by a system of bells, and enforced by punishments; prisoners who obeyed the rules would be promoted to the second floor – whereby they would be allowed to work in the yards everyday. Male prisoners would perform hard labour – including breaking rocks, and other duties in the stone quarries, while women would sew, clean and cook. Women would also make shirts and waistcoats for male prisoners, as well as act as domestic servants for the governor and his family. Prisoners who had become trusted, those nearing the completion of their sentence, and debtors, were housed on the third floor communal cells. These top level cells were large, and held up to six prisoners at time; and were mostly reserved to prisoners convicted of minor crimes such as drunkenness, vagrancy, prostitution or petty theft.
at the age of 25, on 11 November 1880. After a two day trial, Kelly was convicted of killing a police officer. As stated by law at the time, executed prisoners were buried (without head) in unmarked graves in the gaol burial yard. The head was normally removed from the body as part of the phrenological study of hanged felons. Historian and associate professor of Wollongong University John McQuilton states that the lack of monitoring for burial processes was odd, given Victorian society's normally brilliant attention to detail.
The first hanging of a woman in Victoria, Elizabeth Scott, was performed in the prison on 11 November 1863 – along with her co-accused, Julian Cross and David Gedge. The last person to be executed was Angus Murray in 1924, the same year the gaol was closed.
, and was seen by some as merely a cold-blooded killer, while to others he was a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities. As a youth he clashed with the Victoria Police, and after an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. He killed three policemen, and subsequently the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws. A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in a home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was captured and sent to gaol. He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880. His notoriety affirmed his as a polarising iconic figure in Australian history, folk lore, literature, art and film.
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In 1924, the gaol was finally closed. However, in March 1927, the Old Melbourne Gaol was integrated into part of the new Emily McPherson College, and was used for educational purposes. This necessitated changes to the prison; in 1929, despite poor record keeping of prisoner burials, historical evidence suggested the remains of approximately 32 executed prisoners, including Ned Kelly, were exhumed from the Old Melbourne Gaol and buried at mass graves in a quarry at Pentridge. In 1930, the women's cell block, walls and several other buildings were demolished, and a further four coffins were believed to have been moved to Pentridge in 1937.
During World War II
, the gaol was used as a military prison for soldiers found to be absent without leave. A new wall was built in the eastern courtyard during this time, so that cell block inmates were separated from the college girls. After the end of the war, the section used for holding prisoners was then used only as a storage facility for the Victoria Police Force, whose headquarters were nearby in Russell Street.
In May 1974, the sections used by the school were remodelled by architects Eggleston, McDonald and Secomb, to act as the schools food and fashion departments. The Emily McPherson College was merged into RMIT University
in 1979, bringing the gaol entrance gates, and other facilities alongside it. In 1990, RMIT performed work to restore the enclosed balcony to its former 1927 design. In 1994, RMIT performed further work to landscape the inner courtyard, and in 1995, removed the temporary war-time pavilion classrooms. , the sections that RMIT owns are collectively known as the "RMIT Building 11. Architect: Colonial Government Architect", and include the entrance block and chapel; with the bath house and chapel serving as art studios.
at all costs. Furthermore, in 1965, the Melbourne Junior Chamber of Commerce floated the idea of converting it into a museum, for the purposes of tourism. In 1972, the gaol was reopened as a public museum, under the management of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
, the gaol is recognised as Victoria's oldest surviving penal establishment, and attracts approximately 140,000 visitors per year. The cells have been filled with information about individual prisoners, which also serve to illustrate the history of Melbourne itself.
In addition to historical information, it also includes various memorabilia; including death mask
s, an iron mask, and a pair of leather gloves designed to prevent inmates from practising self-abuse. Notably, it still includes Ned Kelly's death mask, pistol and replica of his suit of armour, as well as the pencil used by Colin Ross to write a letter protesting his innocence, which he threw over the prison walls.
Operators also run several features, including the candlelit Hangman's Night Tour (with actors portraying prolific and brutal hangman Michael Gateley), and the daily Watch House Experience; an interactive performance in which visitors are treated as the prisoners would have been during its operation. In 2010, the Old Melbourne Gaol Crime and Justice Experience won the heritage and cultural tourism category at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Hobart.
