The Old Gaol at Cue
Discover Cue  •  Law & Order

Old Gaol

Six cells, a sixteen-foot wall and a very different view of law and order on the Murchison goldfields.

Built 1896–97

Cue was booming — and its first holding cells were no longer enough.

By the middle of the 1890s, Cue had grown from a rough gold camp into the administrative centre of the Murchison. The police station and courthouse already had holding cells, but the rapidly expanding district soon needed something more substantial.

The result was the Old Gaol: a single-storey stone building with six cells arranged around a central exercise yard. It served Cue and the wider district, including prisoners being moved south from remote lock-ups farther north.

At a glance
Built: 1896–97
Formally gazetted: 3 May 1902
Cells: six
Perimeter wall: approximately 16 feet high
Closed as a gaol: 1914
Lock-up use continued: into the early 1930s
Heritage status: State Register
A gold-rush institution

The gaol reflected Cue's new importance.

A few years earlier there had barely been a town. By 1896 Cue had substantial government buildings, police, courts and enough prisoners passing through the district to justify a purpose-built gaol.

1896

A new lock-up is ordered

Existing holding cells beside the police station were proving inadequate, and tenders were called for a new lock-up at Cue.

1896–97

Built to last

The Public Works Department constructed a substantial stone gaol with concrete floors, heavy doors, barred gates and a secure exercise yard.

1902

Official at last

Oddly, the building had already been standing for years before it was formally gazetted as a gaol on 3 May 1902.

Historic cell doors and barred entrance inside the Old Gaol at Cue
Behind the walls

Heavy doors. Barred gates. Six cells.

Contemporary reports described six cells, including two larger cells, arranged around a central exercise yard and enclosed by a wall about sixteen feet high.

This photograph shows the layered security clearly: heavy timber doors opened onto barred inner gates, while small windows and thick stone surrounds limited access and movement.

Small windows were protected by strong shutters, while felt-lined ceilings and timber sarking beneath the corrugated-iron roof were intended to reduce the intense summer heat.

In 1906 tenders were even called for the construction of a padded cell, although surviving records do not confirm that the work was ever completed.

An unusual little gaol

Even heritage historians have called the design “strange” and “odd”.

Unlike many gaols of the period, Cue's was not physically attached to the police station. It stands separately across Austin Street from the police and government buildings.

Its Victorian Georgian design, unusual internal arrangement and decorative stonework give the building rarity value. The Heritage Council describes it as a reminder both of Cue's prosperity during the boom years and of the way prisoners were treated in an earlier era.

Look closely
Arched stone entrance
Decorative corner stonework
Small shuttered cell windows
Heavy barred openings
Central exercise-yard arrangement
Thick stone walls
The gaol's darkest story

Was “Snowy” Rowles the last prisoner held here?

Local history has long held that the final prisoner detained in the Old Gaol may have been John Thomas “Snowy” Rowles, the man later convicted over the notorious Murchison murders of the early 1930s.

Rowles was accused of murdering men working along the No. 1 Rabbit Proof Fence and was ultimately convicted and executed. The inquest into the disappearances was adjourned to Cue in February 1932, placing Rowles in the town at the time.

Heritage records carefully describe the Old Gaol connection as a local claim rather than an established certainty — which is probably exactly how a good old-gaol story should end.

From prisoners to caravanners

The building's second life was very different.

The gaol officially closed in 1914, although it continued to be used as a lock-up into the early 1930s. Decades later, Cue found an entirely new use for the old building.

1914

Gaol closes

Cue's boom years had passed and the dedicated gaol was no longer required in the same way.

1964

Cue Caravan Park opens

The former gaol was adapted as the ablution block for the new caravan park — possibly one of the more memorable shower blocks in Western Australia.

1997 onward

Recognised and conserved

The Old Gaol entered the State Register of Heritage Places in 1997 and later underwent substantial conservation work around the turn of the century.

Visit the Old Gaol

Hidden in plain sight at the Tourist Park.

The Old Gaol stands within the Cue Tourist Park precinct, close to the historic Government Buildings and the main Austin Street heritage area. It is easy to combine with a walk through the centre of town.

Please respect current access arrangements and Tourist Park guests when viewing the building.

Get Directions Cue Tourist Park
Pair it with
Government Buildings
Old Municipal Chambers
Cue Rotunda
Masonic Lodge
Historic photographic display
Continue exploring

Keep walking through Cue's gold-rush story.

Across the precinct

Government Buildings

See the police, court and administrative buildings that formed the other half of Cue's law-and-order story.

Explore the buildings  →
Historic Cue

Historic Buildings

Continue to the Masonic Lodge, Railway Station, Municipal Chambers and other surviving landmarks.

Explore historic Cue  →
Two-day itinerary

48 Hours in Cue

The Old Gaol fits easily into a morning exploring Cue's historic centre.

Plan 48 hours  →