今日吃瓜

Cooma Gaol, which plays a significant role in Australia’s LGBTQIA+ history, has been formally recognised with its listing on the NSW State Heritage Register.

The 1870s-built correctional centre in Cooma, the oldest operational gaol in New South Wales, is one of the Monaro town鈥檚 most iconic structures. However, this venerable granite building has another claim to notability 鈥� between 1957 and 1984, it exclusively housed men, transgender women and non-binary convicts found guilty of male homosexual offences.

It is the only known instance worldwide of a prison dedicated entirely to LGBTQIA+ people who were victims of historical homosexuality laws.聽

Cooma Gaol pivotal in decriminalisation of homosexuality

Hailing the listing, the corrections ministry noted that Cooma Gaol 鈥渨as central during the early push for law reform, serving as a focal point for the first public campaigns to decriminalise homosexuality.鈥�

鈥淭he formation of the Homosexual Law Reform Society in Canberra in 1969 and Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP) Inc in Sydney in 1970 were direct responses to the injustices faced by those imprisoned at Cooma,鈥� the ministry said.

The ministry added that the listing 鈥渨ill be marked with an appropriate and respectful permanent commemoration at the centre.鈥�

It said that Cooma Gaol鈥檚 inclusion on the State Heritage Register 鈥渁cknowledges the resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community and honours those who were unjustly confined within its walls.鈥�

Corrections minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the listing 鈥渋s important in that it ensures the stories of those who were unjustly treated are acknowledged and preserved for generations to come.鈥�

鈥淭his recognition comes following the NSW Government鈥檚 apology last year for the trauma endured by people of diverse sexualities for past convictions under discriminatory laws that criminalised homosexual acts and saw them sent to prisons such as Cooma Gaol,鈥� Chanthivong remarked.

鈥淏y acknowledging the past injustices faced by LGBTQIA+ people at Cooma Gaol, we take a vital step towards healing the past.鈥�

Criminalisation of homosexuality

Section 79 of the New South Wales Crimes Act 1900 decreed that someone who 鈥渃ommits the abominable crime of buggery, or bestiality, with mankind, or with any animal, shall be liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.” In 1951, an amendment moved by justice minister Reg Downing clarified that 鈥渂uggery鈥� was an offence regardless of whether or not consent was given.

This section made male homosexual activity illegal until another amendment to the Crimes Act was passed in 1984.

So it was that in 1957 the previously-closed gaol was reopened for the detention of those convicted of male homosexual offences including buggery. This followed lobbying from Downing, who also established a committee to study the prisoners in order to find “causes and treatments of homosexuality”.

In 1958, the justice minister said that the prison was “the only penal institution in the world, so far as is known, devoted specifically to the detention of homosexual offenders”.

These actions coincided with liberalising reforms Downing spearheaded in other areas, including the abolition of the death penalty for murder and a focus on the rehabilitation of prisoners.

The gaol was closed in 1998 and reopened in 2001. It continues to operate as a minimum and medium security facility.

In 2022, a podcast called by journalist Patrick Abboud and documentarian Simon Cunich delved into the prison鈥檚 history housing queer offenders. Information from the podcast now furnishes the NSW State Correctional Museum located at the gaol.