In 2009, West Australian farmer Tom Baxter handed a skull to authorities, arguing that it was the one stolen from the gaol - while refusing to explain how he obtained it. Former Pentridge prison chaplain Father Peter Norden has stated that he believed the skull handed in could not belong to Kelly, and that it probably belonged to a woman. In 2010, there was further speculation that the skull actually belonged to Frederick Bailey Deeming, with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine claiming that the skull is similar to both Kelly's and Deeming's death masks.
ed by paranormal enthusiasts, including British parapsychologist Darren Done. Done spent a night at the gaol in 2003, and claimed that he heard unexplained voices, and detected evidence of an electrical interference to suggest paranormal activity. He has since undertaken more research at the gaol, and in 2005, he claimed to have recorded a ghostly figure with a grotesque visage standing in a doorway at the gaol. Theories suggest that the voice of a woman, claimed to have been heard, might belong to Elizabeth Scott (the first woman hung at the gaol). Notably, none of the reported hauntings are related to that of Ned Kelly. Local enthusiast group GhostSeekers Australia conducts monthly tours to gather data and statistics for paranormal activity; making use of various monitoring equipment. However, Joe Nickell
, a writer for the Skeptical Inquirer
, argues that evidence of ghostly phenomena at the site is scant.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and former 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...
located in Russell Street
Russell Street, Melbourne
Russell Street is a north-south street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia, part of the Hoddle Grid laid out in 1837. At its southern end it intersects with Flinders Street and Federation Square, while at its northern end it becomes Lygon Street, a street famous for its...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, 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...
. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1845 and 1924, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
and serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Frederick Bailey Deeming
Frederick Bailey Deeming
Frederick Bailey Deeming was an English-born Australian gasfitter and murderer.Deeming was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, son of Thomas Deeming, brazier, and his wife Ann, née Bailey. He was a "difficult child" according to writers Maurice Gurvich and Christopher Wray...
. In total, 135 people were executed by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. Though it was used briefly during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the gaol being incorporated into the RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
, and the rest becoming a museum.
The three-storey museum displays information and memorabilia of the prisoners and staff, including death mask
Death mask
In Western cultures a death mask is a wax or plaster cast made of a person’s face following death. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits...
s of the executed criminals. At one time the museum displayed Ned Kelly's skull, before it was stolen in 1978; as well as the pencil used by wrongly convicted Colin Campbell Ross
Colin Campbell Ross
Colin Campbell Eadie Ross was an Australian wine-bar owner executed for the rape and murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder, despite there being evidence that he was innocent...
to protest his innocence in writing, before being executed. Paranormal enthusiasts claim the museum is haunted, with claims of ghostly apparitions and unexplained voices near cells.
History
A land allotment of scrub to the north-east of Melbourne was selected as Port PhillipPort Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
s first permanent gaol. On 1 January 1838, George Wintle was appointed to be gaoler at the prison at £100 a year; with the site becoming colloquially known as Wintle's Hotel. Construction of the gaol started in 1839–1840 on Collins Street West, but it was considered too small at the time. A second gaol was then built between 1841 and 1844 at the corner of Russell and La Trobe Streets, adjoining the then Supreme court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
. The first cell block was opened for prisoners in 1845, but the facilities were considered inadequate; escapes occurring frequently. The gaol was already crowded by 1850.
With the discovery of gold
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
in 1851 (when the Port Phillip District became the new Colony of Victoria), and the resulting influx of population, law and order became more difficult maintain. Subsequently, a new wing, with its own perimeter wall, was constructed between 1852 and 1854; the building using bluestone instead of sandstone. The design was based on that of British prison engineer Joshua Jebb
Joshua Jebb
Sir Joshua Jebb was a Royal Engineer and the British Surveyor-General of convict prisons.He participated in the Battle of Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812, and surveyed a route between Ottawa River and Kingston where Lake Ontario flows into Saint Lawrence River...
, and especially the designs for the Pentonville Model Prison in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(which suited the current prison reform theories at the time). The new wing was extended in between 1857 and 1859, with the boundary wall also being extended during this time. In 1860, a new north wing was built; which included entrance buildings, a central hall and chapel. Between 1862 and 1864, a cell block was built for female prisoners on the western side – it was basically a replica of the present east block (until this time, female convicts were not kept apart from the male prisoners). In 1864, the perimeter wall, and the gaol overall, was completed; making it a dominant feature of authority on the Melbourne skyline.
At its completion, the prison occupied an entire city block, and included exercise yards, a hospital in one of the yards, a chapel, a bath house and staff accommodation. A house for the chief warders was built on the corner of Franklin and Russell streets, and 17 homes were built for gaolers on Swanston street in 1860. Artefacts recovered from the area indicate that even the gaolers and their families lived within the gaol walls in the 1850s and 1860s.
Operation
Much of daily life inside the gaol could be gleaned from sources such as diaries written by John Castieau, governor of the gaol between 1869 and 1884. During its operation, the gaol was used to house short-term prisoners, lunatics and some of the colonyColony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
’s most notorious and hardened criminals. It also housed up to twenty children at a time – including those imprisoned for petty theft or vagrancy, or simply those staying with a convicted parent. Babies under twelve months old were allowed to be with their mothers. The youngest prisoner was recorded as three year old Michael Crimmins, who spent 6 months in the prison in 1857 for being idle and disorderly. In 1851, the 13 and 14 year old O'Dowd sisters were imprisoned because they had nowhere else to go.
Prisoners convicted of serious crime, such as murder, arson, burglary, rape and shooting, would begin their time on the ground floor with a time of solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
. They were also forbidden from communicating with other prisoners, which was strictly enforced by the usage of a silence mask, or calico hood, when outside their cells. They would only be given a single hour of solitary exercise a day, with the remaining 23 hours spent in their cells. Inside the cells, prisoners would be able to lie on a thin mattress over the slate floors. They could only bathe and change clothes once a week, and attend the chapel on Sundays (with a Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
provided to promote good behaviour). Prisoners might only have been allowed to finally socialise with other prisoners towards the end of their sentences.
The routine for prisoners was regulated by a system of bells, and enforced by punishments; prisoners who obeyed the rules would be promoted to the second floor – whereby they would be allowed to work in the yards everyday. Male prisoners would perform hard labour – including breaking rocks, and other duties in the stone quarries, while women would sew, clean and cook. Women would also make shirts and waistcoats for male prisoners, as well as act as domestic servants for the governor and his family. Prisoners who had become trusted, those nearing the completion of their sentence, and debtors, were housed on the third floor communal cells. These top level cells were large, and held up to six prisoners at time; and were mostly reserved to prisoners convicted of minor crimes such as drunkenness, vagrancy, prostitution or petty theft.
Executions
During its operation, the gaol was the setting for 135 hangings. The most infamous was that of bushranger Ned KellyNed Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
at the age of 25, on 11 November 1880. After a two day trial, Kelly was convicted of killing a police officer. As stated by law at the time, executed prisoners were buried (without head) in unmarked graves in the gaol burial yard. The head was normally removed from the body as part of the phrenological study of hanged felons. Historian and associate professor of Wollongong University John McQuilton states that the lack of monitoring for burial processes was odd, given Victorian society's normally brilliant attention to detail.
The first hanging of a woman in Victoria, Elizabeth Scott, was performed in the prison on 11 November 1863 – along with her co-accused, Julian Cross and David Gedge. The last person to be executed was Angus Murray in 1924, the same year the gaol was closed.
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly, born sometime between June 1854 and June 1855, was an Irish-Australian bushrangerBushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
, and was seen by some as merely a cold-blooded killer, while to others he was a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities. As a youth he clashed with the Victoria Police, and after an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. He killed three policemen, and subsequently the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws. A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in a home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was captured and sent to gaol. He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880. His notoriety affirmed his as a polarising iconic figure in Australian history, folk lore, literature, art and film.
