Almanac History and Culture: In The Footsteps Of Unfortunates And Ghosts Past (a weekend spent in Pentridge Gaol, including a walking tour in nearby Coburg Cemetery)

 

 

 

Last weekend (13-16 March) Lorelle and I spent a leisurely weekend at the former Pentridge Gaol. This included a Friday evening cemetery walking tour at the nearby Coburg Cemetery – ‘A Tour of Unfortunate Events’ held by the ‘Friends of Coburg Cemetery Inc.’ (FOCC),  www.friendsofcoburgcemetery.com.

 

FOCC is a volunteer group which I have written about several times before for the Footy Almanac (‘Almanac Local History’ sporting pieces between October 2024 and early 2025).

 

While in Pentridge Gaol(!) we also took a tour of the facilities on the Sunday morning – see below.

 

FOCC, a hard working volunteer group (all committed women), not only do a wonderful job in keeping the old cemetery graves and the like clean and tidy, but also conduct various and interesting themed tours of the cemetery. Tours on themed topics such as ‘Inspirational Women of Coburg Cemetery’, ‘ANZACs’, ‘Lawyers Guns and Money’, ‘Crooks and Criminals’, ‘Sporting Stars’ to name just a few. FOCC also undertakes research and locates graves for families and individuals. They also monitor the wildlife and birds in the cemetery and publish an (always) interesting newsletter.

 

Our FOCC Friday evening tour was fascinating, with the attendees hearing stories of unfortunate events – disasters, accidents and tragic twists of fate from the lives of people buried in the cemetery. Moments where ordinary days turned into extraordinary loss for people such as:

 

• Ada and Gwynweth Evans, a mother and daughter lost in a Boronia railway tragedy;
• Arthur Evans, a widowed electrician employed on the modernising workforce helping to wire Melbourne in the 20C who was killed by a sudden wall collapse;
• Rowland Sutton a railway guard in Officer, Victoria, in 1920, who lost his life due to a runaway goods train ploughing into his guard’s van;
• Joseph Charles Lacey, an electrician electrocuted while installing equipment for a new electrical sub-station, at West Melbourne Gasworks;
• William Murray a passenger lost on the SS Dandenong in 1876- one of the worst maritime disasters of its time; and
• Friend Holness the first Melbourne Fire Brigade firefighter killed on duty when a brick wall fell on him when attending a blaze at a boot factory in then, Knox Place, Melbourne city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The research and background stories on these and other ‘unfortunates’ by FOCC were excellent and extremely interesting – a wonderful tour.

 

Our stay at the old Pentridge Gaol was great.  We didn’t stay in the cells (one can), but favoured the Adina Hotel complex which is now a part of, and incorporated into, the old gaol. The onsite facilities are superb. There are a number of fine eating establishments, an IGA and associated shopping plaza, a movie theatre, a gymnasium and pool and a wonderful BrewDog Brewery (the former E Division) that provides very good beer options, food and service. There is a market on Sundays too.

 

 

 

 

Apart from the Adina Hotel, the site and surrounds include new apartment complexes with a new one under construction. I think the planners or developers, relevant authorities (or whoever), have done a marvellous job in combining the new development with the old gaol. It truly is a great complex.

 

The ground floor of the Adina Hotel has a fantastic wine bar. It is where the Gallows once were. I must say that thoughts of poor Ronald Ryan did enter my mind as we walked through the wine bar – last man to be hanged in Australia on 3^rd February 1967 (my birthdate but not the year!).

 

The Pentridge tour itself, for true crime buffs like myself, is informative, interesting, well run and exciting. It was also a deep thought provoking and at times emotional experience. What was really good was that the guide was always approachable to answer questions and her knowledge of all things Pentridge was very helpful. The 1.5 hour tour itself includes a walking/talking history tour of the facilities interspersed with stories by the guide about events and characters associated with the gaol’s history. For the last 30-40 minutes or so the guide remains in the vicinity, but leaves you alone to wander around the hard labour ‘H’ Division with earphones and a recorder device reading information notes positioned on each cell door.

 

At times it felt as though we were wandering around a gaol facility of the Victorian era. For me, there was not a lot of difference between the prison cells of H Division in the 1960s and 1970s and the convict experiences of the early to mid 1800s. I found it hard to comprehend that in Pentridge Gaol in the mid to late 1900s cells still didn’t have electricity or proper toilets (buckets!).  Prisoners spent 23 hours in their cells and had just one hour of outside exercise in a very confined and monitored space.

 

One fascinating fact I learnt is that the 1800s convict type solitary confinement task of breaking large bluestone rocks into marble sized stones as a form of hard labour (termed ‘breaking biggies into littlies’), was only stopped in ‘H’ Division in 1976. Amazing!  Prisoners had to suffer this brutal regime in a special yard from 8.00am to 4.00pm daily. When the then Hamer government Minister Brian Dixon (and ex–Melbourne footballer) had prisons as a responsibility, he denied at a press conference that the practice was carried out in Pentridge. Obviously, as he was advised by his department and the prison management in particular. At the conference a man in the crowd yelled that he had just been released from Pentridge and that the practice was alive and well. Dixon announced to the press a day or so later that he had abolished the practice.

 

 

 

 

There are many interesting other stories and information on the Pentridge tour audio. One interview I listened to was of former journalist Brian Morley’s account of his attendance at the Pentridge hanging of Ronald Ryan in 1967. Up to that experience Morley didn’t have a strong view either way on capital punishment. His audio account is chilling and emotional, not only for him at the time, but for me listening to it nowadays: ‘and it was just then I knew that they were going to kill him and the hangman leapt for the lever, and I couldn’t take it anymore, I closed my eyes.’

 

 

When asked by a journalist what he was doing at 8am that day (the execution time), then Premier of Victoria, Sir Henry Bolte, a proponent of using capital punishment as a violent crime deterrent, replied ‘One of the three Ss, I suppose.’ When asked what he meant, he commented ‘…a shit, a shave or a shower.’ Mm, says a lot really.

 

 

 

Would I recommend a visit to the Pentridge Gaol complex? Most definitely. One can spend a pleasant day or so staying at the complex. The prison tour is optional of course, but I recommend it.

 

Despite its often sad history the gaol is a part of our history and its story(ies) need to be told. The National Trust tour staff do this well.

 

(NB: The Pentridge National Trust Tour Office approved the use of all photographs in this piece including those taken by the author.)

 

 

To read more by Allan Barden click here.

 

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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