From 1861, the grim facade of the gaol dominated the Armidale skyline, from its perch on the hill.
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The prison was demolished in 1929 to become the Old Teachers’ College.
Now, the UNE Heritage Centre, built on the site, is holding prisoners again.
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Captured: Portraits of Crime – State Archives and Records NSW’s touring photo exhibition – explores the stories of men, women, and children incarcerated in NSW gaols from 1870 to 1930.
Over six decades, the government photographed some 46,000 prisoners across the state.
UNE curator Ian Stephenson and archivist Bill Oates have added an Armidale component to the exhibition.
“It's a wonderful insight into an historic building that's long disappeared: the Armidale Gaol, that was on the site of the teachers' college,” Mr Stephenson said.
“Visitors can also see a range of people who were sentenced to the jail with very contrasting stories, and read about the background behind their offences,” Mr Stephenson said.
“There's always a backstory. What you find in the jail documents is just a very brief snapshot of the name, date of birth, date they were convicted, and offence. Once you start looking at the backstory, they're very interesting, rich accounts, and very different.”
Here, for instance, is the last man to be hanged in Armidale: William Frederick Ball, who eased his wife’s rheumatism by shooting her and setting fire to the corpse.
“It does seem a rather extreme remedy for rheumatism,” Mr Stephenson said.
Ball was executed in 1912, the first in the local gaol for 20 years, and the first in the state for three years.
He is one of many criminals whose stories are told in the exhibition, among them con-men, rioters, vagrants, burglars, and prostitutes.
“The quality of the photographs is very striking,” Mr Stephenson said. “Even though they're just small snapshots that go into the prison record, when you blow them up, they're actually full of character.”
Wrongdoers come from around the world. There’s an American widow, sentenced more than 100 times for drunkenness; a New Caledonian or Indian horse thief; a Jamaica-born pickpocket, “a nice-looking old party … yet a wicked old woman”; and an Irish fortune-teller.
Other cases show the racial tensions in the young colony. Ah Gee, a Chinese miner from Tingha, was imprisoned for loitering with intent. He seems to have been victimized by the local people, despite the intervention of the Minister of Justice.
Peter Sadeek, a Punjabi cook on a sheep station, was hanged for murdering a local woman in a fit of jealousy. His trial became a local flashpoint for race debates in Broken Hill, one of the most culturally diverse places in NSW.
And two Indigenous trackers from Queensland evaded the police for three years after spearing a Pole.
Some stories are simply tragic. Margaret Higgins, a Maitland servant killed the one-month-old grandchild born to her unmarried daughter in 1905.
Armidale’s “unladylike” Lucy Clutterbuck was the victim of a difficult childhood. She was sentenced several times between 1904 and 1928 for prostitution, vagrancy, drunkenness, and assault.
Other stories end more happily. James Dwyer was the first Australian to become a millionaire from writing – but tried to make his first fortune by defrauding the postal department.
Shearer John Lacey was given 14 months’ hard labour for rioting against blacklegs. He became a prominent figure in the ALP, and the Queensland Home Secretary, the Attorney General, and the Assistant Home Secretary attended his funeral.
Respectability, though, is not a bar to crime. Walcha town clerk John Maule Hill “bore the highest character for honesty, integrity” – and embezzled £214.
Armidale clerk of works Henry Edward Jackson indecently assaulted a woman in Central Park in 1920.
Other crimes are simply beastly – like an Armidale hotel servant sentenced to 4 months’ gaol for “scandalous conduct with two dogs”.
And some are mixed up in crime at an early age. A 16-year-old Dubbo apprentice was tried for shooting his master’s wife; an 18-year-old labourer burgled a Uralla hairdressing salon; and a couple of Hillgrove lads blew up an outhouse.
It takes all sorts to make a crook.
Captured runs at the UNE Heritage Centre, Old Teachers’ College, Armidale, until October 27, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm; entry free.