The women of Old Ararat Gaol

Perched on a hill in Ararat, Victoria, is a bluestone building that incarcerated Victoria’s criminals and the criminally insane for more than a century. Ararat Gaol began construction in 1861 and was later transferred to the Victorian Lunacy Department as a ‘temporary’ ward for the criminally insane. J Ward, as it became known, was decommissioned in 1989. The site is significant for its association with the history and treatment of psychiatric illness, particularly the criminally insane.

Women have been incarcerated in Australia since the beginning of European convict transportation. Ararat Gaol and J Ward have significant shared heritage and women’s stories are often overshadowed by those of male inmates. My research has uncovered some of these hidden stories and highlighted a small chapter in the history of women’s imprisonment, insanity and isolation in Australia.

Today, Friends of J Ward manage the complex, which