Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A city in bluestone.
An introduction to central Melbourne and the bluestone of its gold-rush years, seen through the walls of its old gaol.
On this page
Read the city in stone
The gaol’s bluestone wing was built in 1852–54, as the gold rush transformed Melbourne. Today it stands beside the old City Watch House and City Courts, among the towers and campuses of the modern city.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how a wall is built, how windows are placed, or how an old building sits among new ones.
Bluestone and iron
The cell block was built of bluestone rather than sandstone, with iron galleries and stairs inside. Its plan followed the model prison at Pentonville in London.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made, repaired and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who quarried a stone or forged a gallery rail, or the conditions in which they worked.
A gaol chapter
The Old Melbourne Gaol shows a hard side of the colonial city: a place of punishment built in its richest years, later a college site, a wartime prison and a museum.
Look at the meeting of the two: a fast-growing city, and the walls it built to contain people.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the gaol’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
