Alone with ghosts of prisoners past: Go 'behind bars' at a former jail

This self-guided tour of an old colonial jail fires the imagination.

In the imposing slate wall stretching along most of the block, there's a single small door. Pulling out a key, I unfasten the heavy padlock and push my way through, stepping into a building most people once longed to leave - the Old Gundagai Gaol.

It may be the main heritage site in this NSW Riverina town, but nobody is waiting to greet tourists. Instead, you pick up the key at the visitor centre, 10 minutes' walk away, and let yourself in. So here I am, the only soul inside the jail ... at least, the only one still with a body. How many ghosts would haunt a building like this, I wonder.

It's relatively small, a colonial-era institution opened in 1861 in an age of bushrangers and gold fever. Over the decades, the handful of cells were mainly used for short sentences for offences like petty theft, forgery or wife desertion (yes, it was once a crime). But murderers might also spend a few days waiting to be seen at the adjacent courthouse. I can see some have left their mark - a prisoner called Mullet has scratched the words "The Hardluck Hotel" on a cell door, for instance.

All alone, not bothering to turn on the lights, I get a sense of how it was to be confined here, the old cells with wooden doors, the newer ones from the early 1900s with a metal toilet and steel roof. Thankfully you need to imagine how it would've smelled - prisoners were given only a bucket of water once a week to wash.

Exploring, I stop in each area to listen to the audio guide that came with the key at the visitor centre, the well-narrated stories bringing shadowy memories to life. Unlocking the door to a two-storey house in the yard, the voice tells me this was the jailer's home. When he falls silent, all I hear is a tap slowly dripping from afar, the haunting sound echoing around the empty rooms now devoid of life.

The most famous resident of the Gundagai Gaol was the bushranger, Captain Moonlite, captured in 1879 after a shootout between police and his gang killed an officer. The infirmary here (another building I unlock myself) now hosts an exhibition about his life, with stories of criminal exploits and perhaps a love affair with a gang member.

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In the colonial days, serious offenders like bushrangers would be quickly sent to Goulburn or Sydney for trial. And from 1909, when the jail officially closed, the cells were used until the 1970s but only as the courthouse lock-up. So, few (if any) prisoners were incarcerated for lengthy periods.

Does that mean I shouldn't be scared ghosts might be watching me walk through the Old Gundagai Gaol alone? Well, I jump when a door suddenly slams, so perhaps the jury is still out.

What: The self-guided tour of Old Gundagai Gaol includes an audio guide. It's available between 9am and 3.30pm and takes about 45 minutes.

How much: $10 per person

Explore more: visitgundagai.com.au

The writer was a guest of Destination NSW.