HM Prison Pentridge

HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison closed on 1 May 1997.^[5]

Pentridge was often referred to as the "Bluestone College", "Coburg College" or "College of Knowledge". The grounds were originally landscaped by landscape gardener Hugh Linaker.^[6]

The site is split into two parts. The northern part of the prison, referred to as the "Pentridge Coburg" or "Pentridge Piazza" site, is bordered by Champ Street, Pentridge Boulevard, Murray Road and Stockade Avenue.^[7] It is under development by the developer Shayher Group, who has owned the site since 2013. The southern part of the prison, referred to as the "Pentridge Village" site, is bordered by Pentridge Boulevard, Stockade Avenue, Wardens Walk and Urquhart Street.^[8] It is partially owned by the developer, Future Estate. D Division is owned privately by Pentridge Cellars Pty Ltd.

Divisions

The prison was split into divisions, named using letters of the alphabet.

A – Short- and long-term prisoners of good behaviour. During the late 1980s, until its closure it became a scene of many monthly bashings, stabbings and bludgeonings.
B – Long-term prisoners with behaviour problems
C – Vagabonds and short-term prisoners, where infamous bushranger Ned Kelly was imprisoned. Demolished in the early 1970s.^[9]
D – Remand prisoners
E – The hospital, later turned into a dormitory division housing short-term prisoners
F – Remand and short-term
G – Psychiatric problems
H – High security, discipline and protection
J – Young Offenders Group. Later for long-term prisoners with record of good behaviour
Jika Jika – maximum-security risk and for protection, later renamed K Division

Panopticons

In 2014, archaeological work in the former prison grounds led to the discovery of three rare panopticons (named after Jeremy Bentham's prison design of 1791) located near the A and B Divisions that were built of bluestone in the 1850s. The first uncovered and excavated was to the north of A division. The circular design, with walls coming out from the centre, created wedge shaped 'airing yards' where prisoners would be permitted access for one hour per day without coming into contact with each other. The panopticons fell out of use, due to prison overcrowding, and were largely demolished in the early 1900s.^[9] The panopticons were based on the design concepts of British philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham. The footings of the first panopticon that was excavated and uncovered is located to the north of A Division and remains relatively intact. The excavation and uncovering of the other two panopticons next to B Division only revealed the remains of its rubble footings.

Jika Jika high-security unit (K Division)

Jika Jika, opened in 1980 at a cost of A$7 million, was a 'gaol within a gaol' maximum-security section, designed to house Victoria's hardest and longest-serving prisoners.^[10] It was awarded the 'Excellence in Concrete Award' by the Concrete Institute of Australia before being closed, eight years later, amidst controversy after the deaths of five prisoners in 1987.^[11]

The design of Jika Jika was based on the idea of six separate units at the end of radiating spines. The unit comprised electronic doors, closed-circuit TV and remote locking, designed to keep staff costs to a minimum and security to a maximum. The furnishings were sparse and prisoners exercised in aviary-like escape-proof yards.

In 1983 four prisoners escaped from 'escape-proof' Jika Jika.^[10] When two prison officers were disciplined in relation to the Jika Jika escape, a week-long strike occurred.

1987 Jika Jika prison fire

In 1987, inmates Robert Wright, Jimmy Loughnan, Arthur Gallagher, David McGauley and Ricky Morris from one side of the unit, and convicted Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue and three other inmates on the other side, sealed off their section doors with a tennis net. Mattresses and other bedding were then stacked against the doors and set on fire. Wright, Loughnan, Gallagher, McGauley^[10] and Morris died in the blaze. Minogue and the three others were evacuated and survived.

Prison works

In 1851, an ad hoc group of structures built by prison labour using local materials existed. None of these structures survived, other than the boundaries of the prison that were established. The second phase of construction, undertaken in the late 1850s and early 1860s, was the construction of Inspector General William Champ's model prison complex, based on British and American precedents.

In 1924, Pentridge replaced the Melbourne Gaol as the main remand and reception prison for the metropolitan area. In 1929, Melbourne Gaol was closed and its prisoners relocated to Pentridge. The Victorian Government confirmed its intention to close Pentridge and replace it with two new male prisons, each accommodating around 600 prisoners, in December 1993. In April 1995, the Office of Corrections ordered that the six main towers at Pentridge be closed, since most of the high-security prisoners from the gaol had been relocated to Barwon as part of the downgrading of Pentridge to a medium-security prison. The prison was finally closed in 1997 and sold by the State Government of Victoria.

