Maitland Gaol was the longest continuously operating gaol in New South Wales, being open from 1848 until its closure in 1998. The different political and social changes witnessed over the Gaol’s 150-year history make it a rich site for interpretive storytelling, linking transformations in justice regimes with the everyday experience of individuals and their families through time.

One of the premier heritage sites listed on the NSW State Heritage Register, the Goal today provides an important space to invite reflection on changing narratives of justice in relation to contemporary issues today, including the harsh treatment of Australia’s First Peoples in the early development of Australia’s national identity, and the changing uses of spatial design and technologies in evolving practices of incarceration.

Working closely with the GML team, Studio ESEM’s Dr. Sarah Barns and Michael Killalea explored opportunities to create sensory connections to different experiences and practices of incarceration through time within the confines of the nineteenth century gaol. This work linked technical, experiential and storytelling approaches to working with the specific heritage fabric of the site, and collaborating with GML on bringing narrative and emotional storytelling insights into the foreground of the Heritage Interpretation themes.

The project invited a set of immersive and experiential responses to key heritage themes and stories of the Gaol, which played a fundamental role in the development of colonial forms of spatial justice in the early years of the colony.