Oatlands Gaol's colonial-era solitary cells unearthed below old pool

Australia Broadcast Center

17-05-2025

In tiny cells uncovered at a central Tasmanian town, prisoners were once given nothing more than a bucket, a straw mattress and a blanket.
Only 1 metre by 2 metres in size, the cells were a place of punishment for those who committed "minor infractions" — but the average stay was between two and three weeks.
"You potentially could be in there 20 hours a day," said Allan Townsend, the history projects officer for Tasmania's Southern Midlands Council.
The recently unearthed solitary cells belong to the colonial-era Oatlands Gaol, which opened in 1837 and was the largest regional house of correction in then-Van Diemen's Land.
"If you did something really terrible that needed a long sentence, you'd probably be sent to Port Arthur," Mr Townsend said.
"But for, say, two years or under, you'd wind up here."
Mr Townsend is part of the local archaeological team working to uncover the former correctional facility buried under what used to be a council swimming pool in Oatlands.
It later became a municipal jail in 1863 but, due to lack of use, was decommissioned in the 1930s.
Later in that decade, much of the complex was demolished because of neglect.
Mr Townsend said the complex, which had two-storey-high walls and was visible from anywhere in town, became an unwanted symbol for residents at the time.
After World War II, the rest of the yard was filled to house a memorial swimming pool for the town, burying a part of local history beneath it.
Brad Williams, the manager of the Heritage Projects team within the council, said they were forging ahead to restore what remained of the complex.
"Even though we couldn't have access to much of the site because it was still an operating recreational facility at the time … we knew then that we had quite substantial archaeological remains," he said.
The most recent excavation this year uncovered the solitary and condemned cells.
Mr Townsend said it was "just sheer luck" that the construction of the pool in the 1950s did not compromise the structure of the site.
"It didn't obliterate the solitary cells on the ground floor of the old gaol," he said.
"It didn't obliterate the well [or] the wall between the male and the female yard."
The gallows, uncovered in 2013, have also been re-exposed in this round of works.
"Oatlands, Launceston and Hobart were the only places where people could be executed," Mr Williams said.
"We've excavated the foundations of where about 15 people were executed."
Mr Williams said team members were working with the Tasmanian Heritage Council to obtain a permit and further explore the site, so they could get a better idea of what else may lie beneath the surface.