Darlinghurst, gaol

The site of the old Darlinghurst Gaol is now occupied by the The National Art School. The walls of the prison were built by convicts between 1822 and 1824. Work began on the prison buildings in 1835 in the Victorian Regency style and took 50 years to complete. By 1840 the Governor's residence, one men's cell block and the women's cell block were finished and prisoners were marched here from the old gaol at The Rocks in 1841. Darlinghurst Gaol was also the site for many executions at the gallows just inside the walls near the intersection of Darlinghurst Road and Burton Street or numerous public executions on a makeshift gallows outside the main gate in Forbes Street. The gaol was the main Sydney penitentiary up until 1914, when inmates were transferred to Long Bay, a new 'model prison' at Malabar. This site was transferred to the New South Wales Department of Education in 1921, who adapted the buildings for use as the East Sydney Technical College and by 2005 was solely occupied by the The National Art School. I've used the old British and Australian spelling for gaol in this post here since that's the way it was spelt back then, even though the American spelling for jail seems to be more commonly used in Australia these days.

Linked to: My World Tuesday.