Narrative and counter-narrative: Reinscribing carceral welfare histories at the old Melbourne Gaol

Now operational as a museum that engages in aspects of both dark tourism and public education, the Old Melbourne Gaol offers visitors the expected “celebrity prisoners” and “pleasurable terrors” of capital and corporal punishment, but also invites them to consider the former gaol's complicity in enforcing racialised, gendered, and class-based violence. However, while the site's permanent exhibition acknowledges some of the former gaol's intersections with colonial welfare systems, its narrative positions the rise of welfare institutions as the salve for poverty-driven colonial incarceration. This article argues for the value and appropriateness of the site incorporating histories and perspectives of people who endured incarceration in both welfare and penal institutions in order to assert a counter-narrative that challenges visitors to reflect on the social function of incarceration, including its use and impact beyond criminal justice institutions.