Row brewing over missing museum at the old Pentridge Prison
The notorious D Division of Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison – the first burial ground for Ned Kelly’s remains and the site of the last man to be hanged in Australia – has become embroiled in yet another controversy about its past.
But now, the row is about honouring its chequered history as harbouring some of Australia’s most infamous felons.
In 1999, the Victorian government sold the bluestone building in Coburg as part of the massive redevelopment of the whole 12-hectare site that held the 1851 jail. The contract contained a clause that required the establishment of an interpretative museum on the site to detail its colourful history up until its closure in 1997.
“But the reality is that the museum has never been built,” said John Bagnati, whose family bought five lots in the building in 2009. “There’s been a lot of talk about developing the museum, but nothing has happened, and the owners have a responsibility to do it.”
The entrepreneurs who purchased the heritage-listed three-storey building in 2018 from former buyers strata-ed each of the cells to become individual wine cellars, fitted them out with climate-control units and a choice of racking, and then put them on the market for sale.
They said back then that the block was one of the best-preserved historical icons in the country and that the interpretative museum would be built to honour it.
But today, they admit it’s no closer to coming to life. Finance broker Paul Tardival, who bought the building with business partner banker and mortgage broker Michael Woodworth, said the reasons for the delay “are a private matter between the owners of the building and Heritage Victoria.”
He said, however, “there are conversations going on about it, and it is something that will be done in time. The problem is that, in all fairness, when the state government sold the place off, they expected the private entrepreneurs who bought it would do something grandiose.
“But it was sold to private and commercial developers who need to make money.
With respect to the whole thing, and I don’t care who knows about it, the interpretive museum is a cost to the business, and we’re happy to spend money on it when the business actually starts making money. COVID-19 put a stop to that.
“But if the general public wants to contribute, then that would be well and good … A museum will be done – it has to be done – but it will cost money.”
The former HM Prison Pentridge is deemed to be of historical, architectural, archaeological and aesthetic significance to the state of Victoria and is included on the Victorian Heritage Register under the provisions of the Heritage Act 2017.
In 2006, a permit was issued by Heritage Victoria to the former owner of the southern part of the site together with a covenant establishing a museum as part of D Division to occupy the single-storey bluestone entry wing, the exercise yard and eight cells.
Nine years later, another company, Future Estate, took ownership of the site’s southern section and negotiated an extension to the completion date for the museum. But then, in 2018, Pentridge Wine Cellars Pty Ltd bought D Division.
In late 2020, Heritage Victoria took enforcement action in relation to the condition of buildings on the southern part of the site.
A spokesperson said: “An interpretation scheme for the museum was developed by the owner in mid-2019 [but] Heritage Victoria understands the delay of the development of the museum relates to public access issues caused by unfinished works to retail buildings adjacent to the D Division site in the former F Division.
“Heritage Victoria will continue working with the owner to ensure the museum’s delivery.”
However, advocates for the site are angry that the contract condition for the museum was issued in 2006, and, 15 years later, there’s still no sign of any action.
“So, the question is, why haven’t the current owners compiled with the covenant obligations?” asked Christopher Bristow, who says he represents a friend who bought a lot in D Division in 2009. “They cannot understand why the heritage covenant – which is registered on their lot also – has not been legally complied with.
“The covenant requires that a museum be located within the building, no ifs or buts about it. They’re very frustrated.”
Mr Bagnati feels much the same. “There’s still no sign of the museum,” he said.
“Maybe the owners won’t have the financial resources to set up the museum until they sell more cells, but the covenant says they have to.
“And with a museum, maybe they’d have more people coming through who’d want to buy. Perhaps they should have done it first. But it is very disappointing.”
D Division was built first for female prisoners and then converted for males and finally transitioned to a remand wing. Ned Kelly was originally buried on site, and Ronald Ryan was hanged there in 1967 for shooting dead a prison officer during an escape. More recently, it housed Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, murdering gangster Squizzy Taylor and massacre fantasist Garry David.
