Halloween at Old Melbourne Gaol opens the Bizarre Bar inside Victoria’s oldest surviving prison for an adults-only night on 31 October.
Ned Kelly’s last address is getting a bar for one night as Halloween at Old Melbourne Gaol goes adults-only.
Halloween at Old Melbourne Gaol takes over the Russell Street cell blocks from 6pm to 10pm on 31 October, and the Bizarre Bar stays open the whole time. Tickets are $30, or $25 for concession holders and National Trust members. There’s no guide herding you along. You wander the historic cells at your own pace, ducking into the haunted attractions and lining up for the dedicated photo booth whenever the mood takes you.
Halloween at Old Melbourne Gaol
- Halloween at Old Melbourne Gaol (adults only): 31 October, 6pm to 10pm, last entry 9pm
- A Spooky Escape at the Old Melbourne Gaol (families): 31 October, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm
- Old Melbourne Gaol, 377 Russell Street, Melbourne
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Costumes are encouraged, ideally something undead or a notorious character pulled from Australian history. The night has sold out before, and entry is timed in 15-minute slots between 6pm and 9pm, so booking ahead is the only way in. Everyone enters through the gaol and leaves via the former City Watch House.
Kelly was hanged at the gaol in 1880, and he’s one of many notorious names attached to the building. Frederick Deeming, a murderer some once believed was Jack the Ripper, went to the gallows in 1892. The baby farming murders are part of the gaol’s story too, and Colin Campbell Ross was hanged there in 1922 for a murder he didn’t commit. Victoria pardoned him 86 years later.
Anyone keen for a second lap after dark can book the Ghosts! What Ghosts? Night Tour or the Hangman’s Night Tour, which run on select nights for $45 and are restricted to ages 16 and over. There’s no onsite parking at the gaol, and wheelchair access only extends to the ground floor.
Kids get their turn earlier in the day. A Spooky Escape at the Old Melbourne Gaol runs from 10am to 5pm, sending children after the Ghost Judge’s missing wig with a Halloween craft, a mugshot and a haunted scavenger hunt along the way. Once their passport is stamped, they hand it to the Ghost Sergeant in the Charge Room to earn their release. Adults pay $38 and kids $22, with family passes from $75.
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