What it is
The gaol was built from the 1840s onwards and remained in use until 1924; 133 people were executed here, the most famous among them Ned Kelly. The surviving cell block, with three tiers of small cells along narrow galleries, shows how prisoners were kept in silence and isolation.
The museum, run by the National Trust, displays death masks and stories of prisoners, and visitors can also experience a mock arrest in the neighbouring City Watch House, a police lock-up used until 1994.
Getting there by bus
Buses 200 and 207 stop at Old Melbourne Gaol/Russell St, right outside. Trams 30 and 35 stop on La Trobe Street at the Melbourne Central and State Library stations stop (stop 6), and trams 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67 and 72 at RMIT University/Swanston St (stop 7).
State Library Station on the Sunbury line is about three minutes' walk away.
