Speaker 1: It's just an interesting part of the story because it
Speaker 1: was this ship that these Bushrangers were attempting to escape
Speaker 1: on and it did disappear, so maybe some people want
Speaker 1: to believe that other men were on there and they
Speaker 1: did get away with the gold.
Speaker 2: I'm Jen Kelly from The Herald's Son and this is
Speaker 2: in Black and White, a podcast about some of Australia's
Speaker 2: forgotten characters. We're back for part two of the story
Speaker 2: of bushranger George Melville, who was part of an audacious
Speaker 2: robbery of a gold escort heading from the Goldfield to
Speaker 2: Melbourne in the eighteen fifties. Make sure you listen to
Speaker 2: part one first, we're talking again with Damian Beard, a
Speaker 2: tour guide at Penridge Prison Tours. As Damien told us
Speaker 2: in part one, police were closing in on the Gang
Speaker 2: of Bushrangers after finding a startling clue. A revolver had
Speaker 2: been stolen from a man's tent on the gold Fields
Speaker 2: and a map of the ship Madagascar had been left
Speaker 2: behind with the incriminating words Jay Francis cabin passenger written
Speaker 2: on it. And just a warning. This episode contains discussion
Speaker 2: about self harm. If you or anyone you know needs help.
Speaker 2: You can contact Lifeline on one three double one one
Speaker 2: four and you can find more helplines in the show
Speaker 2: notes to this episode. This is so mysterious. Why would
Speaker 2: somebody steal a revolverly behind a map?
Speaker 3: It seems so obvious that it's like a hacky detective novel,
Speaker 3: like a young adult novel, you know, So that's what
Speaker 3: led some people suggest No, maybe they knew something else
Speaker 3: than this was a ruse or something like that.
Speaker 1: And it's possible that often the truth is just so
Speaker 1: much stupid of a that, you know, I just told
Speaker 1: you about Frank Christy who escaped from pantries by climbing
Speaker 1: over the one meets a wall of a prison. So
Speaker 1: often he's just those little things like that. But back
Speaker 1: in Melbourne, the men are either staying in Collingwood, the
Speaker 1: city or Melville went to his house in Little Burke Street.
Speaker 1: The Francis brothers, with their wives and George Wilson had
Speaker 1: booked passage to England on the Madagascar. The Atkins were
Speaker 1: intending to head to Sydney, Joe Gray was allegedly intending
Speaker 1: to head to Adelaide, and George and Alfonsine were on
Speaker 1: board the Colooney which was heading to Mauritius. They speak French,
Speaker 1: why not get out of the English colonies altogether? The
Speaker 1: English and the French still not particularly great friends after
Speaker 1: the Napoleonic Wars. So on the tenth of August eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty three, Detective Constable Thompson and Constable Eason bought the
Speaker 1: Madagascar with a warrant to arrest John and George Francis
Speaker 1: on suspicion of theft of the revolver and a bowie knife. Now,
Speaker 1: some people have suggested that this is a ruse, that
Speaker 1: they already suspected these men of the Mackaivy robbery. Not
Speaker 1: really sure that it's a long effort to travel from
Speaker 1: Maciva to Melbourne just for a stolen revolver, So maybe,
Speaker 1: but we're really not sure. George isn't on board, but
Speaker 1: John is, and he's apprehended. His rooms were searched, but
Speaker 1: he had enough time to get word to George Wilson,
Speaker 1: who's also on board, to hide the stolen gold in
Speaker 1: George Francis's room, because George Francis's room has already been searched,
Speaker 1: so they figure they're not going to go back and
Speaker 1: have another look. John Francis is arrested on suspicion of
Speaker 1: the theft of the revolver and the knife, and he
Speaker 1: is being rowed to shore with his wife, and as
Speaker 1: he does, he asks permission to pull up to the
Speaker 1: colooney so that his wife could be looked after by
Speaker 1: the Melvilles, and this possibly implicates the Melvilles in police's mind.
Speaker 1: From here, George and Olfuonseine now George Francis is later
Speaker 1: found and arrested on shore and John and George are
Speaker 1: brought before the courts. They're immediately discharged for lack of
Speaker 1: evidence the theft of the pistol and the knife, but
Speaker 1: then walking out the door of the court immediately re
Speaker 1: arrested on suspicion of being taking part in the Mackai
Speaker 1: for Gold escort robbin. On August eleventh, the Madagascar and
Speaker 1: the Colooney was searched. Gold is found on the colooney
Speaker 1: and twenty three pounds of sovereigns as well as various
Speaker 1: other banknotes cash this kind of thing, and then George
Speaker 1: Wilson is arrested on the Madagascar when three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty eight pounds in gold sovereigns is found in his room,
Speaker 1: but Why did they go search the whole ship and
Speaker 1: a whole other ship is the big question. Possibly because
Speaker 1: when John Francis is dropping his wife off with the Melvilles,
Speaker 1: this raises suspicion in police's mind, but quite probably it's
Speaker 1: because of what happens with George Francis. On eleventh of August,
Speaker 1: Captain McMahon of the Police sends for George Francis at
Speaker 1: the City locker and he points out the notice on
Speaker 1: the gate five hundred pounds reward and passage out of
Speaker 1: the colony. Does George turn what they call approver an informant?
Speaker 1: Absolutely yes, he does. Remember he's already done this once
Speaker 1: before back in Van Demon's Land as well. On the
Speaker 1: same day, George Melville is arrested by Detective Ashley at
Speaker 1: the north Star Hotel and he is found with more
Speaker 1: money and a revolver on him. Not sure if that's
Speaker 1: a missing revolver or not. Also, William and Agnes Atkins
Speaker 1: are arrested at their house in Little Burk Street. Now
Speaker 1: no one had implicated these people so far, they absolutely
Speaker 1: had to have been informed on by George Francis. In
Speaker 1: in fact, he comes with police to their house. Detective
Speaker 1: Ashley and George Francis entered the house and Francis identified
Speaker 1: Atkins as one of the bushrangers. They found money in
Speaker 1: bank drafts and pans, and then the detective if you know,
Speaker 1: asks Agnes Atkins do you have any money? And she's
Speaker 1: very indignant, but finally she is searched and they find
Speaker 1: banknotes and money hidden in the hem of one of
Speaker 1: her dresses, sewn in there. On August thirteen, detectives Ashley
Speaker 1: and Murray and a Sergeant Simcock take George Francis to
Speaker 1: mc ivor with warrants to arrest more men Robert Harding,
Speaker 1: Edward McAvoy, George Shepard, and George Elston more Georges.
Speaker 2: We don't need any more Georges.
Speaker 1: More George's more Georges.
Speaker 2: And who were these men, Damien?
Speaker 1: Good question, We don't know. An author has suggested that
Speaker 1: Francis was trying to muddy the waters. He already feels
Speaker 1: guilty about informing on people, especially his brother, so figures
Speaker 1: if I just implicate a whole bunch of other dudes,
Speaker 1: put them all on trial, there's going to be this.
Speaker 1: You know, he was here, he was and blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: it's going to get thrown out. Possibly the troopers swore
Speaker 1: blind that they were attacked by at least fifteen to
Speaker 1: twenty men, So maybe there were men more men involved
Speaker 1: in the robbery than we actually know. Because again, the troopers,
Speaker 1: when they've all been caught unawares and you know, ambushed,
Speaker 1: and haven't even managed to get a shot off in return,
Speaker 1: they're going to say it wasn't six guys, you know,
Speaker 1: it was fifty guys, and they're all with machine guns
Speaker 1: and they were invented back then or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But still you get the idea they were embarrassed. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So Harding, McAvoy, Shepherd, and Elston had already moved on
Speaker 1: to Golben from Mackaiva, So on seventeenth of August they
Speaker 1: show up at the Golden Diggings. But the policemen are like,
Speaker 1: we're not going to go into the camp because we'll
Speaker 1: be recognized as tramps, as traps immediately. It will give
Speaker 1: the game away. So instead they send George Francis in
Speaker 1: to look for them, and he does a runner instead
Speaker 1: of finding them. Now all four men, Harding, McAvoy, Shepherd
Speaker 1: and Elston are caught the next day as was George Francis.
