BAIL UP!

Last year I posted about an escape from the Old Geelong Gaol (Jail Break!) by career criminals Christie Farrell and Josh Clarke in 1889. I also made passing reference to an incident much earlier in Christie's career: the robbery under arms of the Portland Mail.
This sensational hold up had everything. It featured a dashing but disguised bushranger with a criminal record and a flair for poetry, wielding handguns whilst shouting phrases such as "Bail Up!" and threatening to blow peoples' brains out. It also took place not too far from Bruce's Creek.
The following is my interpretation of events, taken mostly from the newspapers of the day (The Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer and The Argus) and from Owen Suffolk's autobiography written during his final stint in an Australian jail in 1866.
The fateful event took place on the 19th May, 1851. The mail coach, its passengers and driver had stopped at the Leigh (now Shelford) to collect the mail and presumably to change horses. From there it followed its usual route towards Bruce's Creek (Bannockburn) and was travelling slowly, about a mile past the creek on the road to Geelong when Suffolk and his two accomplices struck.

The current (Pilloud's) Bridge across Bruce's Creek at Bannockburn

Whilst Farrell remained hidden, Suffolk and the third member of their little gang - Harry Dowling - intercepted the coach. Suffolk leapt to take the horses' heads, ordering the driver to "stand" and threatening to kill him if he did not. He also threatened to "shoot the first man who moved a finger" whilst Dowling ordered the passengers to raise their hands and get down from the coach. It was Suffolk who then bound their hands with their own kerchiefs (and in the case of the driver, with a belt taken from the driver of the Melbourne coach during an earlier hold up, to whom it was suggested he return it) before ordering them to re-embark and himself driving the coach about half a mile into the bush. The passengers were once again offloaded then tied to trees, at which point Dowling unhitched the horses and saddled one using a passenger's saddle and tack whilst Suffolk proceeded to rifle through the mailbags looking for cash, cheques and other valuables. That done, he also ordered the passengers to empty out their pockets.

Farrell it seems remained out of sight during the whole affair whilst Suffolk and Dowling were heavily disguised. By his own account, Suffolk was attired thus:

I had on three loosely fitting blue shirts or jumpers over a complete suit of clothes...my legs were encased in a pair of large gaiters which reached up to my hips. My head was placed inside the network of a rainbow comforter, which was secured against falling off by being fastened with a ribbon round my neck - one end of it hanging far down my back like a Chinaman's tail. A large sou'wester on my head, and a pair of light blucher boots, the soles of which were ornamented with as sort of scroll done with copper tacks, completed my costume.

This description which was not dissimilar to that later given by the witnesses in court is however somewhat at odds with a later illustration of the event by GD Bruny. Suffolk himself was somewhat bemused by media reports at the time which described him and "Farrell" variously as:
"a tall raw-boned Irishman [he was English] ill-becoming a suit of black" and "as two beardless boys of gentlemanly appearance, whom no one would have suspected of such crimes."
An account of the affair published some 48 years later by George E Boxall in his book "History of the Australian Bushranger" makes interesting reading when compared to Suffolk's own account and the reports from the media of the day.*


Depiction of Suffolk and "Farrell" waiting to bail up a coach, although from
the evidence of the witnesses and Suffolk's own description they were neither
mounted nor dressed in such fashion at the time of the hold up near Bruce's
Creek whilst Harry Dowling rather than Christie Farrell assisted Suffolk
to rob the coach.

All of this served to highlight Suffolk's own contention that witnesses could easily be misled by casual similarities and a few preconceived ideas. He argued that the bulkiness of his clothing and the concealment of both his and his accomplice's faces during the hold up meant that the witnesses could not have made an accurate identification of their assailants.

This fact later had serious consequences for Farrell, despite his remaining unseen throughout. In any case, the job was complete and the trio returned to Geelong, Farrell on foot and the other two riding the horses taken from the mail coach, which they then turned loose outside of town.
The following evening, in true dashing style, Suffolk decided to attend a performance at the Theatre Royal. However, having muddied his own boots en route, rather than return home to change, he elected to purchase another pair from an establishment he called "the famous Yellow Slipper". [My research shows that this was actually the Red Boot shoe shop in Moorabool Street, located opposite the Market Square.]

