Darlinghurst Gaol

Darlinghurst Gaol
An aerial view of Darlinghurst Gaol, 1930
Location	Darlinghurst, New South Wales
Closed	1914

Darlinghurst Gaol was an Australian prison located in Darlinghurst, New South Wales. The site is bordered by Victoria, Burton and Forbes streets, with entrances on Forbes and Burton Streets.

History

The imposing entrance to the gaol

Grounds of the former gaol in 2011

Construction on Darlinghurst Gaol wall began in 1822 and finished in 1824 using convict labour, but due to a lack of funds, the site sat empty for 12 years. Construction of the rest of the complex did not begin until 1836, with completion of some of the cell blocks in 1840. The gaol was ready for occupation a year later, with the first prisoners occupying the gaol on 7 June 1841.

The gaol was finally completed in 1885. The main material used for construction of the gaol is Sydney sandstone, cut into large blocks by convicts. Convict markings on the blocks are visible along the upper half of the wall on Darlinghurst Road. A tall circular chapel stands in the middle of the site, around which are sited the six rectangular cellblocks in a radial fashion.

Australian poet Henry Lawson spent time incarcerated here during some of the turbulent years of his life and described the gaol as Starvinghurst Gaol due to meagre rations given to the inmates. The site is now open to the public as The National Art School. The last hanging at the gaol was in 1907.^[1]

Hangings were open to public viewing throughout several decades. People would gather at the front gate of the gaol in Forbes Street, and the condemned would be brought out on a platform built above the gaol gate. The public executioner Alexander Green lived for a time in a hut outside the eastern wall of the gaol, would then leave his house to the jeers and catcalls of the gathering crowd, enter the prison and do his job. Seventy-six people were hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol, but most of them met their demise on the scaffold inside the gaol in a corner of E-wing. Among those who met their demise at the end of a rope were bushranger Andrew George Scott, better known as Captain Moonlite, in 1880, and the last woman to be hanged in NSW, Louisa Collins, in 1889.

Modern-day use

The site was transferred in 1921 to the New South Wales Department of Education, who adapted the building for use as the East Sydney Technical College. The National Art School was established in 1995 and is now the sole occupant of the site. The Darlinghurst Road side of the Gaol, (commonly known as "the wall") was for many years a popular place for male prostitutes to offer their services.

Notable prisoners

Watercolour of the Gaol by inmate Henry Louis Bertrand, 1891

Thomas and John Clarke – bushrangers from the upper Shoalhaven in south-east New South Wales, hanged on 25 June 1867.
Louisa Collins^[2] – the last woman to hang in New South Wales.
Albert Thomas Dryer – medical doctor and founder of the Irish National Association of Australasia.
John Dunn – Australian bushranger, member of Ben Hall's gang, hanged in the gaol on 19 March 1866.
John Vane^[3] – bushranger from Carcoar in Central Western New South Wales. Johnny Vane was member of Ben Hall's gang.
Frank Gardiner – Australian bushranger and mastermind of the Forbes gold escort robbery at Eugowra on 15 June 1862 (sentenced to 32 years, but pardoned early).
Jimmy Governor – upon whom Thomas Keneally based his novel, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.
Henry Lawson – Australian writer and poet.
Henry James O'Farrell – Irish Australian attempted political assassin.
Andrew George Scott – known as Captain Moonlite, Irish-Australian bushranger.

References

↑ NSW Police Website
↑ R. v. Collins, Moreton Bay Courier (NSWSupC 8 December 1888).
↑ "John Vane, Bushranger". 20 March 1909. p. 13. Retrieved 31 October 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darlinghurst, New South Wales.

National Art School – The school occupying the site today
reference and article (CC-by-sa) in the Dictionary of Sydney
State Library of New South Wales – Discover Collections – Halls of Justice
"Darlinghurst Gaol". Dictionary of Sydney. 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2015. [CC-By-SA]

Prisons in New South Wales

Operational facilities for adults	Bathurst Brewarrina (Yetta Dhinnakkal) Broken Hill Cessnock Cooma Dawn de Loas Defence Force Correctional Establishment Dillwynia Emu Plains Glen Innes Goulburn Grafton Ivanhoe (Warakirri) John Morony Junee Lithgow Long Bay Mannus Mid North Coast Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre Oberon Outer Metropolitan Multi Purpose Correctional Centre Parklea Silverwater Silverwater Women's St Heliers Tamworth Wellington

Operational facilities for juveniles	Acmena Broken Hill Cobham Frank Baxter Juniperina Kariong Orana Reiby Riverina

Closed facilities	Albury Armidale Balranald Bega Berrima Biloela Bombala Braidwood Burrowa Condobolin Coonabarabran Cootamundra Darlinghurst Deniliquin Dubbo Fort Denison Grenfell Hay Keelong Kempsey Kirkconnell Laurel Hill Maitland Mudgee Narrabri Parramatta Port Macquarie Taree Tuncurry Wagga Wagga Wentworth Windsor Wollongong Wyalong Yarrangobilly Yass Young

See also: List of Australian prisons

Coordinates: 33°52′47″S 151°13′07″E / 33.87972°S 151.21861°E / -33.87972; 151.21861

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