Speaker 1: He was caught near Mackiva Goldfields. They're taken back to
Speaker 1: Melbourne to go before the courts, and then they take
Speaker 1: a few days to make their way down there. By
Speaker 1: the twenty first of August they've reached what's now cal Calo.
Speaker 1: Francis in handcuffs for extra security and to isolate him
Speaker 1: from the other four who were obviously not feeling particularly
Speaker 1: well disposed to him by this point. He's actually taken
Speaker 1: to the house of the manager of the lock up,
Speaker 1: Robert Small. At nine am the next morning, Francis asked
Speaker 1: to go to the bathroom and he's escorted by Trooper
Speaker 1: Thomas Cox. He says, you know, can you take my
Speaker 1: chains off so I can actually do my business in
Speaker 1: the outhouse and Cox says, no probs. He takes him in,
Speaker 1: and after a few moments, Cox hears an absolutely horrible
Speaker 1: noise from inside the authouse. He pushes open the door
Speaker 1: to find George Francis with his throat cut.
Speaker 2: What is that possible?
Speaker 1: Again? Another author has alleged that someone snuck into the
Speaker 1: outhouse and was waiting for him with a razor and
Speaker 1: somehow murdered him. I don't know if you've seen the
Speaker 1: average size of a privy closet back then, but they
Speaker 1: call it a closet for a reason. It's small. What
Speaker 1: was found was a razor in his hand, belonging to
Speaker 1: the keeper of the lock up, Robert Small, and that
Speaker 1: raisor had allegedly been in the room where Francis had
Speaker 1: been kept overnight. He'd pocketed and he'd ended his own life.
Speaker 2: We'll be back soon to hear what happened next, so
Speaker 2: stay with us.
Speaker 1: On August twenty fifth, they're brought before the court for
Speaker 1: examination Melville Wilson Atkins, his wife, Agnes Atkins, Elston Harding
Speaker 1: and McAvoy. No word of what's happened to Shephard from here.
Speaker 1: They're all in handcuffs, which the defense lay kicked up
Speaker 1: a bit of fuss about as this was unconstitutional, and
Speaker 1: John Francis appears in place of his brother and gives evidence.
Speaker 1: John has now turned approver. Elston Harding and McAvoy, the
Speaker 1: men who were implicated by John's brother George Francis, were remanded,
Speaker 1: but then there's no further record a found of them,
Speaker 1: same with Agnes Actkins, so they were quite obviously discharged
Speaker 1: without convictions, so no evidence was found to implicate them
Speaker 1: in being involved in this robbery, which kind of lends
Speaker 1: a bit of theory to the credits that it was
Speaker 1: just those you know, six or seven guys, amongst whom
Speaker 1: George Melville Atkins and George Wilson. They're not so lucky.
Speaker 1: They're amanded to a higher court to hear charges, and
Speaker 1: on seventeen they appear in the Supreme Court before Justice
Speaker 1: Williams and placed on trial for the robbery of the
Speaker 1: gold escort, specifically three charges, one of which is wounding
Speaker 1: the driver Fooks and putting him in fear of his life.
Speaker 1: Some of the charges were also for stealing gold of
Speaker 1: one thousand ouncers or more belonging to certain individuals, And
Speaker 1: this actually sort of causes a bit of illegal wrangling
Speaker 1: because what happens is there's no proof that's alleged by
Speaker 1: the defense that some of the gold was held by
Speaker 1: those people who are then being put forward in the
Speaker 1: trial as the owners of that gold and things like that.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a moment. It's a pretty
Speaker 1: quick trial. It goes from twelve pm to about eight pm,
Speaker 1: but trials work quick back in those days, and ned
Speaker 1: Kelly famously two day trial. Justice Williams still says he
Speaker 1: regrets the time taken on the trial, the whole eight hours.
Speaker 1: What he reminded the jury before they deliver their verdict
Speaker 1: that the result of the verdict was not their worry
Speaker 1: and in effect that the blood would be on his
Speaker 1: hands as a representative of the justice system, not theirs.
