Done with dithering, council kicks old gaol
IT’S taken years and a trio of government-appointed administrators, but Geelong’s council has finally taken the decision to get out of the prison game.
More than two decades after buying the Old Geelong Gaol through a $360,000 interest-free government loan, City Hall has looked through the books and realised it had been sold a pup.
Through an arrangement with the Rotary Club of Geelong to manage the 19th century complex on Myers St, City Hall was notionally ahead about $5000 a year.
But with a massive maintenance backlog totalling at least $1.56 million on the table, it’s clear the bluestone prison had become a financial noose around the council’s neck, pardon the pun.
Geelong’s old councillors were a little slow on the uptake compared with their counterparts at the Mount Alexander Shire.
They put off decisions to sell the gaol until a deal with Barwon Health that ultimately collapsed when the hospital, fatefully perhaps, decided it would be surplus to its requirements.
The Castlemaineheadquartered Mount Alexander Shire took ownership of the town’s old stone gaol around the same time as Geelong, but with a burgeoning property portfolio of its own weighing down its budget and the list of required maintenance tasks starting to pile up at the gaol, the shire decided back in 2012 that managing an old prison was no longer a core responsibility.
Geelong and Ballarat-based commercial real estate agent Colliers International handled the sale for $550,000, ultimately to a consortium of local identities with an idea to anchor the gaol with surrounding serviced accommodation.
The Old Castlemaine Gaol is now open daily for tours, houses a cafe for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and is described as a one-of-a-kind music venue that’s capable of hosting weddings.
Colliers International agent Andrew Lewis told the Advertiser the buyers went into the sale with the full knowledge that the shire had imposed planning overlays for maintenance and protections for the gaol.
They probably also understood the 19th century construction meant any renovations to the gaol itself would be costly.
Administrators this week foreshadowed similar rules would apply to the potential buyers of Geelong’s gaol.
This, along with the solid construction designed to make escape through tunnelling impossible, will probably hinder the ultimate sale price.
But the hospitality use for the Old Castlemaine Gaol shows history can be a winner with the prison in private hands.
Some Geelong history buffs believe maintaining the bluestone prison in public hands is the only way to ensure its protection.
Others say past councillors should be doing porridge themselves for their dithering.