Dubbo. Old Dubbo Gaol cell block with central corridor.
Dubbo Gaol.
Not many towns in Australia can boost a mid-19th century gaol in their main street like Dubbo. Its history goes back to the origins of the town. In 1846, before the town was established in 1849, a Court room, police station and lock up was proposed on Dulhunty’s Dubbo run but others objected. The government procrastinated but the others won the decision. In 1847 a slab hut police residence was erected and in 1848 a court room and lockup was built in what is now Talbragar Street. These miserable slab huts were much later replaced by a new stone gaol of four cells and rooms for a gaoler in 1871 in their current position. Five more cells were added in 1874 with some outbuildings. Then a new grand gaol was built between 1877 and 1880 with stone walls and more cells for prisoners and rooms for warders. This new gaol had a large exercise area, a hospital, well ventilated cells for 35 prisoners, a kitchen and a library. There was a large padded cell, a solitary confinement cell and a condemned to death cell. The western section of the prisoner was added in 1887. In 1904 the gaol received 263 male and 42 female but released 270 males and 43 females so prisoners did not stay in Dubbo for long periods. On average the prison housed 23 prisoners each day. The gallows from 1871 were last used in 1904 and at least eight male murderers were hanged in Dubbo gaol but bushrangers in particular were also hanged at Dubbo before 1871.Those hanged include a Chinese man Ah Chick who murdered a farmer at Peak Hill and Jacky Underwood an Aboriginal man who took part in the Breelong massacres of 1900. The three Aboriginal leaders Jimmy Governor, Joe Governor and Jacky Underwood went on a nearly four month rampage murdering eleven white people including three children, six women and two men. This tragic episode was turned into a best-selling novel by Thomas Keneally in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith in 1972 and the ensuing film of 1978. The gallows have now been restored. The eastern gate of the gaol was built in 1929. The majority of prisoners were sentenced to Dubbo gaol by Magistrate Thomas Alexander Browne who wrote the novel Robbery Under Arms using his pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. Browne was magistrate in Dubbo from 1870 to 1887. The goal finally closed in 1966 and Dubbo City Council got the government to agree to let them open it as a museum in 1974.
Dubbo. Old Dubbo Gaol cell block with central corridor.
Dubbo Gaol.
Not many towns in Australia can boost a mid-19th century gaol in their main street like Dubbo. Its history goes back to the origins of the town. In 1846, before the town was established in 1849, a Court room, police station and lock up was proposed on Dulhunty’s Dubbo run but others objected. The government procrastinated but the others won the decision. In 1847 a slab hut police residence was erected and in 1848 a court room and lockup was built in what is now Talbragar Street. These miserable slab huts were much later replaced by a new stone gaol of four cells and rooms for a gaoler in 1871 in their current position. Five more cells were added in 1874 with some outbuildings. Then a new grand gaol was built between 1877 and 1880 with stone walls and more cells for prisoners and rooms for warders. This new gaol had a large exercise area, a hospital, well ventilated cells for 35 prisoners, a kitchen and a library. There was a large padded cell, a solitary confinement cell and a condemned to death cell. The western section of the prisoner was added in 1887. In 1904 the gaol received 263 male and 42 female but released 270 males and 43 females so prisoners did not stay in Dubbo for long periods. On average the prison housed 23 prisoners each day. The gallows from 1871 were last used in 1904 and at least eight male murderers were hanged in Dubbo gaol but bushrangers in particular were also hanged at Dubbo before 1871.Those hanged include a Chinese man Ah Chick who murdered a farmer at Peak Hill and Jacky Underwood an Aboriginal man who took part in the Breelong massacres of 1900. The three Aboriginal leaders Jimmy Governor, Joe Governor and Jacky Underwood went on a nearly four month rampage murdering eleven white people including three children, six women and two men. This tragic episode was turned into a best-selling novel by Thomas Keneally in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith in 1972 and the ensuing film of 1978. The gallows have now been restored. The eastern gate of the gaol was built in 1929. The majority of prisoners were sentenced to Dubbo gaol by Magistrate Thomas Alexander Browne who wrote the novel Robbery Under Arms using his pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. Browne was magistrate in Dubbo from 1870 to 1887. The goal finally closed in 1966 and Dubbo City Council got the government to agree to let them open it as a museum in 1974.