Until 1909, prisoners convicted of minor offences in Alice Springs, were incarcerated in a crude desert-oak shack with only one entrance, beside the old police station at Heavitree Gap. Those facing longer sentences were transferred to Port Augusta, some 1,300 kilometres south.
In June 1908, workers arrived from Adelaide to begin construction on the first 'Substantial' building in Stuart, a gaol. Using local stone and timber, Jack Williams and his assistants James and Tom Turner, and James Maher, completed the building and had it ready for opening in 1909. The roof of the gaol contains some of the first roofing iron used in the town and was transported by camel from the Oodnadatta railhead.
A large room was annexed to the west of the gaol and served as a police station. In 1929 the police station transferred to the corner of Parsons and Hartley Streets and the room became barracks for constables, despite having been condemned 'unfit for human habitation'.
The gaol was replaced by the one at the corner of Stuart and Telegraph Terraces in 1939 and was earmarked for demolition in 1977 when the new courthouse was designed. The National Trust (N.T.) McDouall Stuart Branch, then under the leadership of the late Doreen Braitling, fought to have the building preserved, and the courthouse was eventually redesigned and built around it. It was later renovated and opened by the trust in 1980.
The gaol consists of 2 separate communal cells, one containing 12 iron rings concreted into the floor to which males could be chained, and a smaller one with 4 rings for females. An exercise yard and shower are in the rear of the building.
**Don’t forget your writing implement**