Closing the cell door
Where are the Histories of Care-leavers at the old Melbourne Gaol
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5700784 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nell Musgrove (0000-0002-5070-8766, Australian Catholic University, corresponding author), Lloyd Saxton (0000-0003-1631-3821, Australian Catholic University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 1324-1335 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Heritage Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1352-7258 • E-ISSN: 1470-3610 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13527258.2024.2378421 |
| OpenAlex | W4400592377 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
The Old Melbourne Gaol maintains a crucial place in social histories of the city. The Gaol ceased operation in 1924 and, as a heritage site, locates its history firmly in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. While the exhibition invites a moral consideration of modes of punishment implemented in the gaol, its critique suggests resolution: these are not practices that we engage in now. By presenting these kinds of closed or finished narratives, the site turns visitors firmly towards the past rather than creating a site which invites reflection on the harms that carceral institutions continue to inflict in the present day. This, we argue, has a particular significance for Care-leavers, who are a significant demographic to have passed through the Gaol’s walls. While recognising that a site like the Old Melbourne Gaol has innumerable memory communities invested in it, and that no presentation of the site might fully satisfy them all, this article argues for present-looking public histories that place the gaol’s history in conversation with weighty social justice issues of today, including acknowledging the gaol’s role as part of the foundations of the ‘care’-to-prison pipeline observed by many activists as a pressing social issue in the twenty-first century
Genealogy · Political science · Australian History and Society · Canadian Identity and History · History · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US
Young Criminal Lives
The Content of the Form
On the Challenge of Historicizing Violence
Towards Transformative Practice in Out of Home Care
Settler colonial expansion and the institutionalisation of children in Victoria, Australia
Heritage Sites and Video Games
The success of the Success
Australian Prison Tourism
Making Tragic Places’
A true story
Delinquent Girls as Activists
The Scars Remain
Port Arthur and the spectre of ‘unnatural acts’ in Australia
Parramatta Female Factory Precinct as a Site of Conscience
Authenticity & aura
Hidden from view
Conceptualising and Categorising Child Abuse Inquiries
Homicide in Victoria
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |