Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison was a government run prison in Alice Springs in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

which operated between 1938 and 1996. It was preceded by

Stuart Town Gaol Stuart Town Gaol in Alice Springs (formerly Stuart), Northern Territory, Australia, located on 9 Parson Street, was constructed in 1907, when Alice Springs had a European population of approximately 30 people, and held its first prisoner in 1909 ...

and replaced by the still operating

Alice Springs Correctional Centre The Alice Springs Correctional Centre, an Australian medium to maximum security prison for males and females, is located outside Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. The centre is managed by Northern Territory Correctional Services, an ...

. It is now the location of the Women's Museum of Australia.

History

Builders began work on the gaol in 1936 and was the replacement for the, significantly smaller,

and it was designed by CE Davies who displayed an understanding of arid zone principles. It was opened in November 1938 and housed men and women; until 1964 male prisoners were segregated by race. The gaol was originally designed to house 22 prisoners and prisoners sentenced to longer sentences were regularly transferred to

Fannie Bay Gaol Fannie Bay Gaol is a historic prison, gaol in Fannie Bay, Northern Territory, Australia. The gaol operated as Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison, from 20 September 1883 until 1 September 1979. History In 1888, Deputy Sheriff (and later Go ...

or prisons in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The first Warden, also called Keeper, of the gaol was Philip Francis (Phil) Muldoon who was a long serving Northern Territory police officer; he was appointed by the then Administrator

Aubrey Abbott Charles Lydiard Aubrey Abbott (4 May 1886 – 30 April 1975) was an Australian politician and administrator of the Northern Territory. He was born at St Leonards, Sydney, to Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, a magistrate, and Marion, née Lydiard. He c ...

. He worked there alongside his wife, Bertilla Muldoon, who was the de facto (unpaid) matron and also cared for the female prisoners. During the Muldoons' management, the gaol was neatly maintained with substantial vegetable, fruit and flower gardens. It also had an ant-bed tennis court constructed by Phil Muldoon. For this reason it gained the nicknames 'Vatican City' (in reference to their Catholicism) and 'Muldoon's Guest House'. The prisoners often called it Greenbush and this name is still in use by the Greenbush Art Group which operates from the Alice Springs Correctional Centre in partnership with Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education. Phil Muldoon left the role when he retired in 1960. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

one of the women's call blocks, with had been set aside for 'European' women (non-Aboriginal) women was acquired by the Army for military prisoners including, for two months, German and Italian internees; they were then transferred to

Tatura, Victoria Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia, and is situated within the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, north of the state capital (Melbourne) and west of the regional centre of Shepparton. At the 2 ...

. Also during World War II the gaol was the only correction facility in the Northern Territory from 1942 until the end of the war during the

Bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in ...

. One famous former prisoner is

Olive Pink Olive Muriel Pink (17 March 1884 – 6 July 1975) was an Australian botanical illustrator, anthropologist, gardener, and activist for Aboriginal rights. Pink spent much of her life agitating and being a passionate advocate for improved rights ...

who, after being denied an inspection, intestinally entered an Aboriginal Reserve (without permission) so that she would be arrested. She was found guilty in court and was required to pay a fine or spent 5 days in prison. She was furious when the Warden Phil Muldoon paid her fine rather than have her in the gaol.

Albert Namatjira Albert Namatjira (born Elea Namatjira; 28 July 1902 – 8 August 1959) was an Arrernte painter from the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential Australian artists. As a pioneer of cont ...

also spent a number of night there before being transferred to serve his sentence in

Papunya Papunya ( Pintupi-Luritja: ''Warumpi'') is a small Indigenous Australian community roughly northwest of Alice Springs (Mparntwe) in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is known as an important centre for Contemporary Indigenous Australian art ...

; after his death a protest camp of approximately 250 people camped at the gates of the gaol. In 1956 Telka Williams began working in the women's section and worked there until her retirement in 1984. Telka Williams, who was an advocate for disability care in the Northern Territory, spoke out about the imprisonment of 'mental defectives' within the prison and said: Telka Williams husband, Joseph (Taffy) Williams, who was Superintendent of the gaol during some of the period Telka worked there called it a "black mark on the administration in the Northern Territory". Prisoner numbers rose sharply from the mid-1960s onwards and the gaol received criticism for its high levels of incarceration of Aboriginal people and for housing

juvenile offender A young offender is a young person who has been convicted or cautioned for a criminal offense. Criminal justice systems often deal with young offenders differently from adult offenders, but different countries apply the term "young offender" ...

s within the main prison population. To meet the needs of this increasing prison population there were many alterations made to the complex. In June 1993, three years before it was closed, the original gaol buildings were given heritage status as part of the Alice Springs Heritage Precinct and the Precinct, including the gaol, was entered on the Register of the National Estate in May 1996. The gaol closed two months later. In 1997, despite heritage protection, the site was set to be developed and a locally formed protest group was formed called 'Save the old gaol". After much lobbying, and a petition with over 2,000 signatures, the gaol was not developed. Instead it was leased to the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame, now known as the Women's Museum of Australia. The Women's Museum has maintained the original gaol buildings and gaol stories, including the fight to save the building, are shared. The museum was founded by

Molly Clark Molly Clark (c.1920 - 2012) was a pastoral and tourism pioneer from Central Australia in the Northern Territory of Australia. She established the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame Early life Clark began her working life as a governess on Munge ...

and opened in 2007.

External links

Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison, Alice Springs (1938 - 1996)
on Find & Connect

References

{{Coord, -23.7031, 133.8770, name=Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison (former), display=title Alice Springs Prisons in the Northern Territory Buildings and structures in Alice Springs