Opening for business in 1847, and closing in 1988, it is now run as a museum, showcasing how prisoners lived over the previous decades. Throughout the Gaol's operational life, it was home to over 300,000 prisoners.It is also one of the oldest buildings in South Australia.
We took a self guided tour. We didn't see any ghosts, but we plan to go along again for a guided night time tour, in the hope some spectres might come out and communicate with us from beyond the grave. 45 people were put to death by hanging at the Gaol. People are also buried at the Gaol, and we saw some fresh flowers left at grave sites.
Always time to strike a pose -
Adelaide Gaol has a beautiful rose garden (completely unexpected) that immediately brought to mind the theme tune for Australian Television's Prisoner (Prisoner Cell Block H in the UK). I have included a video below, in case you are not familiar with this show, that has a HUGE cult following.
There were mannequins waiting for us around many corners, in period-specific costumes and in various dramatic situations. Initially they caught us off guard, as we were waiting to see a ghost...But they helped to illustrate what may have happened when the jail was operational, even if they were a little creepy.
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| We love a bit of drama on a Sunday |
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I wish we had seen a ghost, but there is always next time...
7 comments:
This indeed does look like a great way to spend a good, lazy afternoon. I thought of "House of Wazx when you were talking about mannequins in various dramatic positions... and definitely a ghost or two would have made this trip complete. Jokes apart, it is such a pity to even think of how people would have lived here although some of them would have deserved to... if you liked this place, you would like the Cellular Jail in the Andamans too. It has got a great history as well.
Hi Ratz. How are you?
Yeah, Cellular Jail looks interesting, I googled it.
Adelaide Gaol seemed cool, to visit, but it would have been awful to live there. The cells were tiny and everything seemed really basic, as I would expect I suppose.
Creepy! We have an old jail/gallows/cemetery from the 1800's just outside of town. I stopped and took pictures of it one day and used it as a pivotal scene in one of my novels. Love that stuff. Makes me want to write right now.
Cheers,
Casey
I love the Old Adelaide Gaol, although it's so old and creepy it's hard to imagine it was still being used in the 80's. A group of friends and I spent a night there once - it was a fabulous experience and ultra spooky!
Hi Casey. Sounds good. I plan on looking up your novels, are they published?
Hi Kelly, we hope to go in May for an evening tour. I had been telling people I had been and I was pronouncing "Gaol" wrong. I didn't realise it was said the same way as "jail".
I was saying, "Ga - ole". So after someone laughed at me and informed me of my error, I now say "jail".
Every day is a school day.
Oh, this would be right up my street, I love nothing better than exploring around creepy buildings - thanks for the tour (and the great photo's)!
It opened in 1841, not 1847
http://www.adelaidegaol.org.au/Adelaide_Gaol_History.htm
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