Fannie Bay Gaol

Northern Territory · Australia · Prison

After the 1952 double hanging, neither prisoners nor guards would stay in the building after dark — and the gallows with its trapdoor still stand.

The gallows still stand in the infirmary at Fannie Bay Gaol, complete with trapdoor and the pit beneath where the doctor examined the bodies. They were built for a single occasion: in 1952 the Czechoslovak immigrants Jerry Koci and John Novotny were hanged side by side for the murder of a taxi driver — the Northern Territory's last execution.

Afterwards neither prisoners nor staff would be in the building once darkness fell, and the habit outlived the gaol itself. Museum visitors still describe cold currents in front of the gallows and a heaviness that settles over the room. The Darwin prison held inmates from 1883 to 1979 and rode out both Japanese air raids and Cyclone Tracy — but it is the infirmary people remember.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Fannie Bay Gaol?

Fannie Bay Gaol ligger i Northern Territory, Australia.

Image: Cuddy Wifter / CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons