Architect Francis Greenway was commissioned to design a new gaol that loomed over Sydney, a warning of the life of crime.
When the building of Darlinghurst Gaol was began by convicts between 1822 and 1824, the location was a long way out of Sydney town, at a detention camp called Woolloomooloo Stockade.
The convicts who quarried and cut the stone, were housed in the old gaol in Lower George street. After convicts had cut their quota, they were could be assigned to a settler as a ticket-of-leave man.
"One cold day in June, 1841, a gang of chained convicts marched from
George Street to take up their quar-
ters in the new gaol." (
1.)
"A day or two later 50
women convicts followed, the larri-
kins of the time jeering as their fallen
sisters passed along the road.
These first inmates of Darlinghurst
Gaol were prisoners who had commit-
ted offences in the colony." (
1.)
"Those were the days of public hang-
ings. A crowd of 10,000 went to Dar-
linghurst in 1844 to see the execution
of a notorious murderer named-
Knatchbull." (
1.)
In 1853
public hangings were abolished in Sydney.
"Among the most notorious were "Captain Moon
light," the bushranger; Butler, who
killed and buried his victims in the
mountains; and Jimmy Governor, the
(A)boriginal outlaw. The only woman
hanged was Louisa Collins, who poi-
soned her husband, and paid the pen-
alty on January 8, 1889." (
1.)
Paddy Curran was the first bushranger held in Darlinghurst Gaol, after it opened in June 1841. He spent years with the bushranger, known as "Jackey Jackey'"– William John Westward.
 |
| Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 - 1950), Friday 1 March 1861 |
 |
Execution at Darlinghurst Gaol, NSW, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947), Thursday 2 April 1863
|
 |
| THIS prison (Darlinghurst Gaol) is situated on the site of Woolloomooloo Stockade, NSW, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872), Friday 16 November 1866 |
From 1875, Robert "Nosey Bob'" Howard was the noseless hangman at Darlinghurst and other gaols.
Bob had been a
horse drawn cab driver in Sydney in the 1850s, but in the late 1860s, a horse kicked him in the face.
 |
| Robert "Nosey Bob" Rice Howard (c. March 1832 – 3 February 1906) was an Australian executioner. He was employed as a hangman for the colony of New South Wales from 1875, Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), Sunday 3 October 1897 |
 |
| Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872), Friday 16 November 1866 |
The mugshot of AG Scott aka Captain Moonlight was taken at Darlinghurst Gaol, 26 November 1879.
 |
| The mugshot of AG Scott aka Captain Moonlight was taken at Darlinghurst Gaol, 26 November 1879. Captain Moonlight was a notorious bushranger who committed various crimes – bank-robbery, passing false cheques, stealing gold – and led a gang of outlaws until he was eventually caught by police, tried in Sydney in 1879 and then executed in Darlinghurst Gaol in 1880. |
 |
| Darlinghurst Gaol, NSW: interior of gaol grounds from watch tower Dated: No date |
Writer and poet Henry Lawson's life went into decline, and he was an inmate at Darlinghurst Gaol for drunkenness, wife desertion, child desertion, and non-payment of child support seven times between 1905 and 1909.
 |
| Photographic portrait of Australian bush poet Henry Lawson (Larsen) 1902. |
In 1912, the gaol at Long Bay was
completed, and the prisoners from Darlinghurst were relocated.
 |
| DECORATED DOORWAY LEADING INTO 'E' SECTION, Darlinghurst Gaol. NSW, Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930), Sunday 5 April 1914 |
 |
| DARLINGHURST GAOL, WHICH MAY BE USED AS A SITE FOR A HIGH SCHOOL.Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 11 September 1912 |
 |
| Darlinghurst Goal. NSW, 1. THE HIGH WALL SURROUNDING THE GAOL. 2. SOME OP THE CELs. .3. THE CHURCH AND COOKING DEPARTMENTS. A VIEW SHOWING THE WORKING PORTIONS WHERE THE INDUSTRIES WERE CARRIED ON. THE LAST OF DARLINGHURST GAOL, SYDNEY, AFTER NINETY YEARS OF EXISTENCE. |
PASSING OF DARLINGHURST GAOL The sentry's beat, from which a clear view of the exercise yards in the centre of the picture is afforded.Latterly, the yards had been wire-netted, so as to prevent prisoners picking up tobacco, thrown overthe wall by friends outside.Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Tuesday 21 July 1914
 |
| PASSING OF AN HISTORIC PRISON. Darlinghurst Gaol, NSW, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 8 August 1914 |
 |
| TRANSFORMATION OF DARLINGHURST : FROM HOUSE OF CORRECTION TO SCHOOL- Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 8 March 1922 |
 |
| What was formerly the hospital (Darlinghurst Gaol) is now in course of reconstruction as a building to house the elementary classes in drawing. The one on the right will be used for teaching jewellery and allied trades. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 8 March 1922 |
 |
| The buildings within the walls of what was once Darlinghurst Gaol, and now houses Courts and the East Sydney Technical College,Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 4 February 1936 |
Darlinghurst Gaol re-opened for a period during WWI to intern enemy aliens.
The Prison Tram travelled from Long Bay Gaol to Darlinghurst Courthouse from 1920s-1960.
In 1946, as it was passing the Sydney Cricket Ground, Darcy Dugan (Australian bank robber) used a kitchen knife to saw a hole through the roof and escaped. The tram can be seen at
The Sydney Tramway Museum. |
| THESE fifth-year art students begin school again today at the East Sydney Technical College, old Darlinghurst Gaol. Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), Tuesday 26 February 1946 |
 |
| One of 80 students of hand-weaving at the East Sydney Technical College (former Darlinghurst Gaol). Pix. Vol. 21 No. 9 (11 September 1948) |
 |
| Courses in window dressing at East Sydney Technical College (former Darlinghurst Gaol). Pix. Vol. 21 No. 9 (11 September 1948) |
 |
| Sculpture - National Art School 1968 (Old Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Narelle Jarvis |
Around The National Art School (former Darlinghurst Gaol) |
| Cell Block Theatre, National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Sydney, NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW Sydney, NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Sydney, NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Sydney, NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Sydney, NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Sydney, NSW |
 |
| National Art School (Darlinghurst Gaol), NSW, Sydney, NSW |
Nearby |
| The Caritas Centre at 299 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst, NSW, was a psychiatric facility built from 1868. Now apartments. |
 |
| Edwardian style police station building on the corner of Forbes and Bourke Streets near Taylor Square, Darlinghurst, NSW. Constructed 1899. Officially handed over to LGBTQI museum Qtopia Sydney. |
 |
| Darlinghurst Courthouse and residence was originally designed by the Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis. Work commenced in 1835 but was not completed until 1844. Sardaka |
 |
| The Sydney Jewish Museum, Darlinghurst, NSW, is housed within the historic NSW Jewish Memorial Hall – commonly known as the Maccabean Hall, or ‘the Macc’. The Inter-War Classical style building was designed in the 1920s by Sydney architect Gordon Keesing. |
 |
| Taylor Square Substation No.6 and Underground Conveniences. The Taylor Square toilets, Darlinghurst, NSW, were one of ten underground conveniences for men built by the Municipal Council of Sydney between 1901-1911 |
More InformationINSIDE THE WALLS: FORMER DARLINGHURST GAOL AND THE NATIONAL ART SCHOOL TOURS
Sydney Culture Walks App
Eight Free Sydney Walking Tours: Six Historic Self-Guided and Two Free Guided Tours
The Darlinghurst Public History Initiative
Sydney Jewish Museum
