Old Gaol Museum

For other uses, see Old Gaol.

Front of the Old Gaol

Side of the complex with broken glass embedded into the top of the wall to discourage escape attempts

The Newcastle Gaol Museum is a prison museum in Toodyay Western Australia.

History

In the early days of settlement (1832) the Military and the Resident Magistrate were stationed at York. 'Crimes' at his time were mostly stealing of livestock. 'Retaliation' was often described as 'tit for tat'.

In June 1840, Governor Hutt created a special police force, known as the Native Police, to deal with native offenders, as distinct from the civil police, which dealt with 'white' settlers.

John Drummond became friendly with the Aborigines and, with his Aboriginal troopers, made regular patrols around the district.

Samuel Pole Phillips was appointed as the local Justice of the Peace, to support the work of the Resident Magistrate. After the murder of Chidlow and Jones by a group of 40 Aborigines, Govorner Hutt, in 1837, ordered a substantial barracks and Stables to be built on the Toodyay Townsite on Lot R1. This was the first Government building for the town and was built by William Criddle in 1842.

By 1854, Toodyay had a Mounted Police Force under Constable Gee, a Native Police Force under Constable James Betts, as well as the Pensioner Guards. A new Lockup to serve as a Gaol was built on the Toodyay Townsite on Lot R66 in Charles Street. It consisted of 12 cells, warder's quarters and an exercise yard with a high wall. The main offenses among white settlers related to drunkenness. Whether the offenders were 'free' or 'bonded'.

In April 1851, the convict ship Pyrenees arrived, which forced Governor Fitzgerald to establish depots in country areas. For the Toodyay Valley, Michael Clarkson became the Superintendednt of the Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot. At first the convicts were housed at the Toodyay Barracks in the Toodyay Townsite. The accopmyning Pensioner Guards, ex military, who had been offered land as an incentive to come to the Colony, acted as a special Police Force for emergencies. Those who came to the Depot in Toodyay Valley were offered small land grants at the Toodyay Townsite. These were worked out on a plan of the town but were later cancelled when the pensioner Guards were moved to the Depot site, which was two miles further upstream. This is the present site of today's Toodyay which was formally called Newcastle.

Due to the economic recession the Convict hiring Depot was no longer needed. In 1860 - 1861 it was decided to abandon the Toodyay Townsite due to more floods in those years and the preceding ones and to move to the centre of the Depot site. The Mounted Police moved into the Commissariat Stables. The Sergeant of Police, two Constable and the Lockup Keeper were given cottages. One of the rooms was used for a Courtroom.

The Magistrate suggested a site for the new Gaol between the Toodyay Townsite and the Depot. He made this suggestion on the grounds that drunks could be more easily transported from the local inns to the cells, as the Queens Head Inn was the main inn at the time.

Jas Everett's Inn was to suffer the same fate as the buildings in the Toodyay Townsite, for a severe flood in 1862 put watermarks on the walls higher than ever before and cracked the walls. Durlacher insisted that the new Gaol should have a Courtroom. A small lockup at the Depot was strengthened with fittings removed from the Toodyay Townsite Gaol/lockup. A record of this transaction exists and the date on the document is 1862.

Meanwhile, plans were being drawn up for a new gaol by Richard Roach Jewell, who was responsible for other Government buildings, for example the Pensioner Guards Barracks in Perth, although all that exists now is the archway.

Eventually the site chosen for the 1862 plan was Lot 29 in Clinton Street, in the new town of Newcastle. Since records remain of Lots 30 and 33 belonging to Captain Bruce, Lot 29 may have well belonged to him and given back to the Government for the building of the Gaol. The land had been given to Captain Bruce as part of his 'free' land grant as controller of the Pensioner Guards. Since he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Acting Governor, it was not likely he would 'retire' in a country town.

The plan for the Newcastle Gaol was Public Works Plan, PWD No 179. Timber from an old lockup from Bailup was utilized. Convict labour was used, although the work was supervised by a stonemason (ex convict) who was living in the area. He complained of having unskilled workers working with him and reported that the job was taking longer to do because of this.

Jewell's plan showed a timber lined security cell, which also has an iron bar for leg irons. This cell was probably used for prisoners who were high risk, but it may have also been used for aboriginal prisoners who were still shackled and chained until the 1900's.

The existing Gaol is much smaller than was originally planned. Durlacher did not get his courtroom. The proportions were planned on a square, with more living accommodation than exists at present. The Gaol was eventually finished in 1864 and operational by 1865. The Gaol continued as a State Gaol until 1909.

In the 1930s, the building was used as a residence by the Dorizzi family. The sons slept in the cells. The boys joined the Australian army and in 1945, three of the brothers died at the hands of their enemy captors. One cell is now dedicated to them and to all local servicemen and women who did not return home.

After World War II for nearly 20 years the building slowly deteriorated until a restoration programme was undertaken in 1962, and the Museum began.

Current use

In 1962, the Gaol was restored as a Museum by the Shire of Toodyay and the W.A. Tourist Bureau. Grants from the National Heritage Commission, matched by grants from the Shire of Toodyay have enabled the fabric of the building to be stabilized. The building is classified under the National Trust. The museum is now a recognised museum under the Museum Act. Vested in the Toodyay Shire, with voluntary curatorial and display work.

A courtroom scene has been set up to show how it was and other displays show the artefacts of early pioneer days in the district, before the age of mechanization.

Across the road is the restored Police Stable, dating from c.1870.

References

• "Toodyay Visitor Centre"
• "Old Gaol, Toodyay". Heritage Council of Western Australia. http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/O%20-%20A-D/Old%20Gaol,%20Toodyay%20(P-AD).PDF. Retrieved 2008-04-21.