Oatlands Gaol: prison profile
TAS | Decommissioned | Australian Prison Directory
Source-linked profile checked 2026-11-12. Dates and capacities below describe the stated source period, not necessarily today’s available beds or prisoner population.
About this facility
A regional colonial gaol with separate male and female accommodation, later operated as a municipal prison. Its surviving gaoler’s residence and reduced sandstone boundary wall belong to the Oatlands Military Complex. The council owns the heritage site; most prison buildings were demolished in the 1930s.
Classification: Historic gaol; no modern security category assigned retrospectively.
This profile covers the sandstone gaol and its municipal phase, not every military-precinct building or its earlier timber predecessor.
Contact details
Address: 3 Mason Street and 8 Campbell Street, Oatlands, Tasmania
Current heritage-owner general-enquiries telephone, not a prison: 03 6254 5000
Current heritage-owner general-enquiries email: mail@southernmidlands.tas.gov.au
The 2004 study gives late 1836 in its synopsis but 1837 in its introduction. Its 1934 cessation announcement conflicts with a 1936 prisoner return. Exact final custody date is therefore unknown; 1863 is not final closure and demolition is a separate event.
The study’s almost-300 and 200 whole-gaol statements are unreconciled. The 76 figure represents reported historical population maxima, not beds. Only the dated female-division accommodation statement is retained.
Opening, closure and history
Opening: 1836–1837 — New sandstone gaol began operation; source dates differ
Closing: Not yet verified.
1863: Colonial administration ended; municipal gaol use continued
1936: Gaol return still recorded prisoners
1937: Most gaol buildings demolished
Capacity
20 women: Gaoler Fraser’s stated accommodation for the existing female division. Reference date: 1841. Scope: Female division only, not whole-gaol capacity. Historical accommodation statement, not beds. The proposed 50- or 200-woman alterations were not completed.
Deaths in custody: totals and limitations
No complete facility-level series is established here for suicide, medical or natural causes, homicide, other causes, Aboriginal deaths or combined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths. Missing data does not mean zero deaths. Selected cases below, where available, are not lifetime or reporting-period totals. “Murder” is a legal conclusion and is not substituted for a source’s classification.
Photograph
No verified licensed photograph is installed in this profile. No stock or generated image is presented as a photograph of this prison.
Sources
Using this profile
Confirm visiting arrangements and current contacts with the corrections department or heritage operator. Heritage visitor contacts are not operational prison contacts. General information only, not legal advice.
This directory includes prison complexes and components and is not a complete Australian operational or historical census. Component capacities must not be added to their parent complex a second time.
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