"Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage"
A truly dark historical and cultural space. Old Castlemaine Gaol was built in the 1850-60's while Victoria was experiencing the Gold Rush. On November 6, 1852 the conception of Castlemaine Gaol was announced. The old log watch house on the government camp, consisting of five extremely cramped cells and offering appalling conditions, was proclaimed the official “House of Correction”. A month later, December 8, Judge Redmond Barry arrived to open the first criminal court in the district. Over 4 days the court heard 40 charges which included such crimes as bush-ranging, burglary, manslaughter, murder, assault, larceny and stealing. A verdict of guilty was found in most cases and criminals carted off to Castlemaine Gaol.
A few years later a two-storey stone building was constructed on the north-west face of the compound, however this was replaced with new cell blocks as officiated by government processes to improve prisoner conditions across the colony. A wooden palisade was constructed around the property however it was blown over in November 1856. Henry Baker was the contractor who built the separate Warden Quarters at the front of the complex in 1857. Henry was a shonky dealer and at one stage was ordered by the Public Works Department to replace materials such as the poor quality of stone supplied by the nearby Bowden Street quarry. The red brick Governors’ House and Harcourt granite trimmed walls were constructed by Dalrymple and Simmie who had also worked on Beechworth Gaol.
Life here was cruel and hard labour was the order of the day. Ten prisoners were executed on the gallows that still exist and the first thing you see as you walk through the main caged entrance. Female wrong doers were also imprisoned between 1861 and1899.
Castlemaine’s design was based wholly and solely on the Pentonville model. Designed on the original Pentonville Gaol in Great Britain, each inmate had own cell, 4 m (13ft) long, 2m (7 ft) wide and 3 m (9 feet) high with small windows and opening on to narrow landings in the galleries. A central hall with five radiating wings, all visible to staff at the centre was intended to keep prisoners isolated – the "separate system". Guards had no view into individual cells from their central position; however prisoners were lead to believe they could.
Wearing brown cloth masks, the cell mates were forbidden to speak to each other and were paraded through the exercise yard in silent rows. On their daily visits to the Chapel, they sat in cubicles where they were visible to the warder but hidden from each other. The belief was that with so little contact with others, the law breaker would have time to contemplate their wrong-doings in silent reverence. Basically, it was a daily string of mind games in order to cleanse one’s soul.
Remember, at this period in time Castlemaine was a mega-rich gold colony where Catholic, Anglican and Church of England spires stood as phallic symbols of social and religious order towering about the town’s skyline.
Despite prisoners suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, dysentery, pneumonia and other ills and ailments, conditions were considered healthier than other Gaol’s scattered throughout Victoria. Whether male or female, each prisoner was expected to do hard labour and menial tasks from six in the morning until seven at night. The food ration was roughly based on the menu served at Pentonville Gaol (GB); that being a breakfast of 10 ounces of bread and three-quarters of a pint of cocoa; dinner was half a pint of soup (or four ounces of meat), five ounces of bread and one pound of potatoes; supper a pint of gruel and five ounces of bread. Visitors of the era noted that the cells were 'admirably ventilated' however ‘water closets’ were nothing more than communal, evil-smelling recesses (Wikipedia)
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| Hard Labour - 1870's |
Some eight years after the Gaol was established, Captain Bull (a well liked warden and Chairman of the local Court) laid the foundation stone of the benevolent Asylum on January 4, 1860. The Asylum, much like the Gaol, holds a commanding position overlooking the township.
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| Castlemaine Benevolent Asylum |
Back in the day this would have sent a clear message to the residents - "If you decide to be a law-breaker or step out of the realms of 'normal' in any way - you could either go in this direction, or that". Strange that with every gold town you visit in Victoria, the CHURCH, the GAOL, and the ASYLUM are strongly entrenched.
In the 1900's the Gaol faced declining numbers, not only in terms of inmate admission but also people considered watching a public hanging as less appealing as attending the midget wrestling fundraiser being held down the road between the Geelong and St. Vincent Orphanages; so the site became a Reformatory School for Boys.
My personal reaction to this space was very mixed. Despite the walls being covered with over a century of paint, nothing can disguise the lingering stench of imprisoned humanity: urine, blood, sweat and tears. I understand these types of places can make you feel despair and sadness, my overwhelming sense was that of lone, alone and loneliness. With the film crew taping away for most of Saturday in the Exercise Yard, I was left alone to explore. While on one level, I had an overwhelming sense of loneliness I never felt I was alone, I had a sense that someone was there with me, watching me.
In terms of the 'unexplained' the Gaol has many hot and cold spots. To see my 20yr old son standing on the drop platform directly under the gallows where prisoners were executed was chilling. I stood beneath him beseeching the spirit world not to pull the Hangman's lever at that point. I would have watched him fall to the concreted floor below, such a drop would have resulted in significant injury - if not death. Every time I went near the gallows I became headachy and light-headed. Many spoke of how horrible it must have been for the 10 that were executed at that point, but in my mind I wondered how many took their last look at the caged doorway to the outside world that was in front of them and thanked God for the blessed release into the afterlife.
Name | Year of birth | Date of execution | Crime |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Young | 1831 | 21 August 1865 | |
| Long Poy | 10 March 1866 | ||
| William H Terry | 31 July 1867 | ||
| John Hogan | 1815 | 14 August 1868 | |
| Ah Pew | 23 May 1870 | ||
| 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 |
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We slept in a double cell (which had originally been two cells) near the gallows overnight and I felt hot and claustrophobic, however when we went out onto the walkway in the morning it was chilly - the temperature difference was striking. It was also a full moon and the shadows that danced across the walls through the tiny windows made the room feel even more foreboding. I photographed the cell before we slept in there and was eerily surprised to find two 'orbs' floating near the bed when I reviewed material later.
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| 1st class accomodation |
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| Cell 70 |
What we also discovered when reviewing the video's later is that there is an unexplained tapping noise on the audio. To me, it sounds like someone tapping away at rock with a hammer, much like the Diggers would have done whilst digging for gold. This occurred twice during my filming. Once when I was very much alone walking from the Goal's garden to the building's gate (featured above) and again in the exercise yard whilst filming my partner's "Chess" scene. What made us question the video's is that I also taped my son playing soccer from the same spot some five minutes later and in that footage it isn't there.
For the most part, my experiences in this place gave me a true reminder of how dark Australia's past was. While mankind of the era believed that the prisoners here were housed in much better conditions than on the gut-churningly filthy prisoners ships skulking along the coastlines of Great Britain, existance here would have been soul destroying at the very least. The only communication was with prison staff, the priest and with God Almighty. It doesn't surprise me that at one stage the Victorian "Department of Lunacy" were making seriously considerations about it becoming an asylum for the criminally insane(J Ward won that honour). The spirits are here but remain just as quiet as they would have been whilst living. They communicate through tapping and the giving of electric goosebumps and the occasional spine tingle. They'll let you know they're there if you sit quietly enough, like against the back wall of solitary.
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| Relaxing in Solitary Cell - Right |
The experience was also somewhat bitter-sweet Like many of Australia's cultural sites (i.e. Pentridge Prison), the Gaol has been sold to private investors who are planning to build residential apartments and use the complex proper for business leasing and as a functions hall. I'm glad I got the opportunity to visit this place before post-modernism takes it toll.
The Jailhouse Journey