View of Geelong in 1861, taken from the corner of Kardinia and Malop Streets
looking south west. Malop Street crosses the bottom of the picture, Moorabool
Street runs to the left with the corner of the Market Square before it. The
Red Boot shoe shop, still in business some ten years later is the second store
from the left on Moorabool Street

At the store, he was surprised to be served by a former compatriot from Cockatoo Island. Knowing his history, this now reformed character was immediately suspicious of Suffolk's apparent affluence. Without letting on their previous acquaintance, the shopman (George Percy Simmons), along with his boss and the mailman from the hold up who recognised Suffolk's distinctive boots, informed the police and headed for the theatre. Suffolk saw them and quickly slipped out but Simmons also recognised Farrell as an associate of Suffolk and assuming he was the other assailant from the hold up, the three tried unsuccessfully to corner him before giving up and leaving it for the police.
The following day, Farrell and Dowling decided to distance themselves from the scene of the crime by taking the steamer to Melbourne. Suffolk advised against this as he claimed it would be watched by the authorities and chose to remain at the lodging house where they had been staying.
In the event, he was proven correct and Farrell, having been identified by Simmons, was arrested at the dock as he attempted to leave for Melbourne. Dowling, who of course was unknown to the storeman and happened to be carrying Farrell's share of the spoils remained undetected and made his escape.

Corio Bay, 1850 from Western Beach showing a steamer moored at the Steam
Packet Wharf

Suffolk's downfall came soon after as when questioned, Farrell gave the address at which he had been staying and so it was a simple matter to corner Suffolk at Guise's Lodging House (in James Street) the following morning and make the arrest.
Seeing the officers approaching through a window and hoping to hide evidence, Suffolk placed a watch stolen from the mailman under a pillow in Farrell's room after which he was duly arrested.
Until their case came to court a few days later, Suffolk and Farrell were lodged in what was then the Geelong Gaol, known to history as the South Geelong Gaol and located back from the banks of the Barwon at the corner of Balliang and Yarra Streets. Their first appearance to face the charges saw them brought before none other than police magistrate Captain Foster Fyans along with C N Thorne JP and Leiut Addis.
Then, on 21st June they faced a jury and the resident judge of the Geelong Circuit Court. In a noble attempt, in keeping with the theme of dashing gallantry, Suffolk quickly admitted his own guilt and made an eloquent argument in defence of Farrell's innocence . He admitted to hiding the watch and brought the young daughter of the house to the stand where she gave evidence that she had moved the handguns used by Suffolk to the drawer of Farrell's room as there was no available drawer in Suffolk's. When cross-questioning the storeman Simmons, Suffolk made a fair attempt to discredit the witness by quizzing him as to the length of their acquaintance and to their joint tenure on Cockatoo Island.
His efforts however, were all to no avail as the jury found both men guilty, sentencing them to ten years "on the roads", the first three to be served in irons. And so, despite having remained hidden and taken no active part in the holdup itself (assuming we can trust Suffolk's assertion that he was assisted by Dowling not Farrell), Farrell was convicted whilst Dowling escaped justice.
No doubt further confirming Suffolk's opinions as to witness veracity, one of the passengers indicated that he recognised "Farrell" by his voice.

A mail coach which I am guessing would have been similar to that travelling
the Portland to Geelong Route

*Below is an extract from George E Boxall's History of the Australian Bushrangers, 1899.

