Latest News Blog

The gaol in Arrowtown is hopefully about to have a new lease of life once again as a draft conservation plan has been drawn by conservator and architect Ian Bowman. The gaol is registered Category One by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

Prior to its construction in 1876, Arrowtown had a simple wooden building containing two cells. The large stone and concrete gaol was a building where sentences could be served and could hold several prisoners at once. Before any police buildings existed the only method of restraining prisoners was to put them 'on the log'. Being chained to a large log with leg irons was no obstacle for one large drunken Irishman who, local legend has it, simply picked up the log and carried it to the pub with him.

The Mountain Scene in 1974 reports that there was only one known escape from the gaol. The warder who was delivering a meal was overpowered by the prisoner and locked in the cell while the prisoner escaped. The warder's wife could hear her husband shouting from the gaol and assuming it was a prisoner, yelled back that he would just have to wait until her husband returned. She recognised her husband's voice eventually and released him from the cell.

The gaol is the only surviving gold rush era example and is the fourth oldest gaol in the country. Definitely something worth preserving and protecting.

If you would like to visit the gaol, the key is available at the museum.

   The Gaol in disrepair in 1974, prior to renovations in 1976.