The Connection

The Gaol was definitely a serious and august place to the order in the past Victoria and contributed to the criminal history and prison practices in the late 19th and early 20th century. Like Welch said ‘the prison serves as a vehicle for cultural transmission as it projects a particular – local – narrative about the role of punishment in emerging societies’. Of all the attractions at the jail is Ned Kelly who takes centre stage. His powerful story continues to permeate Australian history and political identity. ‘Ned Kelly continues to be reinterpreted and remains an enduring presence within Australian literature, visual arts, cinema, and performing arts, music and popular culture.’ As we all know he was a criminal who got death penalty in Jail, but now he is seen as a hero, even a champion of the underdog, that motivated me a lot to do further research of the jail. So not only my aims in this project are to extend the exploration of the jail from last assignment, also to identify ‘the connection between the history and nowadays’, which represents the impression of a criminal has changed in hundred years.

Site: Old Melbourne Gaol

by Tong Peng