On June 23rd the mail coach was bailed up at Bruce's Creek, between Portland and Geelong. The coach, with three passengers on board, was going down hill to the crossing-place, when two men stepped from behind gum trees, presented their pistols, and cried "Bail up." The driver, William Freere, instead of complying, began to flog his horses, but before they could respond thir heads were seized by one of the bushrangers, while the other put his pistol to Freere's head; and threatened to blow his brains out. The coach was taken some distance off the road, and its occupants were tied to trees. The robbers went very leisurely through te letters, and when all that was of value had been abstracted one of the bushrangers took a saddle and bridle belonging to one of the passengers (Mr. Thomas Gibson) and set it aside with the remark, "Ah, this is just what I wanted." This bushranger was dressed "in a black suit of fashionable cut, and wore black kid gloves." He was afterwards identified as Owen Suffolk, while his companion was Christopher Farrell. Suffolk took one of the coach-horses, put the saddle and bridle on, and mounted. Farrell jumped on the other horse barebacked. The tied men begged hard to be let loose, offering to swear that they would not give information to the police, or move from the spot until their captors were away, but their supplications were only laughed at. The road was at that time but little frequented, and the next mail, which might possibly be the first vehicle to pass, would not come for a week. Moreover, they were out of sight of the road. The struggle to get free was therefore a struggle for life, and it was a severe one. Mr. Gibson was the first to get one hand loose. After this the rest was comparatively easy. In less than an hour they were all free, and they walked straight to the township at Bruce's Creek to tell the police. The robbers were caught in Geelong a day or two later. Suffolk was strolling along the beach near the wharf, and Farrell was found in a boardinghouse not far away. They were sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, the first three in irons.

It is easy to see how legends arise and misconceptions develop over the years. In his own version of events, Suffolk explicitly states that:

After securing all that seemed worth securing, I untied the mailman, and then, having released him from the tree, I fastened his hands behind him in a peculiar fashion, telling him that as soon as I knew we were out of sight he could set to work to undo one of the others, a task which I knew would take him some little time to perform with his own hands tied as they were. 

Hardly the life and death struggle described by Boxall, however it does not precisely tally with the version of events given by the mailman who made no mention of Suffolk telling him he could free himself once the robbers were out of sight.
In true Robin Hood style however, Suffolk also claimed to have returned via mail a sum of £5 to one of the passengers from whom he had taken two sovereigns. The man had pleaded poverty and a gravely ill wife when confronted by Suffolk who, on making later inquiries, discovered this to be the case. It probably would not do to dwell on how the extra £3 were obtained, but perhaps not surprisingly, according to Suffolk, this witness refused to testify at his subsequent trial.

Gaol birds

Whilst doing some further research for subsequent posts it occurred to me that something was completely missing from this picture of Geelong's gaols. Women. Where were the female prisoners? My post A Model Prison mentioned that the Geelong Gaol for a time served as a reformatory for homeless girls, but I'd not seen a word about adult women prisoners, until I came across an article in the Argus of the 13th May, 1859. The piece gave a rather damning report of the condition of the South Geelong Gaol which was now being used to house female prisoners. The article bemoaned the lack of guttering and tanks which would have provided fresh water for the women, saying that instead, the government was paying to have inferior quality water carted from the Barwon which by that era would have been well and truly fouled with the byproducts of the tanneries and woollen mills which were driving the town's prosperity.

Jewell's water pump on the banks of the Barwon just east of the Barwon
(Moorabool Street) Bridge, note the horse-drawn
water cart taking on water at the tank

The journalist also complained that there was no laundry, so women were required to do the washing outside regardless of the weather which on that day was pouring with rain. Additionally, the only washing facility for the women themselves (and the children who often accompanied them) was a large tub, meaning that they were required to "promiscuously wash themselves, in presence of each other and their children". At the time of his visit, there were 18 women in the gaol. Two were on remand awaiting their day in court, 11 were serving sentences and a further five were classed as lunatics. Mention of female prisoners at South Geelong Gaol was made in January, 1861 where it was stated that the only inmates were female prisoners and about 20 children below the age of six. In 1867, a young woman was taken to the South Geelong Gaol to be held pending a trial for infanticide.

This photo shows female prisoners at Brisbane's Boggo Road Gaol in 1903
but female prison attire would have been similar in Victorian gaols in earlier decades.
Photo held by the Queensland State Library

Also in 1867, it was decided to build a "Lunacy Reception Ward" at nearby Geelong Hospital, thereby removing quite a number of both men and women from the prison system.
The first mention I find of adult female prisoners being held in Geelong Gaol (as distinct from the Myers St Industrial School For Girls which operated in the gaol's east wing from 1865 to 1872, housing girls aged between 9 and 16) is a record of 10 female "lunatics" at the gaol in 1857, whilst an information board at the gaol itself indicates female prisoners as early as 1860. I imagine therefore it was possible that women were held at the gaol from its earliest days, in addition to those held at South Geelong. In 1873 it was remarked that female prisoners were being retained in the Geelong Gaol rather than being sent to Pentridge. By 1888 there were 72 women being held in the Geelong Gaol.

East wing of the Geelong Gaol, used as a girls' industrial school 1865-1872

A later article in 1922 discusses a ban on female prisoners at the Geelong Gaol with an allowance made for remand cases, whilst in this same year, it was planned to temporarily house female prisoners at Geelong whilst Pentridge underwent renovations. Four years later in a complete about face however, the authorities were considering turning the Geelong Gaol into a female prison. Clearly this did not come to pass and I found no mention of female prisoners in the gaol past this point.
I can find no mention of the closure of South Geelong Gaol.


A model prison

Following on from my last post on the South Geelong Gaol, I thought it appropriate to continue the theme by looking at its successor the Geelong Gaol or - as it is now known - the "Old" Geelong Gaol. To be honest, it was originally this jail which got me thinking of crooks in connection with the Barwon in the first place. In addition to being an interesting old local building, it is located on the corner of Myers and Swanston Streets, only a short distance from where I live so I pass it almost daily. As a result, I have often wondered if I could find a connection between the gaol and the river and sneak it into a blog post. This is that post.



The front enterance to the Geelong Gaol

Not surprisingly, the Geelong Gaol comes with the expected array of hangings, murders, ghost stories  and daring escapes, many of which were recorded in the newspapers of the day and make fascinating reading. What I was also hoping to find were tales of desperate chases on horseback along the riverbank, whispers of caves where villains hid from the law or stashed their ill-gotten gains and dramatic escapes across the rushing waters of the Barwon.
Of course the aftermath of all these grievous deeds would see the malefactors summarily brought to justice by the local constabulary and cast into the dank, forbidding surrounds of the gaol, whose imposing bluestone walls had been hewn from the very rocks of the Barwon itself.
Well, the latter is quite likely the truth as I found several websites which indicated that the gaol was built from locally quarried bluestone, but none of them wanted to tell me which quarry.
Other presumably locally acquired building materials were brick and volcanic rock. The gaol was designed by the Colonial Clerk of Works Henry Ginn and built in stages using convict labour between 1849 and 1864. It received its first crop of villains in 1853. And yes they were indeed villains - a term which derives from "Pentonvillians" the name given to inmates of Pentonville Gaol in England after which model the Geelong Gaol was built. This type of prison was based on the principle of isolation meaning that prisoners could not see each other and were not allowed to communicate, instead being expected to spend their time in contemplation.

Overhead view of the Geelong Gaol in 2008 showing the radiating arms
typical of the Pentonville model. The east and west wings were used to house
prisoners with administration in the north wing and various amenities in the south wing.

 Throughout its almost 160 year history, the gaol has served a variety of roles. Initially used to house convicts and other prisoners from 1853, between 1865 and 1872 the east wing was used as an industrial school for vagrant girls. From 1877 until the Second World War it was used as a hospital gaol for older and infirm prisoners (and was, it has been suggested, staffed with men of a similar ilk). From 1940 to 1947 it served as an army detention barracks after which it was again used as a hospital gaol until 1958 when it became a training prison where the inmates were taught various trades. It continued in this role until its final closure in 1991 when most prisoners were transferred to the newly built maximum security Barwon Prison.

There have been several paranormal investigations conducted at the gaol over the years but not surprisingly, no concrete evidence of haunting has emerged. There have been anecdotal reports of past inmates hearing female voices - particularly in the east wing where the girls lived - as well as a number of reports of strange activities and odd sensations.


Rear view of the Geelong Gaol showing the south (left) and east (centre) wings
and a guard tower in the external wall

For all its reputation as a hell hole (even the notorious Chopper Reid claimed to have no desire to return to the gaol where conditions remained primitive until its closure), there were only two hangings ever conducted within its walls: James Murphy was hanged in 1863 for the murder of a police officer at the Warrnambool Court House and Thomas Menard who was also hanged for murder in October, 1865. Four earlier hangings took place outside the gaol at nearby Gallows Flat on the north west corner of Bellerine and Myers Streets. Of course, there were also numerous suicides and murders which resulted from violence amongst the inmates over the years.
There were also a number of escape attempts and one of the more sensational will be the subject of my next post.

