City of Women: The Old Melbourne Gaol and a Gender-specific Interpretation of Urban Life (original) (raw)

The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Tourism, 2017

Abstract

A murdered schoolgirl, baby farmers, a poisoner, the oyster-selling wife of a bushranger, abortionists, the victim of a botched abortion, and a university secretary murdered by the “Brownout” serial killer; these are a cross section of the women whose stories one encounters in the Old Melbourne Gaol. Women in prison have long been the fodder for pulp novels and soap operas and, at first blush, this cast of characters is ripe for the same treatment. What emerges within the Old Melbourne Gaol, however, is less a lurid vision of life behind bars, and more a gendered picture of the turn-of-the-century urban environment beyond the prison walls. The exhibitions displayed within the Old Melbourne Gaol, and curated through the National Trust, depict a prison and inmates intrinsically intertwined with the city.

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