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Plan of the New Gaol for Sydney to contain 400 prisoners in solitary cells, by G Barney, Captain, Royal Engineer, and Mortimer Lewis, Colonial Architect c1836

From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[a928156 / SSV1 / Gao / Darh / 1]
(Mitchell Library)

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Barney, George Darlinghurst Gaol Prisons to 1920
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Darlinghurst Darlinghurst Gaol

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State Library of New South Wales

Barney, George

As the first Colonial Engineer, Captain George Barney aimed to strengthen Sydney's harbour defences, overseeing the design and construction of many major infrastructure projects, some of which still stand today, including Circular Quay and Fort Denison.

Darlinghurst Gaol

Planned from the 1820s, Darlinghurst Gaol was built in stages to designs that shifted with penal theories and government budgets. From 1841 prisoners were kept there, in increasingly overcrowded and unpleasant conditions. After Long Bay prison was opened in 1914 the buildings were used for a range of other purposes.

Prisons to 1920

Even a penal colony needs prisons. As early as 1796 gaols were built to hold criminals who had committed offences in the colony, and to hold the public floggings and executions that were thought to deter such crimes. Through the nineteenth century, attitudes changed, and prisoners were expected to reform and repent, although treatment got little kinder in the new buildings and systems that were devised.

Prisons

Darlinghurst

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Inner suburb to the east of the city which has been home to both gentry and underclass. The former Darlinghurst Gaol is now the National Art School.

Darlinghurst Gaol

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Sydney's main gaol from its opening in 1841, later used as an internment camp, technical college and art school.