Mt Eden Prison
Mt Eden Prison
Contents
Project Background
The Mt Eden Prison site is being 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
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Type
19th Century prison.
Excavators
Project Directors:
Rod Clough, Simon Best, Simon Bickler
Archaeologists
Other contributing specialists:
- Hamish Macdonald, Photographer
Excavations
2008 Excavations
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 so far has 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 Gaol 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 1856 structure may also be present in part in this area.
Details are provided below:
