Enduring photographs

'Hidden Alcatraz : the fortress revealed' is edited by Steve Fritz and Deborah Roundtree, foreword by Peter Coyote, introduction by John Martini, and afterword by Thom Sempere.

The cover image - approaching Alcatraz island

Alcatraz - infamous for its legendary inmates - is much more than its grim history.
The book focuses on the current state of the island fortress, presenting a unique collection of nearly 100 images taken over a four-year period by 34 photographers, some of whom stayed overnight in the main cell-block.
The photographs highlight the eerie, almost supernatural mood of the former prison, bringing texture to its historical artifacts and architecture and evoking the extreme isolation and despair of inmates, whose only remaining traces are scratches and graffiti on the walls - beauty in decay.
The collection is both beautiful and haunting. It captures the unique mood of this small but fabled rock anchored off San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz

Although the maximum security U.S. penitentiary closed in 1963, the name still conjures Hollywood-fueled images of the ghostly, fog-shrouded island squatting in the wind-swept waters of San Francisco Bay and hardened convicts behind barred widows plotting an escape.
The colour and monochrome images offer a photographic autopsy of the prison's rotting remains. Most of the small island of Alcatraz was given over to the buildings which housed 260 prisoners in cramped, cage-like cells and narrow hallways. Through the chipped paint, rusting metal, and crumbling cement, the despair, loneliness, and severity of life on 'The Rock' remains woefully present.

Images everyone associates with Alcatraz - The Cell Block

The smoke stack

To complement the photographs, the book's introduction offers a brief history of the island (its initial nearly forgotten use as a 19th-century military fort and, later as a stockade). Alcatraz was discovered and named by the Spanish in 1769. The barren rocky sandstone island possessed no vegetation or fresh water. Work began in 1853 as a government instrumentality for a lighthouse and gun-battery fort in a strategic location - the bay of San Francisco for the defence of the American Pacific Coast. The citadel fort was completed in 1859, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In the 1860s it was the destination for military convicts. The gun batteries were removed in 1907, and the citadel razed in 1909 for the construction of the concrete cell blocks, when the island became solely a military prison, until 1933.
In 1934 it began as a Federal  maximum-security civilian penitentiary, up until 1963 when it closed, on the orders of Robert Kennedy, due to increasing operating and maintenance costs (unless you believe the premise of the Alcatraz tv series).
In 1969 native American Indian activists seized the island claiming it as Indian land under the 1868 treaty with the Sioux Nation. They were removed in 1971. National Parks took control of the historic landmark in 1972 and opened it as a tourist attraction in 1973.



The lighthouse with the Bay Bridge behind

On the island is first lighthouse on America's Pacific shores, a light that has guided ships in and out of San Francisco Bay for almost 125 years. It was the first of a series of lighthouses on the West Coast of the United States. The foundations were laid in 1852 and the light went into service on June 1, 1854. A fog bell was installed in 1856 to combat the San Franciso fogs which often obscured the light. In the 1906 earthquake, the lighthouse tower was cracked and a chimney toppled. The present new 84' concrete tower was completed in 1909, and was automated in 1963 when the prison closed. During the Indian seizure of the island, power was cut to Alcatraz including the lighthouse, and a fire destroyed the keeper's and warden's houses. The light is still operational, but not open to the public.

Alcatraz continues to fascinate, and this photographic collection beautifully captures its physical decay.

The view from the Warden's window

Back in jail

The Old Melbourne Gaol was the first extensive gaol complex in Victoria. The first Melbourne Gaol was built in Collins Street West in 1839-40, but was far too small. A second gaol was built in 1841-4, adjoining the then Supreme Court at the corner of Russell and La Trobe Streets, but this was entirely demolished early in the twentieth century when the Magistrate's Court complex was built.

What was officially a new wing, but really stage one of the third gaol, was built in 1852-4. It was of bluestone rather than sandstone, and had its own perimeter wall. This new design was based upon the Pentonville Model Prison and on the then current prison reform theories of the day. In spite of the amount of building and extension work performed on the Gaol, the complex was consistently overcrowded. It was extended in two stages in 1857-9, and the boundary wall was also extended in 1858-9.

The present north wing, comprising the entrance buildings, central hall and chapel was begun in 1860. In 1862-4 a western cell block, virtually a replica of the present east block, was built to house female prisoners, and the perimeter wall was finally completed in 1864. The west wing extended into what is now the RMIT site, and has since been demolished.

In a review of the penal system in 1870 it was recommended that the gaol be closed and the prisoners be moved to a more 'suitable' location. Between 1880 and 1924 the gaol was slowly rundown and portions of the original site demolished. The gaol was finally closed in 1929. It reopened briefly during the Second World War as a military prison for soldiers who were Absent Without Leave. Later it was a storage depot for the Victorian Police force.

Between 1842 and its closure in 1929 the gaol was the scene of 135 hangings including Australia's most infamous citizen, the bushranger Ned Kelly. Now a National Trust museum, its displays include death masks and histories of famous bushrangers and convicts.

Bushranger Melville's death mask






H.M. Pentridge was built in 1850 and officially closed in 1997and sold in 1999. Originally a stockade consisting of log huts, prisoners worked, slept and were fed in chains. Female prisoners were also at Pentridge until 1956 when Fairlea Female Prison was opened.


With the closure of the Melbourne Gaol in 1926 all executions in Victoria had been carried out in Pentridge. The last man hanged there was Ronald Ryan in 1967. Both Ronald Ryan and Ned Kelly were buried within the prison grounds. Its nickname in the prison environment was “The Bluestone College”. Now the prison is partly demolished and part of the site now new housing development. The façade though still remains.


The prison is off limits but some adventurous souls managed to break in, see their photos at http://www.forbidden-places.net/urban-exploration-h-m-melbourne-s-pentridge-prison

Still locked up

Beechworth Lock-up

The Beechworth stone lock-up was built in 1867 as police holding cells. The building had a cell for both male and female prisoners held on remand before court appearances. It is believed that Ned Kelly and his mother Ellen were both held here prior to their trials in the nearby courthouse. There were five courts held in the town (Police, Petty Sessions, Mining Board, County and Supreme Court).

Beechworth Jail main entrance

Beechworth Jail was built in 1889, at a cost of 47,000 pounds. A 16-year-old Ned Kelly was imprisoned there for 6 months. A medium security prison, it closed in 2004 and the site was purchased by private contractors. The 3.5-hectare site comprised a governor's residence, administrative buildings, warders' residences, and vacant land, as well as the prison itself. A replacement facility - the $20 million minimum security Beechworth Correctional Centre was opened in January 2005. This is the jail where Glenn Wheatley served.

Obviously using the same government architect is Ararat's J Ward a similar style to the Beechworth Jail. While Beechworth used the local honey coloured granite, J Ward was built of bluestone.

J Ward Main entrance

J Ward in Ararat, started its life as a goldfields prison in 1859. In the mid 1880s the prison buildings were acquired by the Lunacy Department as a temporary housing for the Criminally Insane.

The County Gaol then became a ward (J Ward) of the Ararat Lunatic Asylum where the criminally insane were housed in horrific conditions under the highest security.

The Ward was closed in 1991, and is now a museum.

More on the relationships between Beechworth and Ararat later, and other notable bluestone institutions.

Lock up and abandoned

Following along from my earlier Abandoned posts, I've constructed a few posts on abandoned/unoccupied jails around the region.

Great Western lock-up

When gold was discovered around the Concongella Creek in 1858, a rush began and the town of Great Western was surveyed in 1859. During the gold rush police were first situated in a Police Camp and later a Police Station was established, these are now gone and only the wooden cell remains.

Harrow's Log Jail

Harrow is reportedly the oldest inland town in Victoria. The Harrow log jail built in 1859, from local redgum sawn logs. Police had been stationed at Harrow since 1853, and they used the jail until 1869. It is now one of Harrow's tourist attractions and part of their Sound & Light Show.





Warracknabeal has a new Police Station and only the cell remains on the old site. It did at least have mod cons.