Campbell Street Gaol - Recent History

Recent History

In the first half of the 20th century, Campbell Street Gaol was the subject of six separate inquiries, all concluding it desperately needed to be modernised and conditions upgraded.

In 1916, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works inquired into the need for major remodelling of the Gaol, instead recommending the building of a new gaol. A lesser sum was provided to make temporary alterations to address the worst deficiencies. Cell accommodation was concentrated in the northern wing, leaving the southern section (dating from 1813) for administration purposes. Work carried out in 1916 included improvements to the drainage by connection of the gaol (but not the cells) to the sewerage system and the conversion of lighting from gas to electricity. Other services for kitchen and workshops continued to be provided by a wood fired boiler and wood fired ovens. Some cells were considered to have insufficient light and were so small as to only permit room for a bed. The Governor of the day reported that he was much heartened by the alterations in which groups of two small cells were converted into new single cells, which made it more humane and convenient to keep prisoners locked in their cells over weekends and holidays.

A Royal Commission into shortcomings in the prison system took place in 1935, but the report was never printed and all trace has been lost. This was followed in the same year by an enquiry by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works. At that stage the gaol had accommodation for 142 inmates. One of the recommendations of the Standing Committee was to replace the gaol with a modern facility to replace the deplorable conditions in Campbell Street. Part of the consideration was to remove the gaol to the country “but not more distant than 30 miles” and that it should be suitable for farming by the less dangerous prisoners, which would also render the system self-sufficient in meat, vegetables, dairy produce and fuel. A property was eventually selected in 1937 at Hayes, which became the Hayes Prison Farm. The idea of transferring all of the prison operations to Hayes was subsequently abandoned.

Following a Royal Commission in 1943, resulting from a series of escapes from Campbell Street Gaol, a property was finally obtained by compulsory acquisition in 1949. The area of 90 acres (36 ha) acquired was on the eastern side of the Derwent River, not far from Risdon Cove where the initial European settlement of Tasmania occurred. The 1943 Royal Commission also heard that the southern section of the Campbell Street Gaol was still in use as cells including four solitary confinement dark cells. However it would be ten years before the much anticipated and long overdue Risdon Prison was opened in 1960.