Colin Campbell Ross
Colin Campbell Ross, an Australian wine-bar owner, was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of 12 year old Alma Tirtschke in December 1921. The case, dubbed the Gun Alley Murder, was heavily influenced by public hysteria at the time, which ultimately served to condemn him. Despite his pleas of innocence (including an attempt whereby a letter was thrown over the gaol walls), he was executed by hanging in the gaol in April 1922 (only 115 days after the body was found). A new four-strand rope was used for the first time at the execution, and proved to be a failure; Ross slowly strangled for more than forty minutes before his death. A prison report later ruled that such a rope must never be used again. He was posthumously pardoned on 27 May 2008.Frederick Bailey Deeming
Frederick Bailey Deeming was born on 30 July 1853. At 16 years of age he ran away to sea, and thereafter, he began a long career of crime, largely thieving and obtaining money under false pretences. He was responsible for the murder of his first wife Marie, and his four children, at Rainhill, England, on or about 26 July 1891, and a second wife, Emily, at Windsor, Melbourne, on 24 December 1891. Less than three months elapsed between the discovery of Emily Mather’s body in Windsor, Melbourne, in March 1892, and Deeming’s execution at the Old Melbourne Gaol for her murder in May 1892; a remarkably short time by comparison to modern western legal standards. After his execution, it was reported that over 12,000 people cheered on the streets outside, and there was public speculation that Deeming was in fact Jack the RipperJack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
.
| List of recorded executions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Year born | Execution date | Crime |
| Bob (Aboriginal) | 20 January 1842 (Age 27) | Murder | |
| Jack (Aboriginal) | 20 January 1842 (Age 27) | Murder | |
| Charles Ellis | 20 June 1842 (Age 18) | Shooting | |
| Martin Fogarty | 20 June 1842 (Age 18) | Shooting | |
| Daniel Jepps | 20 June 1842 (Age 27) | Shooting | |
| Jeremiah Connell | 27 January 1847 (Age 27) | Murder | |
| Bobby (Aboriginal) | 30 April 1847 (Age 25) | Murder | |
| John Healey | 29 November 1847 (Age 29) | Murder | |
| Augustus Dancey (or Dauncey) | 1 August 1848 (Age 19) | Murder | |
| Patrick Kennedy | 1 October 1851 (Age 30) | Murder | |
| James Barlow | 22 May 1852 (Age 32) | Murder | |
| Roger (Aboriginal) | 5 September 1852 (Age 30) | Murder | |
| John Riches | 3 November 1852 (Age 29) | Murder | |
| George Pinkerton | 4 April 1853 (Age 19) | Murder | |
| Aaron Durrant | 11 July 1853 (Age 38) | Robbery | |
| John Smith | 23 August 1853 (Age 25) | Robbery | |
| Henry Turner | 23 August 1853 (Age 25) | ||
| William Atkins | 3 October 1853 (Age 29) | ||
| George Wilson | 3 October 1853 | ||
| George Melville | 3 October 1853 | ||
| Michael Finnessy | 25 October 1853 | ||
| Alexander Ram | 25 October 1853 | ||
| John Smith | 23 November 1853 | ||
| Joseph West | 27 December 1853 | ||
| William Twiggem | 1824 | 2 March 1857 | Murder |
| Chu-a-Luk | 1827 | 2 March 1857 | Murder |
| Samuel Gibbs | 12 November 1858 | Murder | |
| George Thompson | 12 November 1858 | Murder | |
| Thomas McGee | 19 February 1863 | ||
| Julian Cross | 11 November 1863 | Murder | |
| David Gedge | 1844 | 11 November 1863 | Murder |
| Elizabeth Scott | 1840 | 11 November 1863 | Murder |
| James Bennett | 1 December 1863 | ||
| Christopher Harrison | 1809 | 3 August 1864 | Murder |
| William Carver | 1824 | 3 August 1864 | Robbery under Arms |
| Samuel Woods | 1823 | 3 August 1864 | Robbery under Arms |
| John Stacey | 5 April 1865 | ||
| Joseph Brown | 5 May 1865 | ||
| Peter Dotsalaere | 6 July 1865 | ||
| Robert Bourke | 1841 | 29 November 1866 | Murder |
| Bernard Cunningham | 31 March 1868 | ||
| Joseph Whelan | 31 March 1868 | ||
| Michael Flannigan | 1833 | 31 March 1869 | Murder |
| James Ritson | 3 August 1869 | ||
| Patrick Smith | 4 August 1870 | ||
| James Cusik | 30 August 1870 | ||
| James Sury | 14 November 1870 | ||
