Join the Pentridge Prison tour to hear a history that will challenge and confront you. The stories within this journey are deep, unique, and expose the intricacies of prison punishment.
Pentridge is a place that deeply connects to the social and cultural fabric of Australia.
Until its closure in 1997, Pentridge was Victoria’s central prison and the most well-known and used gaol in the State’s history. Most of Victoria’s convicted and notorious criminals were gaoled there between 1900 and the 1990s. In 1967, Ronald Ryan, who was convicted of the murder of a prison officer during an escape from Pentridge, became the last person in Victoria to be hanged at Pentridge.
Established in 1850, as a penal stockade, the prison was largely constructed in the period 1858 – 64, Pentridge was the largest prison complex constructed in Victoria in the 19th century and operated as the central establishment in the wider prison system, which included the Melbourne Gaol, from the early 1860s.
The complex of buildings, which remain on site, demonstrate a number of phases in the development of the penal system, including the ‘separate system’, which dominated penology in Victoria in the 19th century.
The 19th century prison buildings at Pentridge have a monumental scale and austere style, expressive of the requirements of containment and order. The front entrance gate was designed like a medieval fortification. Constructed from ashlar bluestone, much of it quarried on site, the building was imposing and grim – intimidating in scope and severe in purpose.
Now open for tours, visitors will be able to explore the former prison’s B Division and the notorious H Division.
