Comments on: The Old Melbourne Gaol

By: dadman

dadman — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 01:52:55 +0000

So that was Ned’s REAL helmet? Awesome!

I used to have a book on phrenology when I was in high school. I really did. But I fell and bumped my head and now I can’t find it.

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:57:19 +0000

They had Ned’s helmet and armor out on display for anyone to try on. Lucky me .

Thanks for the added detail on Phrenology Clara. I had forgotten the exact term.

By: Clara

Clara — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 04:06:34 +0000

What an interesting place! Yes, it would seem very creepy to be looking at masks of executed criminals. Phrenology is the study of the skull looking for indicators of character.

By: dadman

dadman — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:35:27 +0000

How did you get to model Ned’s helmet? I just read up on him in wikipedia. Interesting. Dylan sings a song about a guy named Jim Jones who was transported to Botany Bay and joined the bushrangers. New jails seem real bad, but old jails seem REALLY bad. i’m interested to hear about the markets and see some pics!

By: Peg Moore

Peg Moore — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:24:41 +0000

Weird!!! (Or is it “wierd”? Never can remember.) But great to hear from you! And interesting to hear you explain. XOXOX

By: josh

josh — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:47:30 +0000

Yeah the markets have been awesome. That may be the subject of an upcoming entry here soon.

By: Kriz

Kriz — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:25:49 +0000

Ned Kelly was a crazy cool dude. I visited this same gaol, it was pretty interesting I thought.

The market in Melbourne is fantastic for cheap food and clothes.

By: josh

josh — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:49:43 +0000

Yesterday I visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced jail) in downtown Melbourne. The gaol opened in the 1860s and saw the hangings of 136 inmates including the most famous, that of bushranger Ned Kelly.

Many of the cells had death masks of various executed inmates on display. Death masks were made from molds taken of the inmate’s head after they were executed. Apparently back in the day they thought that you could pinpoint someone’s criminal tendancies by the bumps on their skull. The death masks were studied to learn more about this skull bump science. It was pretty creepy seeing all these heads on display, looking as the prisoner looked after being hung in the goal.

After a while hanging out in the gaol (no pun intended… seriously), I got a text message from Beth and our friend Kelly informing me they were eating ice cream down the road. It was at this point that I left the gaol, but I was too late to get any ice cream.

This is the death mask of Ned Kelly. It is a replica, but all the others there were the real thing.

Ned Kelly wore a helmet like this one, modeled by me.