Mt Eden Prison

Mt Eden Prison

Project Background

The Mt Eden Prison site was redeveloped to meet current and future needs. The redevelopment will involve works both within and outside of the historic prison walls. The existing men’s prison and most of the prison wall will be retained, and replacement and future accommodation will be provided in new buildings elsewhere on the prison site. One of the accommodation buildings will intrude into the southern yard of the existing men’s prison, and some late 19th and early 20th century buildings will be demolished. Some modification to the existing men’s prison will be required, as well as underground tunnelling linking the central remand prison to the accommodation buildings.

Location and Date

Mt Eden off Lauder Rd, Newmarket.

<googlemap lat="-36.867296" lon="174.766431" zoom="15"> -36.867399, 174.766989, Mt Eden Prison </googlemap>

Type

19th -21st Century prison.

Excavators

Project Directors:

Rod Clough, Simon Best, Simon Bickler

Archaeologists

• Ben Thorne
• Colin Sutherland
• Jennifer Low
• Barry Baquie
• Ben Pick

Other contributing specialists:

• Hamish Macdonald, Photographer

Excavations

2008 Excavations

Mt Eden Prison Gymnasium Excavation

Archaeological investigations by Clough and Associates Ltd at Mt Eden Gaol have commenced as the re-development of the Mt Eden Prisons gets underway. The excavation provided a snapshot of the history of the site from the 1850s onwards. The first phase of work involved photographic and architectural recording of some of the smaller buildings to be demolished, including the “Gymnasium” and “Bag Shop” built in the early 20th Century. Following the demolition of the Gymnasium, parts of the earlier Mt Eden Stockade built in the late 1850s were uncovered.

2009 Excavations

Work underway in the southern and south-eastern parts of the prison include investigations of the construction of the prison wall and probably the other end of the 1858 stockade excavated in 2008.

The area has been substantially modified during the 20th Century but a number of drainage features including a decagonal brick drain running into a large cess-pit? structure made with basalt blocks was found. Artefacts from near the base of this feature are typical of later 19th Century use. Other remains of the Stockade buildings were identified but heavily damaged.

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Details are provided below:

Mt Eden Gaol Wiki

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3D Model of the Evolution of Mt Eden Prison

Raysan Kubaisi (with input from Simon Bickler, Jennifer Low, Ben Thorne)

(Part 1: From 1856-1875 showing the early stockade buildings.

Part 2: From 1875-1920s.

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