AGY-3876 | Wollongong Gaol

Full description

During 1859 lock-ups were established in 24 country districts including Wollongong "in order that prisoners, committed for trial at the Courts of Quarter Sessions holden at the said places, might legally be in the custody of the Sheriff (the watch houses having been proclaimed to be gaols for the same purpose) and authority was given to the Sheriff to pay these lock-up keepers one shilling per diem in addition to their salaries". (1) The tender of Messrs. P McBeath and S.C. Bloomfield for the erection of a gaol at Wollongong for the sum of £1350 was accepted by the Under Secretary, Department of Land and Public Works on 4 April 1859. The bond was signed by Stephen Bloomfield on 27 April 1859. The site of the new gaol was to be adjoining the Wollongong Court House. (2) John Garrett, Mayor of Wollongong, was appointed as Visiting Justice to the gaol on 4 January 1860. (3) He reported to the Colonial Secretary on 31 March 1860 that the prisoners remained in the old Watch House due to the absence of furniture from the new gaol. A gaoler had been appointed by 10 April 1860. The Gaol was opened on 26 April 1860. (4) The new gaol was not formally proclaimed. The first gaoler appears to have been Maurice O’Connor. (5) At 1 February 1862 there were six prisoners in the Gaol, two with hard labor, three confines, and one awaiting trial. (6) On 1 May 1862 Mr Joseph Gates succeeded Maurice O’Connor as Gaoler and Mary Gates succeeded Lucy O’Connor as Matron and there were two warders. (7) By 1874 the gaol had 12 separate cells and an associated area that could hold 36 people. (8). In 1874, forty-four prisoners entered the gaol and forty-two were discharged. (9) In 1887 251 prisoners entered with the same number being discharged. (10) On 1 November 1914 Wollongong Gaol was reduced from a Minor Gaol to a Police Gaol. According to a report of the Comptroller General of Prisons, the number of prisoners received from the surrounding districts did not justify the expense incurred in retaining officers whose services were more suitably placed elsewhere, while the prisoners, who were sent to other gaols, were more profitably employed under better supervision. The accommodation and arrangements of a police gaol sufficiently met requirements where many prisoners were received who served but very short terms. (11) By 16 February 1915 only ten prisoners were held at Wollongong Gaol. The Comptroller General reported the gaol’s closure that year stating that the small number of prisoners sent to Wollongong considered in conjunction with the facilities for convenient and speedy transfer to larger gaols, where employment, classification, and supervision were more effectively provided for, rendered the closing of such expensive unsuitable establishments desirable. (12) Wollongong Gaol was closed by proclamation on 31 October 1915. (13) ENDNOTES:
1. Public Service List, 1858, p.67 [Fiche 807].
2. Government Architect; CGS 4332, Files concerning erection, repair, additions and alterations to Public Buildings, 1837-1912 [2/629]
3. NSW Government Gazette, 6 January 1860, p.14 and Public Service List 1860, p.72 [Fiche 808].
4. Government Architect; CGS 4332 [2/629].
5. Public Service List, 1860, p.72 [Fiche 808]. His date of appointment is not shown.
6. Government Architect; CGS 4332 [2/629].
7. NSW Government Gazette, 10 June 1862, p.1051 and Public Service List 1862, p.20.
8. Prisons Report for 1874 in Votes and Proceedings, 1875, Vo.l 2, p.969.
9. Prison Report for 1874 in Votes and Proceedings, 1875, Vol. 2, p.971.
10. Prisons Report for 1888, p.1 in Votes and Proceedings, 1889, Vol. 5, p.979.
11. Prisons Report for 1914 in Parliamentary Papers, 1915-16 Vol. 4, p.682.
12. Report of the Comptroller-General of Prisons for the Year 1915, in Parliamentary Papers, 1915-16, Vol. 4, p.781.
13. NSW Government Gazette, 27 October 1915, p.6172.