Since the site was closed, almost all of the buildings identified as being of no significance in the 1996 Pentridge Conservation Management Plan (1996 CMP) prepared by Allom Lovell & Associates have been demolished with the approval of Heritage Victoria. The remaining heritage buildings and landmarks of significance, including A, B, D, E and H Divisions, B Annexe, Pentridge's iconic entrance, the administration building, the warden's quarters, the rock-breaking yards, the guard towers/posts (or observation posts) and the wall surrounding the site have been retained and will undergo restoration works to ensure their stability and preservation into the future.^[12] The site as a whole is also classified as a place of state significance by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) (National Trust).^[13] The National Trust has adopted the levels of significance identified in the 1996 CMP.

Future of the site

A number of the heritage buildings are protected in the Victorian Heritage Register and will be retained and integrated into a new community precinct a mix of housing types, retail, public open space and open piazza as set out in the Pentridge Coburg Design Guidelines and Masterplan of February 2014 (Pentridge Coburg Masterplan).

This document forms part of the Moreland Planning Scheme and was approved by The Hon. Matthew Guy, the Victorian Minister for Planning, between December 2010 and December 2014.^[14] A similar Masterplan exists for the Pentridge Village site (Pentridge Village Masterplan).^[15] The National Trust has expressed strong concerns about the nature of these masterplans, which involves building high-density high-rise between the historic divisions.

In 2016, Shayher Group revealed plans for a new "urban village" including up to 20 new buildings with community spaces and landscaped gardens as set out in the Pentridge Coburg Masterplan. Work has been undertaken to restore the roof of A Division, and seven guard towers. The H Division's rock-breaking yards were demolished.^[16]^[17]

Grave sites

The grave site of bushranger Ned Kelly formerly lay within the walls of Pentridge Prison. Ronald Ryan's remains have been returned to his family. Kelly was executed by hanging at the Melbourne Gaol in 1880 and his remains moved to Pentridge Prison in 1929, after his skeleton was disturbed in April 1929, by workmen constructing the present Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) building. Peter Norden, former prison chaplain at Pentridge Prison, has campaigned for the site's restoration.

As of 2011, most of the bodies have been exhumed by archaeologists and have either been re-interred in the original cemetery near D Division, are awaiting identification at the Melbourne morgue, or have been returned to their families.^[18]

In 2011, Ned Kelly's remains were again exhumed, and returned to his surviving descendants for a family burial.^[19] The identified remains of Kelly did not include most of his skull.^[18] DNA testing established that another complete skull believed to be Kelly's was not his.^[18]^[20]

Executions

Last execution

Ronald Ryan, the last man executed at Pentridge Prison, was also the last man to be executed in Australia.

He was hanged in D Division at 8:00 am on 3 February 1967 after being convicted of shooting dead prison officer George Hodson during an escape from the prison. Later that day, Ryan's body was buried in an unmarked grave within the D Division prison facility.

Notable prisoners

Dennis Allen – oldest member of the Pettingill family
Elliott Ronald Bull – Aboriginal artist who painted murals on the walls of his cell which remain on site^[21]
Garry David – (d. 1993), also known as Garry Webb, responsible for the Community Protection Act 1990
John Dixon-Jenkins – aka Anti-nuclear Warrior, imprisoned for planting fake bombs as part of a personal endeavour to raise public awareness about the global nuclear threat; authored The Unified Theory of Existence (A Love Story) while in Pentridge (1986).
Peter Dupas – Australian serial killer
Keith Faure – convicted of murdering Lewis Caine and Lewis Moran with Evangelos Goussis during the Melbourne gangland killings, and was also the basis for the character of Keithy George in the film Chopper.
Christopher Dale Flannery – aka Mr Rent-a-Kill, hitman.
Kevin Albert Joiner – murderer, shot dead trying to escape in 1952
Robert Wright – murderer, killed a mother and her nine-year-old son in 1979; involved in two escapes including the 1983 Jika Jika escape. Died in the 1987 Jika Jika prison fire.^[22]
Ned Kelly – murderer and bushranger
Julian Knight – murdered 7 people in the Hoddle Street massacre
Shelton Lea – poet
Eddie Leonski – U.S. soldier, known as the Brownout Strangler
Craig 'Slim' Minogue – the Russell Street bomber
Clarrie O'Shea – a trade unionist, arrested for contempt of court, triggering massive state-wide strike action
Victor Peirce – a member of the Pettingill family, acquitted of the 1988 Walsh Street police shootings. Killed in 2002.
Harry Power – a bushranger
Mark "Chopper" Read – a gang leader and standover man
James "Jimmy" Loughnan – an armed robber; broke both legs jumping from a Pentridge wall in an escape attempt in 1977. Died in the 1987 Jika Jika prison fire.^[22]
Gregory David Roberts – author of Shantaram, escapee of Pentridge who fled to India
Ronald Ryan – the last person to be executed in Australia
Frank Penhalluriack – imprisoned in the 1980s due to trading hours activism
Maxwell Carl Skinner (a.k.a. Maxwell Karl Skinner) (1928–1998)^[23] – serial escapee, infamous for commandeering a Coburg tram in one of his escapes.
William Stanford – a sculptor
Stan Taylor – an actor and convicted Russell Street bomber
Squizzy Taylor – a gangster
John Zarb – the first person to be found guilty of having failed to comply with his call-up notice during the Vietnam War
Billy Longley – Former Painter and Docker
Jack Charles – Indigenous actor and community leader
Ray Mooney – Playwright, rapist
Noel Tovey – Indigenous actor, choreographer and writer, imprisoned for homosexual acts in 1951 and raped by two of the guards
David McMillan – a drug smuggler arrested following Operation Aries, a Victoria Police/Federal Police taskforce operation reported to have cost over A$2 million

Timeline

1851: HM Prison Pentridge established.
1924: Melbourne Gaol was closed and its prisoners were relocated to Pentridge.
1951: The last woman to be executed in Australia, Jean Lee, was hanged.
1967: The last person to be executed in Australia, Ronald Ryan, is executed at Pentridge. Between 1842 and 1967, 186 prisoners were executed in Victoria, including 10 at Pentridge Prison.^[24]
1987: Five prisoners died in a fire in the Jika Jika unit, during riots over prison conditions. Four inmates survived the fire.
1994: The infamous H-Division was closed and prisoners were transferred to the new maximum security facility, HM Prison Barwon.
1997: Pentridge Prison is closed by the Victorian government.
1999: The State Government of Victoria sells Pentridge to developers Luciano Crema and Harry Barbon in partnership with Peter and Leigh Chiavaroli
2002: Pentridge is split into Pentridge Piazza, also referred to as Pentridge Coburg, owned by Luciano Crema and Harry Barbon, and Pentridge Village, owned by Peter and Leigh Chiavaroli.
2007: Luciano Crema and Harry Barbon sell the Pentridge Coburg site to developers Valad Property Group and Abadeen Group.
2009: The Pentridge Coburg Masterplan and Pentridge Village Masterplan are approved by the Victorian Planning Minister following a consultation period.
2013: The Valad Property Group sells the Pentridge Coburg site to developer Shayher Group.
2014: A revision to the Pentridge Coburg Masterplan is approved by the Victorian Planning Minister.
2015: Chiavaroli sells the Pentridge Village site to Future Estate. Shayher Group commences construction of the Horizon apartments at the north-east corner of the Pentridge Coburg site.
2016: Developers Shayher Group rebrand the Pentridge Coburg site as "Pentridge" and host an Open Day, allowing the community to visit the site. Restoration works occur on the roof of A Division, the guard towers and the rock-breaking yards. The Horizon apartments, the first residential development at the site, are completed.
2019: Construction of the shopping centre, cinema and Victoria Tower and The Rook apartments begins.
2020: The redevelopment opens to the public.^[25]

Escapes

1851 Frank Gardiner – one of fifteen to escape that day
1899 Pierre Douar – suicided after recapture
1901 Mr Sparks – never heard of again
1901 John O'Connor – caught in Sydney two weeks later
1926 J.K. Monson – in W.A.
1939 George Thomas Howard – caught after two days
1940 K.R. Jones – caught in Sydney two weeks later
1951 Victor Franz – caught next day
1952 Kevin Joiner – shot dead escaping
1952 Maxwell Skinner – pushed off prison wall, broke leg^[26]
1957 Willam O'Malley – caught after 15 minutes
1957 John Henry Taylor – caught after 15 minutes
1960 Ralph Wahle - caught after 66 days^[27]
1961 Maurice Watson & Gordon Hutchinson – both caught next day^[28]
1965 Ronald Ryan & Peter Walker – caught in Sydney 19 days later
1972 Dennis Denehy, Gary Smedley, Alan Mansell & Henry Carlson^[29]
1973 Harold Peckman^[30] – caught next day
1974 Edward "Jockey" Smith^[31]
1974 Robert Hughes & George Carter^[32]
1976 John Charles Walker^[33]
1977 David Keys^[34]
1977 Robert Wright – escaped by hiding underneath rubbish in a garbage truck^[35]
1977 James "Jimmy" Loughnan and three others escaped by climbing a rope that had been thrown over the wall. Loughnan broke both his ankles; Father Sean Patrick O'Connell found him lying in his garden that night and took him to Ferntree Gully Hospital where he was identified and arrested.^[36]
1977 Peter James Dawson and three others^[37]
1980 Gregory David Roberts, at the time known as Gregory Smith, escaped in broad daylight with Trevor Jolly, and went to India after a brief period in New Zealand.^[38]
1980 Trevor Jolly^[38]
1981 Peter Gibb – captured after a month on the run. Discovered to have been staying in St. Kilda with another escaped criminal.
1982 Harry Richard Nylander^[39]
1983 Peter Kray Morgan, Trevor Charles Bradley & Ross Anthony Burleigh^[40]
1983 David McGauley & Timothy Neville – escaped by climbing over the wall during a swimming contest between J Division and A Division. Captured after 18 days^[41]
1983 Robert Wright, David McGauley, Timothy Neville & David Youlton escaped from Jika Jika.^[42]
1987 Dennis Mark Quinn^[43] was recaptured in New Zealand 19 days later.
1993 John Lindrea & one other escaped from H Division. Escaped from prison cell after breaking large bluestone rocks to a size of a thumbnail on a daily basis. Scaled the roof and jumped over the front wall where a getaway car was waiting. Caught several weeks later in NSW.

Usage in media

The front gate showing the "HM Prison Pentridge" sign is featured on the cover of Australian band Airbourne's debut album Runnin' Wild.^[44]
Episode 2, "Homecomings" of the 1976 ABC-TV adaptation of Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, features John West picking his brother Frank West up from Pentridge Prison after serving 12 years for rape.
The 1988 John Hillcoat and Evan English film Ghosts… of the Civil Dead was largely based on events which occurred in Pentridge Prison's infamous Jika Jika maximum-security prison during the lead-up to the 1987 fire.
The 1994 Australian film Everynight ... Everynight details prison life inside Pentridge's H Division.^[45]
The 2000 Andrew Dominik film Chopper was partially filmed in H Division.
In the 1997 Australian film The Castle, Wayne was a prisoner of HM Prison Pentridge.
Rupert Mann's 2017 photo essay, published by Scribe, Pentridge: Voices From The Other Side, contains interviews with, and portraits of, fifteen former inmates and staff who returned to the now-forgotten prison to tell its true and brutal story.
Episodes 578 and 579 of Australian soap opera The Sullivans feature the prison.
Pentridge Prison is depicted in the pilot episode of the TV series Shantaram.

References

^ "Pentridge Stockade". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 3133. Victoria, Australia. 25 June 1856. p. 4. Retrieved 29 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "The Convict Hulks". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 3152. Victoria, Australia. 17 July 1856. p. 6. Retrieved 29 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "The Old Convict Hulks". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 12, 086. Victoria, Australia. 18 March 1885. p. 6. Retrieved 29 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ a b "HM Prison Pentridge". Victorian Heritage Database. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
^ Egger, Simone & McClymont, David (2004). Melbourne. Lonely Planet. p. 69. ISBN 1-74059-766-4.
^ "Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital Precinct (listing RNE100229)". Australia Heritage Places Inventory. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
^ Identified as "Precinct 9" in Moreland Planning Scheme, clause 1.0 and 5.9 of clause 37.08, Schedule 1 to the Activity Centre Zone.
^ Identified as "Precinct 10" in Moreland Planning Scheme, clause 1.0 and 5.10 of clause 37.08, Schedule 1 to the Activity Centre Zone.
^ a b Webb, Carolyn (10 May 2014). "Archaeologists dig major new find at Pentridge Prison". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
^ a b c Sawtell, Lydia (24 April 2012). "True Crime Scene details the escapes from Pentridge Prison in its 140-year history". Herald Sun. Melbourne. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
^ O'Toole, Sean (2006). The History of Australian Corrections. UNSW Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 0-86840-915-4.
^ "Former Pentridge Prison, Conservation Management Plan" (PDF). Bryce Rawroth Pty Ltd. April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2016.
^ File number: B1303. See "HM Prison Pentridge". Victorian Heritage Database. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
^ "Pentridge Coburg Design Guidelines and Masterplan" (PDF). Moreland City Council. February 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2016. See also, Moreland Planning Scheme, clause 12 of clause 37.08, Schedule 1 to the Activity Centre Zone.
^ "Pentridge Village Pty Ltd Design Guidelines and Masterplan" (PDF). National Trust of Australia. August 2009.
^ Webb, Carolyn (26 May 2014). "Developer Shayher Group wants to knock down Pentridge's H Division". The Age. Melbourne.
^ See generally "Home". Pentridge Coburg.
^ a b c Smith, Jeremy (2011). "Losing the Plot: Archaeological Investigations of Prisoner Burials at the Old Melbourne Gaol and Pentridge Prison". Provenance: The Journal of Public Record Office Victoria (10). ISSN 1832-2522. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
^ "Ned Kelly farewelled by family". Australian Geographic. Bauer Media Group. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
^ "Scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine have identified the body of Ned Kelly". Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
^ Kleinert, Sylvia, "Elliott Ronald Bull (1942–1979)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 3 June 2024
^ a b Dunn, Mark (24 January 2013). "Coroners inquiry examined who was at fault in the 1987 fatal fire in the Jika Jika section of Pentridge Prison". Herald Sun. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
^ "Warders Witness Daring Escape From Pentridge". The Canberra Times. 19 November 1951. p. 1 – via Trove.
"Search For Gaol Escapee". The Canberra Times. 20 November 1951. p. 4 – via Trove.
"Gaol Escapee Says He Has Reformed". The Canberra Times. 23 November 1951. p. 4 – via Trove.
"Gaol Escapee Recaptured". The Canberra Times. 19 December 1951. p. 1 – via Trove.
"Gaol Escapee Well Guarded". The Canberra Times. 20 December 1951. p. 4 – via Trove.
"Convict Murderer Killed In Escape Bid; Companion Hurt". The Canberra Times. 15 April 1952. p. 1 – via Trove.
"Prison Staff Commended; Escape Foiled". The Canberra Times. 16 April 1952. p. 4 – via Trove.
^ Robinson, Russel (4 June 2012). "Macabre and detailed hangman's journal reproduced in detail for True Crime Scene". Herald Sun. Melbourne. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^ "Our Story". Pentridge Coburg. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^ "Man shot dead in bid to flee gaol". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 April 1952.
^ "Fugitive had fancy for Manly but was caught after 73-hour manhunt". Daily Telegraph. Melbourne. 5 June 2015.
^ "Police Surround House and Capture Escapees". The Age. Melbourne. 17 January 1961.
^ "'We'll consider goal probe': Search for 4 who escaped". The Age. Melbourne. 10 May 1972.
^ Dunn, Alan (2 February 1973). "Axe murderer escapes from Pentridge gaol". The Age. Melbourne.
^ "'Jockey' is back facing court again". The Age. Melbourne. 3 December 1989.
^ "Mattress pile clue to gaol escape". The Age. Melbourne. 5 October 1974.
^ "Tighten up order after Pentridge escape". The Age. Melbourne. 28 April 1976.
^ "Prisoner escapes over wall". The Age. Melbourne. 17 October 1977. p. 4.
^ "Out of jail under the rubbish and off". The Age. Melbourne. 26 January 1977. p. 3. Retrieved 9 January 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Prison pair left perching". The Age. Melbourne. 16 December 1978. p. 3. Retrieved 9 January 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Prisoner used jail gear for escape". The Age. Melbourne. 20 January 1978. p. 5.
^ a b Marshall, Ian (24 July 1980). "No news is dull viewing". The Age. Melbourne. p. 2.
^ Gray, Tony & Eccleston, Roy (21 July 1982). "Prison had two warnings of escape: Toner". The Age. Melbourne. p. 3.
^ "Remanded". The Age. Melbourne. 22 April 1983. p. 4. Retrieved 9 January 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Prisoners look on as two climb over the wall". The Age. Melbourne. 4 January 1983. p. 3. Retrieved 9 January 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "How the four got out". The Age. Melbourne. 1 August 1983. p. 3. Retrieved 9 January 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Athersmith, Fiona (30 March 1988). "Robber gets 12 more months for escape from Pentridge". The Age. Melbourne. p. 18.
^ "Home". Airbourne Rock.com. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
^ "Everynight... Everynight". National Film and Sound Archive. Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HM Prison Pentridge.

H.M. Melbourne's Pentridge prison, Urban exploration
Transforming an historic icon into an urban hub, Pentridge