Speaker 1: If they find guilty, that's not going to be leading
Speaker 1: them to be directly the cause of the death of
Speaker 1: these men. Which is interesting because Justice Williams he seems
Speaker 1: to be he knows that the crime is being committed.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he was someone who was privately
Speaker 1: opposed to the death penalty things like that, but he
Speaker 1: has a bit of an interesting attitude to the prisoners.
Speaker 1: There's a forty minute for guilty verdict on the first count,
Speaker 1: which included the assault on folks and making him in
Speaker 1: fear of his life. But then there's a bit of
Speaker 1: legal wrangling over the defense allegend. You know, we can't
Speaker 1: prove that this gold belonged to these people because the
Speaker 1: certificates saying such and such a person owned this amount
Speaker 1: of gold were lost in the robbery, and in fact
Speaker 1: Williams defers the sentencing after this because he confers with
Speaker 1: Sir Edmund Barry to decide what it's going to you know,
Speaker 1: is this actually a thing that's going to cause a
Speaker 1: bit of a legal hiccup or anything like that, But
Speaker 1: Redmond Barry, being Redmond Barry, is like, no, it's fine,
Speaker 1: and so there's nothing worth delaying the sentencing. They are
Speaker 1: then appear in court next day to be sentenced. To
Speaker 1: Melville asks to speak. He's reminded that he you know,
Speaker 1: the verdict has already been placed. You can't say anything
Speaker 1: right now that will change the verdict. And George Melville
Speaker 1: said no, I don't care about that. He says, I
Speaker 1: want the truth to be out. I know where I'm going.
Speaker 1: I know that I am going to peer before a
Speaker 1: higher court who's tribunal judges themselves would be judged before.
Speaker 1: He knows that, you know, he's going to heaven, and
Speaker 1: he wants to go to heaven with a clean slate.
Speaker 1: So he says, you know, several witnesses bore false evidence
Speaker 1: against him. He knew the time to change the verdict
Speaker 1: was gone, but he wanted to confess with a clean
Speaker 1: slate and say this is what really happened. And Justice
Speaker 1: Williams is really very impressed by this. He says words
Speaker 1: to the effect that, you know, he commends him for
Speaker 1: his stoicism in accepting his fate and saying, I wish
Speaker 1: that everyone who appear before this court approached these things
Speaker 1: with such a value set of values, in an attitude
Speaker 1: that you did. And he uses the time to get
Speaker 1: a few shots in at John Francis as well, being
Speaker 1: you know, this wicked man who bore witness against you
Speaker 1: and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Oh interesting, Yeah, so John Francis did get that huge
Speaker 2: reward he did.
Speaker 1: What happens is all three men on trial, Melville, Atkins
Speaker 1: and Wilson, are sentenced to death. They are taken to
Speaker 1: the old Melbourne Jail. Melville Natkins' wives visited them quite frequently.
Speaker 1: Poor Agnes Atkins, she was only like eighteen or nineteen
Speaker 1: at this point in time, and she was pregnant, and
Speaker 1: she was now left destitute. And in fact, I believe
Speaker 1: I've never been able to prove this, but I read
Speaker 1: somewhere that collections were raised to give her some money
Speaker 1: to live on. All three of them spent time with
Speaker 1: the priests, but they never confessed to the robbery. At
Speaker 1: six am on the third of October eighteen fifty three,
Speaker 1: they woke and they dressed for their execution. At eight
Speaker 1: o'clock the sheriff announced the hour had arrived, and then Melville,
Speaker 1: then Wilson, then Natkins left. Their cells were pinioned and
Speaker 1: taken to the gallows outside. At this point in time,
Speaker 1: the gallows was still outside in what's now the yard
Speaker 1: of old Melbourne Jail. They were public at that point
Speaker 1: in time. The gallows were tall enough that you could
Speaker 1: see if you were standing outside, you could see over
Speaker 1: the top of the wall and see the men on
Speaker 1: the gallows. They dropped through the trap door. They disappeared
Speaker 1: from sight. They were later moved inside because of what
Speaker 1: happens afterwards. There is a crowd outside waiting. It's allegedly
Speaker 1: the largest crowd to witness an execution at that point,
Speaker 1: and Melville attempted to address the crowd, but he gave
Speaker 1: up when he realized they couldn't hear him, and he
Speaker 1: just wished them a good morning. Wilson spoke and he
Speaker 1: again mentioned false evidence against them, and he also said
Speaker 1: that there is a man in jail at the time
Speaker 1: who had been convicted of a robbery and sekilled a
Speaker 1: road who was innocent. Now, Wilson was alleged to be
Speaker 1: part of this robbery, and he is apparently taking his
Speaker 1: time on the go as to say, no, this guy
Speaker 1: wasn't involved. Oh no, this is just a footnote in
Speaker 1: the story and I know nothing more about it. It's
Speaker 1: very frustrating. But hangman Walsh descends the stairs and pulls
Speaker 1: the bot. Atkins died immediately, but the other two died hard,
Speaker 1: with Walsh having to run below the trap door and
Speaker 1: pull on their legs to pull them against the noose
Speaker 1: so quickly. Yeah, there is the aftermath. Alfonsine applies for
Speaker 1: George's Melville's body, takes a tour oyster shop and you
Speaker 1: know what happens next from there. This is so controversial
Speaker 1: that legislation is amended. Government moves slowly. It takes them
Speaker 1: till eighteen sixty five. But all people executed at Old
Speaker 1: Melbourne Jail from eighteen sixty five on, including Ned they
Speaker 1: move the gallows inside Old Melbourne Jail. The gallows are
Speaker 1: still there. Parts of it are original, parts of it
Speaker 1: are not. You can come to a tour and see it.
Speaker 1: The beam is definitely original. And then once they are
Speaker 1: executed there I think it's about forty four people are
Speaker 1: executed inside. They are then buried on site where the
Speaker 1: basketball court is at r MIT. Now that is where
Speaker 1: they are buried to prevent exactly what happened with George
Speaker 1: ever happening again.
Speaker 2: Now there's another interesting PostScript to this story, isn't there?
Speaker 1: There is the Madagascar, the ship that the Francis brothers
Speaker 1: and Wilson were wanting to escape on. It left Melbourne
Speaker 1: on Friday the twelfth of August, left Port Phillips Heads
Speaker 1: and was never ever seen again.
Speaker 2: Ye, any thoughts about what happened?
Speaker 1: There are stories. It was apparently quite a famous maritime
Speaker 1: mystery at the time. So it was carrying a huge
Speaker 1: cargo of wolves. So some people thought that the walls
Speaker 1: spontaneously combusted and it was lost at sea with all
Speaker 1: hands in that manner, That's the one I tend to believe.
Speaker 1: Interesting fact, about thirty years later, most of the sort
Speaker 1: of sailing ship trade was being done by ships ferrying coal,
Speaker 1: and I know in the eighteen eighties about thirty percent
Speaker 1: of all ships lost at sea were lost to coal
Speaker 1: fires coal explosions, so that's more prosaic reason. But there
Speaker 1: is alleged that there were possibly other members of the
Speaker 1: gang who were never convicted, who were on board that ship,
Speaker 1: and allegedly they mutinied, murdered all the other passengers and
Speaker 1: disappeared with the gold. This story is backed up by
Speaker 1: an apparent deathbed confession from someone who was either a
Speaker 1: passenger who survived or a mutineer. That's just a story,
Speaker 1: you know, there's never anything written down. Just there was
Speaker 1: a deathbed confession. We have no proof, Honestly, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just an interesting part of the story because it
Speaker 1: was this ship that these Bushrangers were attempting to escape
Speaker 1: on and it did disappear. So maybe some people want
Speaker 1: to believe that other men were on there and they
Speaker 1: did get away.
Speaker 2: With the gold and Damien what happened to Melville's body.
Speaker 1: So the authority has got the back. I have read
Speaker 1: in one place that he was then interred at Old
Speaker 1: Melbourne Jail. One hundred percent sure about that. But we
Speaker 1: do know that there were anywhere from thirty four to
Speaker 1: fifty something bodies buried. Now we don't know because most
Speaker 1: of those bodies were found in no teen twenty eight
Speaker 1: twenty nine. In nineteen twenty four, Old Melbourne Gel closes.
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty eight they start knocking it down, making
Speaker 1: way for what becomes r MIT. What's left up on
Speaker 1: Rossell Street. It's only about twenty percent of the whole site.
