‘We were a miscellaneous lot: murderesses and pickpockets, abortionists and shop-lifters, thieves and robbers, drunks and vags’. So wrote Rebecca Ross in 1908, two years after her release from Sydney’s notorious Darlinghurst Gaol. Ross was one of a handful of prisoners and ex-prisoners who wrote of their experiences of life inside the NSW prison system in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. NSW began as a penal colony in 1788. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the penitentiary model of the prison had become the dominant form of punishment. At the close of the century, sixty prisons had been built around the State, eight of which were classed as major gaols. Six of these were located in regional towns, including Bathurst, Maitland and Berrima. First-person accounts of prison life, which include letters, memoir, poetry and plays, covered a range of themes. In their writings, prisoners and ex-prisoners like Ross recounted the monotony of daily life and gave detailed descriptions of their cells; they expressed their frustration about their loss of liberty; and offered critiques of the prison system. This lecture series for Off the Beaten Track expands on scholarly and popular understandings of the NSW prison system from the perspective of those who spent time ‘doing time’.

Laila Ellmoos is a professional historian based in Sydney, with a passion for researching and writing about Australian social history. She is currently the historian at the NSW Government Architect's Office, and has been recently commissioned to write a history of the Peat Island Centre, a large residential centre for people with disabilities, which is located on the Hawkesbury River. Laila is a regular presenter on Fbi Radio’s “Scratching Sydney’s Surface” segment, which explores the history of Sydney. This lecture for Off the Beaten Track expands on research Laila carried out when she was the National and State Libraries Australasia Honorary Fellow at State Library of NSW in 2007.

Hay

When: 5 September 2009, 2.00pm Where: Hay Gaol Museum, Church Street, Hay Contact: 6993 2112, rryan@hay.nsw.gov.au http://www.visithay.com.au Cost: Free. Bookings Essential.

Newcastle

When: 12 September 2009, 3.00pm Where: The Lock-up Cultural Centre, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle Contact: 4925 2265, geraldine@thelockup.info www.thelockup.info Cost: Free. Bookings Essential.

Maitland

When: 13 September 2009, 2.00pm Where: Maitland Gaol, 6–18 John Street, East Maitland Contact: 4936 6482, info@maitlandgaol.com.au www.maitlandgaol.com.au Cost: Free. Bookings Essential.