Old Melbourne Gaol

Old Melbourne Gaol

By Artin & Shivansh

This term the 5-6 students have been reading the novel "Tom Appleby Convict Boy" and we have been learning all about the First Fleet and early life in colonial Australia. On the 12th of August, the 5/6s went on an exciting and slightly creepy excursion to the Old Melbourne Gaol. Why is it spelt like this? We will never know for sure, but apparently it’s an old Latin word meaning “cage”. On the bus, there was chaos, screaming, chatter, singing and well… sleeping. Once we had finally made it, we were split into our groups, 5/6A and 5/6B, for the tours. We looked all around the old facilities that had little to no lighting, the cells which were cold and hard, the gallows which were as scary as a horror house, and a model of the entire prison as it was in the 1800s. We learnt about the men, women and children who had the unfortunate experience of calling the gaol home. 

At the end of our tours, we waited outside for the grand finale, the courtroom experience, specifically, the trial of Ned Kelly. Some of us were chosen to have different roles, like the Judge, or Ned Kelly himself, while the rest of the class were not left out, they would yell out from the audience when a controversial decision or topic was made or brought up. It was an overall exhilarating experience, getting to see interactive displays and videos, all of us having different roles, and the surreal experience of learning how the convicts in the gaol used to live in their cells, eat food and socialise. We all loved it dearly and hope that our school continues to go to The Old Melbourne Gaol, so the next classes get to have the same awesome time that we had.