Doing time

As I am currently unable to spend much time taking photos of the present-day Barwon, I thought I'd do a bit of historical research and see what I came up with. My starting point was the history of penal servitude in Geelong which dates back to the town's earliest days when convict labour under the guidance of Captain Foster Fyans built the first breakwater across the Barwon below the town. Naturally it was necessary to house Geelong's early felons and this was done in various police watch houses and at the South Geelong Gaol which was located on the south west corner of Yarra and Balliang Streets which at that time overlooked the Barwon which lay less than 500m away.

Building at the South Geelong Gaol taken 1904. Reproduction rights held
by the Victorian State Library

This early gaol is described as consisting of four slab huts, one of which was used as a watch house, one as a court house and the other two as police offices. The facility held up to 60 prisoners in appalling squalor. Newspapers of the day confirm that it was originally built as a watch house with £750 assigned for its construction in 1839, however a display at the "Old Geelong Gaol" indicates that the original huts were built in 1838 with the watch house deemed unsuitable and replaced by a more permanent structure between 1841 and 1842. The new building was constructed from freestone quarried, it is indicated, about 1.5 miles upstream on the Barwon. This is confirmed by a contemporary newspaper report which stated that the new watch house was the first structure to be built using stone from the quarry which I suspect may have been the one near the bottom of Pakington Street.
This upgraded facility according to the "Old Geelong Gaol" exhibit contained 6 solitary confinement cells, a keeper's room and "two balancing cells".

Reproduction of a photo at Geelong Gaol, showing part of the South Geelong Gaol

In June, 1850 it was recommended that further funds be allocated to allow another upgrade of the premises for use as a temporary gaol, pending the construction of a new building - the Geelong Gaol which opened in 1853 on the corner of Myer and Swanston Streets (which is the subject of a subsequent post: A model prison). A stone wall was eventually built to enclose the complex, although this it seems wasn't added until around 1851 perhaps as part of the upgrade recommended in 1850. Within the outer wall was also a kitchen and gaoler's room, located in the forecourt area along with a privy and night soil pit. The buildings stood until 1906 when they were demolished.


A current photo showing the south west corner of Yarra and Balliang
Streets from Yarra Street, looking south towards the Barwon

An account of the South Geelong Gaol published in 1899 in George E Boxall's book "History of the Australian Bushrangers" describes it thus:

The Geelong gaol, in fact, was little more than a lock-up, and it was only within the past two years that the gaol had been enclosed within a high wall. In 1850 it stood out on the hill, a short distance from the banks of the Barwon River, an ordinary-looking brick building, with the Governor's House and other offices grouped near it, and all opening out directly on the level flat which stretched from the top of the banks of the Barwon River to the hill on which the main portion of the town of Geelong was situated. On the top of this hill, the last building in that direction, in "old Geelong" as it was called, although it had only been founded about twelve years before was the court house, and there was no other building along Yarra Street, on the southern side of the hill and across the little flat (a distance altogether of about half-a-mile) until the gaol was reached.

This latter statement is clearly shown to be correct on John Taylor's map of Geelong, published by the Melbourne Surveyor's Office in 1855 which shows only vacant land on the west side of Yarra Street from Balliang to McKillop Street where the court house stood on what is now the site of the fire station.

Photograph of a sketch of the first Geelong courthouse with accompanying
stocks, 1842 © Deakin University 2009

The stocks which can be seen beside the building were, according to Boxall, removed in about 1854 when construction of a new courthouse began. They were the last remaining in Victoria at that time, those in Melbourne having been removed some time before. It should be noted that a copy of this illustration is labelled as the South Geelong Gaol in a display at the Old Geelong Gaol, however Deakin University who hold the image copyright seem clear on the topic.
It was from the South Geelong Gaol to this building that the infamous bushranger, Captain Melville was taken by dray to stand trial before Captain Foster Fyans on 3rd January, 1853.
But that's another story...