lynette design

project research and development

The state library has good books and photos for western australian history. There are lost of historic photos, including some of the old perth gaol. I find it fascinating to see the old photos and to try to imagine how the gaol is now - in the middle of the city.


I really wish that these kind of photos were on display at the museum. I think that its a pity that there is such a historic building that is part of the museum, that hardly has any information about it at the museum! The museum only has two tiny cabinet displays about the gaol and the whole gaol is full of other exhibits. Any information is hidden away never really seen, in the state library next door. But I feel like the building is history - and the building is a museum, why isn't there more about it at the actual museum!



I find the storys of the old perth gaol quite fascinating. I find it eerie to look at the building and think about people being imprisioned and killed here. It seems so much like an ordinary old building, but it has such a eerie history. I think this would intrigue children if they were told about the stories of the building and the prisoners.

other research I have done has been from the state library, they have old records from the gaol and there was a small book published when the gaol was restored in 1970. "The Old Perth gaol." - published by the museum, but now no information is still available from the museum. I think the museum must have been quite well funded in the 1970s, but now it must have virtually no funding. that's probably why there is not much information still available at the gaol itself anymore.




I also found useful a book on early prisions in perth "Early prisons in Perth and Fremantle" by J.H. Dickinson.

"Punishment, prisons and reform : incarceration in Western Australia in the 19th century." by Louise J Bavin, which talks about statistics on numbers of inmates, plans of the prisons and philosophy of incarceration.

In my project I am trying to present the historical images from the state library, and the information about how prisioners lived that I have learned from the books. I also want to include information from the displays that are already in the museum about a few artifacts that were found at the gaol. I am trying to do this by telling stories that will hopefully engage a child to think about the old gaol, and the history of the buliding. I hope that the short multiple choice quizes that I am working on will also help involve and intrigue the viewer.

There is alot of information that I have researched, and I want to present the history in a narrative way, which places the viewer/hearer into awareness of the building and its inhabitants' lives.

I think by getting the walls to talk, this should appeal to kids, and it is an interesting way to characterise the narrator of these stories.

posted by nicole @ 8:27 pm