Gaols of NSW - HM Gundagai Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia
By Throsbyonchurch on 13-Jul-20. Waypoint GA16534

Gaols of NSW

HM Gundagai

Built: ~1859

Opened: 1859

Closed: 1909 but remained as a lock-up until 1970s

Clasification: Minimum Security

Following the devastating 1852 flood, the town lock-up needed to be rebuilt as a watch-house or gaol. Alexander Dawson, the colonial architect, designed the building and Charles Hardy won the tender for it’s construction in 1859. Hardy and Hodson builders completed further additions in 1861, and in 1863 a kitchen was built for the gaol, designed by James Barner, the Government Architect.

The stone boundary wall which still stands today was constructed in 1866. The gaol consists of a cluster of structures including, The Gaolers residence, the external kitchen block, the hospital (original gaol), the gaol including exercise yard, an outhouse, outbuilding, a well and archaeological remains.

Prisoners with short-term sentences who had been sentenced at Gundagai or at courts in the surrounding district were incarcerated in the Gundagai Gaol. Prisoners, including bushrangers, who were in transit to other gaols were also accommodated there. Although no longer in use, Gundagai Gaol is one of the few remaining gaol compounds dating from 1859 and a rare and largely intact example of its type.

In 1870 the Gundagai Gaol was classed as a ‘lock-up’ or ‘proclaimed gaol’ and could accommodate from four to twenty prisoners. During this year the actual number of prisoners received included 4 debtors; 19 males and 2 females awaiting trial; 55 males and 3 females ‘in transit’; 11 males under sentence to labour; 7 males and 3 females sentenced to imprisonment; with none in solitary confinement. The greatest number received at one time totalled 9.

Gundagai Gaol was closed in the 1970’s and a holding cell was constructed at the Gundagai Police Station.

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