NRS-18579 | Gaol reception book [Wagga Wagga Gaol]

Full description

The Gaol reception book for Wagga Wagga Gaol is similar to an entrance book. It consists of numerous pages listing the names of inmates, date received in Gaol, sentence, when due for No.2 rations, religion, date of sentence, due by servitude to petition – later crossed out and replaced by “searching officer”, time expires by remission – later crossed out and replaced by “witness”, and time expires in full. The last paragraph “when due to grow hair, &c” has been left blank, with dates of discharges, acquittals or transfers listed instead. Most entries relate to prisoners with sentences of short duration.

Several inmates were transferred to Goulburn, Yass, Albury, Young, Bathurst, Cootamundra, Darlinghurst, Maitland, and Berrima Gaols, with others considered insane and transferred to Callan Park, Parramatta, the Reception House for the Insane (Darlinghurst), and the Benevolent Asylum.

The first prisoner's reception at Wagga Wagga Gaol was on 1 February 1886 and the last entry date recorded was on 12 January 1897. The last date time expires in full was listed as 14 May 1897, but the last remaining inmates - George Lynch or Hill, and James Darucody, were transferred to Goulburn Gaol on 25 January 1897.

The volume included two scraps of paper, one of which included the prisoner's signature of J. Bamfield and which had printed 'Wagga' on the reverse. Pasted in the front of the volume are almanacs (calendars) for 1888 and 1889 and a note recording the dates of circuit courts and Quarter Sessions to be held in Wagga Wagga in 1896.