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Australia

Old Castlemaine Gaol

Low
Verified 28 May 2026
Fresh · 1d ago

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How to send mail, money, and visit Old Castlemaine Gaol

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Photograph of Old Castlemaine Gaol
Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Background

The Old Castlemaine Gaol is a former prison, located in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. The building was modelled on Pentonville prison in London, replacing the original, designed by Inspector General John Price, which was never occupied. Built in 1861 to house offenders from the goldfields and nearby towns, it served various functions in the penal system before it was closed in 1990 and its prisoners transferred to HM Prison Loddon. From 1861 to 1908, the gaol housed all manner of criminals, including lunatics and debtors, and ten men were hanged within the walls. In the later of these years however, the gaol housed mostly short-term prisoners and first-time offenders.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

Current population

Occupancy

Year opened

1857

Operational

Facility profile

Operator

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1857

Region

Security level

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Contact & address

No public contact details available.

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

Insufficient data
We don't have enough public data on this facility to score it. Have something to add? Send us a correction.

Data completeness

16%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources