Hay Gaol

The Hay Gaol is located at Hay, in the Riverina District of New South Wales, Australia. The entrance faces Church Street and is otherwise bounded by Piper, Macauley and Coke streets, north-east of the town centre. It operated as a "Public Gaol, Prison and House of Correction" from late 1880 to mid-1915, replacing the Hay Police Lock-up in Lachlan Street.HistoryThe first GaolThe original gaol at Hay was a police lock-up, located in Lachlan Street on the site of the present Hay Post Office. The lock-up was proclaimed a Public Gaol on 1 December 1870. The gaol initially contained two cells to accommodate prisoners. During 1878, however, there was a large increase in the number of prisoners detained at Hay – 192 entries to the gaol (compared to just nine the year before) and 176 discharges (compared to thirteen previously). As a result, “much needed improvements” were made to the gaol, with the prisoner accommodation being increased by 1879 to four cells. In 1879 there were 173 entries and 175 discharges; and, in 1880, 154 entries and 158 discharges.The large numbers of prisoners detained at Hay from 1878 onwards prompted the Comptroller General of Prisons, Harold Maclean, to approve the building of new gaol facilities, construction of which began in 1879. When the new gaol in Church Street was ready for occupancy in late 1880 the old Lachlan Street gaol was down-graded to a “Watch-house or Lock-up only”.Hay Gaol – 1880 to 1915The new Hay Gaol in Church Street was built during 1879-80 by the local building firm of Witcombe Brothers. The perimeter consists of a five metre high wall of locally produced red bricks, with a large central entrance gate (in front of a small barred entrance court). Two guard towers were placed at diagonally opposite corners of the perimeter wall. The main cell-block contained 12 cells (including two for female prisoners). The cells (apart from two of a larger size) measured 9 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 2 inches, each with cement floors and a galvanised roof. The compound also contained a solitary confinement cell, mess-hall, kitchen, meeting-room and officer's residence.