Stuart Town Gaol, August 1984, by McKinnon, J, courtesy of Department of the Environment and Energy.
Details
The Alice Springs Gaol was the new name given to the Stuart Town Gaol in 1933 when the town of Stuart was officially renamed Alice Springs. Run by the government the Gaol housed male and female, adult and juvenile prisoners. In 1938 the Alice Springs Gaol was closed. It was replaced by HM Gaol and Labour Prison, Alice Springs.
The Alice Springs Gaol was the new name given to the Stuart Town Gaol in 1933 when the town of Stuart was officially renamed Alice Springs. Located at 8 Parsons Street, Alice Springs, and run by the government the Gaol housed male and female, adult and juvenile prisoners. In 1938 the Alice Springs Gaol was closed. It was replaced by HM Gaol and Labour Prison, Alice Springs.
In March 1942, after Darwin was bombed by the Japanese and the whole of the Northern Territory administration moved to Alice Springs, the Stuart Town Gaol was taken over by the Commonwealth Bank. When the bank moved out it was used by local police as a storage facility. In the 1960s it became an unofficial police club.
In the 1970s the government decided to pull the gaol down and build a new police station and law courts where it stood. A small group of local residents, lead by Mrs Doreen Braitling, saved the building from demolition. It was then taken over by the National Trust. It is now a small museum. The gaol was placed on the Northern Territory Heritage Register in February 1994.
1904 - 1909 Heavitree Gap Gaol
1909 - 1933 Stuart Town Gaol
1933 - 1938 Alice Springs Gaol
1938 - 1996 Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison, Alice Springs
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Gaol becomes a bank', Barrier Miner (Broken Hill), 10 March 1942, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48381492.
Prepared by: Megg Kelham, Gary George and Karen George
Created: 8 April 2014, Last modified: 7 November 2018