| Patrick Geary | 4 December 1871 | Murder | |
| Edward Feeney | 14 May 1872 | ||
| An Gaa | 30 August 1875 | Murder | |
| Henry Howard | 4 October 1875 | ||
| John Taylor (aka Weechurch) | 1830 | 6 December 1875 | attempted murder |
| Basilo Bondietto | 11 December 1876 | ||
| William Hastings | 14 March 1877 | ||
| Ned Kelly Ned Kelly Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish... |
1854 | 11 November 1880 | Murder |
| James Hawthorn | 21 August 1884 | Murder | |
| William O'Brien | 24 October 1884 | Murder | |
| William Barnes | 15 May 1885 | Murder | |
| Freeland Morell | 1847 | 6 January 1886 | Murder |
| George Symes | 8 November 1888 | Murder | |
| Filipe Castillo | 1869 | 16 September 1889 | Murder |
| Robert Landells | 1837 | 16 October 1889 | Murder |
| John Thomas Phelan | 1861 | 16 March 1891 | Murder |
| John Wilson | 1868 | 23 March 1891 | Murder |
| Fatta Chand | 27 April 1891 | Murder | |
| William Coulston | 24 August 1891 | Murder | |
| Frederick Deeming | 23 May 1892 | Murder | |
| John Conder | 28 August 1893 | Murder | |
| Frances Lydia Alice Knorr Frances Lydia Alice Knorr Frances Lydia Alice Knorr was known as the baby farming Murderess. She was found guilty of strangling two infants and hanged on Monday 15 January 1894.... |
1867 | 15 January 1894 | Murder |
| Ernest Knox | 1873 | 19 March 1894 | Murder |
| Frederick Jordan | 1864 | 20 August 1894 | Murder |
| Martha Needle Martha Needle Martha Needle was known for poisoning her husband, 3 children and future brother-in-law, and was hanged on 22 October 1894. Martha was convicted for the murder of Louis Juncken, brother of her fiance Otto Juncken, on 15 May 1894.... |
1864 | 22 October 1894 | Murder |
| Arthur Buck | 1868 | 1 July 1895 | Murder |
| Emma Williams | 4 November 1895 | Murder | |
| Charles Strange | 1874 | 13 January 1896 | Murder |
| Alfred Archer | 1866 | 21 November 1898 | Murder |
| William Robert Jones | 21 February 1900 | Murder | |
| Albert McNamara | 14 April 1902 | Arson | |
| August Tisler | 20 October 1902 | Murder | |
| James Williams | 1885 | 8 September 1904 | Murder |
| Joseph Victor Pfeiffer | 1912 April 1912 | Murder | |
| John Jackson | 24 January 1916 | Murder | |
| Antonio Picone | 18 September 1916 | Murder | |
| Albert Budd | 29 January 1918 | Murder | |
| Arthur Geoffrey Oldring | 15 April 1918 | Murder | |
| Colin Campbell Ross Colin Campbell Ross Colin Campbell Eadie Ross was an Australian wine-bar owner executed for the rape and murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder, despite there being evidence that he was innocent... |
1892 | 24 April 1922 | Murder – pardoned 86 years later |
| Angus Murray | 1882 | 14 April 1924 | Murder |
Closure and re-opening
In 1870, a review of the penal system was conducted, with the recommendation being made to close the gaol and relocate prisoners to more suitable locations. The gaol gradually slowed its operations, and demolished portions of the original site between 1880 and 1924.In 1924, the gaol was finally closed. However, in March 1927, the Old Melbourne Gaol was integrated into part of the new Emily McPherson College, and was used for educational purposes. This necessitated changes to the prison; in 1929, despite poor record keeping of prisoner burials, historical evidence suggested the remains of approximately 32 executed prisoners, including Ned Kelly, were exhumed from the Old Melbourne Gaol and buried at mass graves in a quarry at Pentridge. In 1930, the women's cell block, walls and several other buildings were demolished, and a further four coffins were believed to have been moved to Pentridge in 1937.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the gaol was used as a military prison for soldiers found to be absent without leave. A new wall was built in the eastern courtyard during this time, so that cell block inmates were separated from the college girls. After the end of the war, the section used for holding prisoners was then used only as a storage facility for the Victoria Police Force, whose headquarters were nearby in Russell Street.
