Old Melbourne Gaol

Undoubtably one of Melbourne's most haunted sites, Old Melbourne Gaol resides it's weary bones in on the corners of LaTrobe & Russell Streets, Melbourne. It's bluestone walls sit back quietly as heavy traffic from the city roads pass by 24/7 not taking much notice of what chilling events took place here, or what now resides in the darkness within.
136 executions by hanging took place in the Gaol including the famous bushranger Ned Kelly, the prison was often overcrowded and an extremely dark and difficult place for any inmate to be.
Built between 1852 - 1854 and modeled on Pentonville Prison, England it was considered to have the latest prison reform theories of the day.
It has been rebuilt quite a number of times, and moved from it's original location in 1839 to a larger premise where it still stands today. The remedies to solve the overcrowding never resolved anything, it still remained an extremely unpleasant place for any prisoner. Placed under review in 1870 it was recommended the gaol should be closed and the prisoners moved elsewhere.
The Gaol was slowly run down between the years of 1880 and 1924 then parts of the Gaol were demolished. It was then used as a Military prison during World War II for a brief time.
The only use for it after that was as a police storage facility for the nearby Victorian Police Force until it was acquired by the National Trust and now is open as a museum to the general public on a daily basis.
Ned Kelly's Death mask watches the prison to this dayThe Gaol's most famous prisoner was Ned Kelly, a notorious Australian Bushranger who was captured at a siege in Glenrowan in the 1880's. Ned Kelly was executed by hanging in November, 1880 while a large crowd gathered outside the Gaol. His headless body was originally buried within the Old Melbourne Gaol grounds in an unmarked grave, but later removed, under much controversy (his coffin was discovered with the Kelly symbol and workers stole his bones) to Pentridge Prison grounds.