Old Roebourne Gaol: prison profile
WA | Decommissioned | Australian Prison Directory
Source-linked profile checked 11 November 2026. Dates and capacities below describe the stated source period, not necessarily today’s available beds or prisoner population.
About this facility
The historic gaol within Roebourne’s police, courthouse and gaol precinct includes 1887 cells and later 1896 cell blocks. Its history includes the coercive confinement and labour of Aboriginal prisoners. The gaol returned to use in the 1970s before relocation to the separate modern regional prison. Later museum use does not establish current public access.
Classification: Historical gaol; modern security classification not assigned retrospectively
Contact details
Address: Roebourne Gaol heritage property, 786 Carnarvon Terrace, Roebourne WA
Address note: Gaol-specific heritage-register address. Historical institutional sources describe the Queen Street precinct; neither is the current Sampson Road prison address.
No current dedicated contact verified.
Opening, closure and history
Opening: 1887 — Start of the precinct detention period reported by WA Government; 1887 cells predate the 1896 blocks, and broader institutional summaries give an earlier 1884 establishment
Closing: 1984-03-23 — Regional prison moved from the old Queen Street gaol location to Sampson Road
1896: Later cell blocks constructed within the precinct
1924: End of the first detention period as reported in the 2021 government history; exact decommissioning date not verified
1975: Temporary custodial reuse began according to WA Government history
1976-03-12: Police gaol became Roebourne Regional Prison under the Prisons Department
Capacity
Capacity has not yet been independently verified.
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
Old Roebourne Gaol, photographed in 2009. Photo: Michal Lewi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reproduced without cropping or substantive editing; the photograph does not establish current conditions.
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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