Speaker 1: It took up the whole city block. As they do this,
Speaker 1: they uncover all the bodies in the graveyard. It's not
Speaker 1: a graveyard like you'd think it was. What you have
Speaker 1: is there are bodies buried, and if you're lucky, the
Speaker 1: presents who buried the bodies might scratch initials into a
Speaker 1: wall and you can still see some of these stones
Speaker 1: because when they knock down those walls, they use the
Speaker 1: stones to build the sea walls of Brighton and bo
Speaker 1: Morris Beach. So if you go to Brighton Beach in
Speaker 1: front of the sea wall, you dig down about a
Speaker 1: meter or so, you will find scratched into one of
Speaker 1: the stones there MN which is Martha Needles. She was
Speaker 1: the originally poisoner executed in the eighteen nineties. There. That's
Speaker 1: the only one I found. Because if you go to
Speaker 1: a beach and dig holes, you know a meter deep,
Speaker 1: telling people you're looking for graves people look at your
Speaker 1: book him Brighton. But most of the bodies are removed,
Speaker 1: taken up to Pantridge, buried in three mass graves up there,
Speaker 1: not all of them. In two thousand and two, during
Speaker 1: the construction of the r MIT Alumni Courtyard which is
Speaker 1: there now, a body was found in a corner over
Speaker 1: near the wall, so that was not where the graveyard was.
Speaker 1: And they also found some leg bones of some other people,
Speaker 1: and I think some bones of a dog, So there
Speaker 1: may be people there, we just don't know. But most
Speaker 1: of them were moved up to Pentridge. There are still
Speaker 1: some of them buried up there, including the woman I
Speaker 1: spoke to you about last time, Jean Lee, still at Penridge.
Speaker 2: Since we spoke a couple of months ago, you've actually
Speaker 2: found out some more fascinating information about jean Lee. What
Speaker 2: did you find out?
Speaker 1: I did, Literally while we were recording the podcast, some
Speaker 1: documents arrived in the mail. So you asked me last
Speaker 1: time details about Jeane's daughter, and I said I just
Speaker 1: didn't know, and whether that information had been suppressed or
Speaker 1: not in any way formally or informally. I did find
Speaker 1: out her name, Jill. That's all I found out reading
Speaker 1: a book where some people did some quite significant research
Speaker 1: about the case. It does appear you asked me if
Speaker 1: gene mum and her daughter visited her while she was
Speaker 1: effectively on death row at Penridge. I don't believe they did.
Speaker 1: They couldn't find absolutely no evidence of it. It seems
Speaker 1: like Jean's daughter just went on to live her life
Speaker 1: when her mum wasn't a part of her life from
Speaker 1: when she was a young kid. I also have to
Speaker 1: correct myself. I did say that they were Lee Andrews
Speaker 1: and Clayton granted a retrial. They were not.
Speaker 3: They were.
Speaker 1: The trial was essentially reviewed, would they be given a retrial?
Speaker 1: And the higher courts decided no, they actually didn't need to,
Speaker 1: and their conviction was reinstated that way. Now, there were
Speaker 1: appeals that went all the way to the Privy Council.
Speaker 1: And what is really interesting about this is the Privy
Speaker 1: Council obviously did not overturn their sentence, but they were
Speaker 1: executed before formal notice that that sentence had not been
Speaker 1: overturned was received in Australia to be delivered by mail,
Speaker 1: and they are executed some few days before that actual
Speaker 1: letter saying their sentence has not been overturned and they
Speaker 1: will hang was received by the government. So people have
Speaker 1: argued since then that that bill was actually a bit
Speaker 1: of a miscarriage of justice because the government didn't officially
Speaker 1: know that they were allowed to hang these.
Speaker 2: People and Damien. Where and how can listeners hear more
Speaker 2: stories like these?
Speaker 1: So you can come to either of our big bluestone
Speaker 1: museums of sadness and oppression. You can come to Old
Speaker 1: Melbourne Jail where if you do the Escape Artist's Tour,
Speaker 1: you can be taken down to where that graveyard is
Speaker 1: or was, I should say, hear all the stories about
Speaker 1: this and particularly what happened to what they thought was
Speaker 1: ned skeleton in nineteen twenty eight, twenty nine. That's too complicated.
