Bathurst Correctional Centre

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Bathurst Correctional Centre is a prison for men and women in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is run by the Department of Communities and Justice. The centre opened on 7 June 1888 as Bathurst Gaol and cost about £102,000 to build. The building is made of sandstone and brick and was designed by James Barnet and Walter Liberty Vernon.

Today the complex has three sections for male inmates: a medium-security and remand area, a minimum-security area, and a new maximum-security facility that opened in 2020. A small number of female inmates are housed in a separate area within the grounds.

History in brief: Bathurst’s correction facilities began in the town centre around 1830. A newer jail was built to the designers’ plans, and the old one was demolished in 1889. The gate is famous for its hand-carved sandstone lion’s head holding a key, a symbol of the power of the law. The new jail had 308 cells and workshops and began operating in 1888.

Over the years, Bathurst Gaol changed roles. It introduced restricted association to improve discipline, and inmates did marble work and other trades. During World War I, rural industries were developed there, and in World War II the jail was used as an internment camp for enemy aliens. A new cell block for 94 prisoners was added in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Riots in 1970 and 1974 caused serious damage and led to a Royal Commission into the prison system. The jail stopped using the death penalty in New South Wales in 1985. The 1974 riots inspired the 1980 film Stir. The name changed from Bathurst Gaol to Bathurst Correctional Centre in the early 1990s.

The site is a square compound with a gatehouse and two watch towers at opposite corners. Inside, the chapel once stood as the focal point, with four cell ranges and a cookhouse radiating from it. The female section sits on one side of the chapel; the male hospital on the other. The Governor’s and Deputy Governors’ residences are outside the main walls.

Today, inmates can work in Corrective Service Industries (CSI), doing food services, laundry, technology and packaging, and general grounds and maintenance. CSI runs the Girrawaa Creative Centre, started in 1998, which employs Indigenous inmates to create Aboriginal artefacts such as boomerangs, paintings, clapsticks, and didgeridoos. These items are sold in the centre’s gallery, online, and to government agencies and wholesalers.