Old Melbourne Gaol

Old Melbourne Gaol on Russell Street in the Melbourne CBD held prisoners from 1842 until its closure as a working prison in 1929, and stands as one of Victoria's oldest surviving colonial structures. The three-tiered bluestone cell block, quarried locally and built by convict and contracted labour, remains largely intact, with narrow individual cells arranged along iron-railed galleries much as they were in the 19th century. The gaol is best known as the site where bushranger Ned Kelly was hanged in November 1880, and his cell, along with a cast of his skull and other memorabilia, is a centrepiece of the display. The collection includes an extensive gallery of plaster death masks taken from executed prisoners for phrenological study, original gallows equipment, and exhibits on the more than 130 people hanged on the site. Interpretation runs chronologically from the gaol's founding through Melbourne's convict and colonial-era justice system to its later use for remand and as a military prison during both world wars. Restoration has focused on stabilising the bluestone fabric and cell galleries while keeping the building's stark, unadorned character rather than modernising it, and the site is managed today by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as a heritage museum.