Speaker 1: It's very very darkly funny though, so I love telling
Speaker 1: that story on that On that tour. Part of the tour,
Speaker 1: you can come and see George Melville's death mask here
Speaker 1: as well and read some of his story. Old Melwyn
Speaker 1: Jale is open seven days a week. You don't have
Speaker 1: to do a tour. You can just come in and
Speaker 1: see all this stuff for yourself as well. We also
Speaker 1: have the City Watchhouse, which is where I'm sitting recording
Speaker 1: this right now absolutely freezing and it is. You can
Speaker 1: also pay a little bit extra money, and occasionally we
Speaker 1: do historical tours of this place. Come in and see
Speaker 1: the old city watchhouse where people were taken after they
Speaker 1: had been arrested, but before they were put before a judge,
Speaker 1: from nineteen o six all the way up until nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety four, I think, and we do quite regularly the
Speaker 1: watchhouse experience, where you can have someone pretending to be
Speaker 1: a police sergeant arrest you and lock you up in
Speaker 1: the cell if that's your idea of fun, a little
Speaker 1: bit too much of being a teenager, but anyway, up
Speaker 1: at Pentridge Prison we also do a lot of the
Speaker 1: stories of this kind of stuff. Now Penridge is much
Speaker 1: more than modern history because Penridge was in operation for
Speaker 1: a lot longer Penridge, same kind of prison colonially or
Speaker 1: at prison, but in operation all the way up until
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven. At Pendrich we do tours that are
Speaker 1: a lot longer. You Basically you get thirty forty minutes
Speaker 1: with a guide like me telling you stories about either
Speaker 1: B Division or the notorious H Division, and then time
Speaker 1: inside one of those buildings exploring cells, listening to audio
Speaker 1: content that's the stories of surviving inmates and wardens in
Speaker 1: their own words. Essentially, we also do night tours up
Speaker 1: there six thirty and eight thirty every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night.
Speaker 1: Those tours are essentially the similar to the H Division.
Speaker 1: The content is a bit darker and you get the
Speaker 1: added bonus you know, you're exploring an abandoned jail in
Speaker 1: the middle of the night. It's pretty cool. And we
Speaker 1: finally we also do a kid's tour, which might sound
Speaker 1: a bit shocking, but it is. You know, look, I
Speaker 1: am a history teacher, I'm a primary school teacher. I
Speaker 1: believe that kids can handle way more than we think
Speaker 1: they can, and it is a way to just introduce
Speaker 1: kids to the idea of you know, jail's worth these
Speaker 1: horrible things. Not everyone necessarily deserve to be there all
Speaker 1: the time. And so every Sunday morning at ten thirty,
Speaker 1: they come in, they get a little bit of a
Speaker 1: history about the place why H Division was created. Then
Speaker 1: they get to go into H Division do this really
Speaker 1: cool fun activity where you solve a bunch of clues
Speaker 1: to prevent an escape and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming in and
Speaker 2: sharing another story with us.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, absolutely, Thank you so much for having me
Speaker 1: absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2: As always, Thanks Damien, thank you, thanks for listening. This
Speaker 2: has been In Black and White, a podcast about some
Speaker 2: of Australia's forgotten characters, written and hosted by me Jen Kelly,
Speaker 2: edited by Harry Hughes, and produced by John ti Berton.
Speaker 2: You can find all the stories and photos associated with
Speaker 2: our episodes at Heroldsun dot com dot au slash ibaw.
Speaker 2: If you've enjoyed this podcast, we'd love you to leave
Speaker 2: a five star rating on Apple Podcasts. Even better, leave
Speaker 2: a review. There's one simple way you can help us
Speaker 2: get the word out to more listeners. Any comments or
Speaker 2: questions please email me at in Black and White at
Speaker 2: Heroldsun dot com dot au. Any clarifications or updates will
Speaker 2: appear in the show notes for each episode, and to
Speaker 2: get notified when each new episode comes out, make sure
Speaker 2: you subscribe to the podcast feed