In May 1974, the sections used by the school were remodelled by architects Eggleston, McDonald and Secomb, to act as the schools food and fashion departments. The Emily McPherson College was merged into RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
in 1979, bringing the gaol entrance gates, and other facilities alongside it. In 1990, RMIT performed work to restore the enclosed balcony to its former 1927 design. In 1994, RMIT performed further work to landscape the inner courtyard, and in 1995, removed the temporary war-time pavilion classrooms. , the sections that RMIT owns are collectively known as the "RMIT Building 11. Architect: Colonial Government Architect", and include the entrance block and chapel; with the bath house and chapel serving as art studios.
Museum
In 1957, the National Trust of Australia listed the Old Melbourne Gaol on its heritage register, and a year later marked it as a site that needed to be preservedHistoric preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
at all costs. Furthermore, in 1965, the Melbourne Junior Chamber of Commerce floated the idea of converting it into a museum, for the purposes of tourism. In 1972, the gaol was reopened as a public museum, under the management of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
, the gaol is recognised as Victoria's oldest surviving penal establishment, and attracts approximately 140,000 visitors per year. The cells have been filled with information about individual prisoners, which also serve to illustrate the history of Melbourne itself.
In addition to historical information, it also includes various memorabilia; including death mask
Death mask
In Western cultures a death mask is a wax or plaster cast made of a person’s face following death. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits...
s, an iron mask, and a pair of leather gloves designed to prevent inmates from practising self-abuse. Notably, it still includes Ned Kelly's death mask, pistol and replica of his suit of armour, as well as the pencil used by Colin Ross to write a letter protesting his innocence, which he threw over the prison walls.
Operators also run several features, including the candlelit Hangman's Night Tour (with actors portraying prolific and brutal hangman Michael Gateley), and the daily Watch House Experience; an interactive performance in which visitors are treated as the prisoners would have been during its operation. In 2010, the Old Melbourne Gaol Crime and Justice Experience won the heritage and cultural tourism category at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Hobart.
Ned Kelly's skull
A skull, believed to be Ned Kelly's, was on display in the museum until it was stolen from a glass cabinet in 1978. Efforts have been taken by scientists and the government to determine the location of the skull, and whether it was authentic to begin with; it was reported that members of the public may have the remains of bones and teeth taken as souvenirs when graves were exhumed in 1929. Special interest was directed to finding a photograph of former South Melbourne councillor Alex Talbot holding Ned Kelly's skull, and information on grave exhume contractor Lee of Lee and Dunn, or his family, who was tasked with delivering Kelly's skull to the governor.In 2009, West Australian farmer Tom Baxter handed a skull to authorities, arguing that it was the one stolen from the gaol - while refusing to explain how he obtained it. Former Pentridge prison chaplain Father Peter Norden has stated that he believed the skull handed in could not belong to Kelly, and that it probably belonged to a woman. In 2010, there was further speculation that the skull actually belonged to Frederick Bailey Deeming, with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine claiming that the skull is similar to both Kelly's and Deeming's death masks.
Haunting
The museum is considered hauntHAUNT
HAUNT was a straightforward but engagingly irreverent text-based mainframe computer game. It was created in OPS4 language in 1979 by John E. Laird....
ed by paranormal enthusiasts, including British parapsychologist Darren Done. Done spent a night at the gaol in 2003, and claimed that he heard unexplained voices, and detected evidence of an electrical interference to suggest paranormal activity. He has since undertaken more research at the gaol, and in 2005, he claimed to have recorded a ghostly figure with a grotesque visage standing in a doorway at the gaol. Theories suggest that the voice of a woman, claimed to have been heard, might belong to Elizabeth Scott (the first woman hung at the gaol). Notably, none of the reported hauntings are related to that of Ned Kelly. Local enthusiast group GhostSeekers Australia conducts monthly tours to gather data and statistics for paranormal activity; making use of various monitoring equipment. However, Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell is a prominent skeptical investigator of the paranormal. He also works as an historical document consultant and has helped expose such famous forgeries as the purported diary of Jack the Ripper. In 2002 he was one of a number of experts asked by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr...
, a writer for the Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Inquirer
The Skeptical Inquirer is a bimonthly American magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry with the subtitle: The magazine for science and reason....
, argues that evidence of ghostly phenomena at the site is scant.