Short Stories: The Muckleford Prison Farm

 

 Prison Farm At Muckleford with inmates from Castlemaine Gaol and farm buildings in background 

       The above photo appears to be the only one surviving of the prison farm that once graced the rolling hills of Muckleford. (This photo was kindly dug out of the vaults of the Castlemaine Art Museum by curator Jenny Long). Long forgotten, this minimum security prison was a commendable attempt to rehabilitate young offenders. While the experiment ran out of steam by the late 1940's it is to be hoped that numerous young prisoners learnt valuable life skills in this facility that may well have stood them in good stead in their post-sentence adult life.

        In the early 20th century it had become apparent that a new approach to custodial sentencing was needed to provide an incentive for prisoners to reintegrate with a law abiding society. And so the Indeterminate Sentences Act 1907 was passed in Victoria. Its aim was to fundamentally shift the penal system from pure punishment toward prisoner rehabilitation and the management of habitual criminals. It introduced two major innovations to the state's justice system: The Indeterminate Sentences Board: A dedicated board established to determine when a prisoner had earned their release, replacing fixed-term sentences with a flexible release date based on the individual's reform. Reformatory Prisons: The Act established specialized facilities (such as the Castlemaine Gaol) focused on vocational training and education, rather than solely punitive confinement.

      By 1913, it was decided that a more remotely located annexe, a prison farm, was required for the Castlemaine Reformatory Gaol.   

Mount Alexander Mail, Dec 29, 1913

    The proposed prison farm would be set up alongside the Castlemaine to Shelbourne railway line, off Sawmill Rd, about halfway between Castlemaine and Maldon.

Melbourne Age, June 23, page 6, 1916    

    

1955 survey map

    By 1918, the prison farm had been established. In the early years it accommodated 13 to 14 prisoners. However it wasn't officially proclaimed until November 1939. A reformatory school (no. 4233) was established on 21 September 1924 to educate the younger prisoners and a schoolroom was built by prisoners in 1925.

    In the early years, prisoners were returned to Castlemaine Gaol at night, but by 1922, men were sleeping at the reformatory farm. There were no fences and the prison relied on the honour system. However, by the late 1940's escapes had become such a regular occurrence that the patience of locals had worn thin.

    

Evening Advocate, Innisfail Jan 8, 1948.

    The headline says it all. Obviously the honour system wasn't strong enough to keep the young men down on the farm and so when, in early 1951, the Langi Kal Kal Training Centre, near Beaufort, was opened, the inmates of the Muckleford Prison Farm, by then, boys aged between 15 and 17, were transferred there. 

    In July 1951, the Muckleford farm was closed. It then was sold and is now privately owned.

    So, what remains of the prison? Here's an aerial photo taken in 1961.

    Here's a Google Earth view from 2005

    As the property is privately owned the only glimpse of what might remain of the farm can only be had from the appropriately named Prison Farm Road.

Remaining building, 2026, taken from Prison Farm Rd. Apparently a kitchen

    Although the Muckleford Prison Farm eventually closed, Prison Farms are still run successfully in Australia. The photo below is the long established Palen Creek Prison Farm in Queensland.

 Palen Creek prison farm, 1939  (Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland)

    The above prison farm opened at Palen Creek, south of Brisbane near the New South Wales border, in 1934 and was the first prison in the Commonwealth to have no security measures, relying entirely on the honour of the prisoners not to escape.