Issue 8 Hotch Potch - University of Ballarat

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Creative CornerIf only the walls could talk. Oh the stories they couldtell to those brave enough to listen! The things thathappened inside them would shock the most hardenedsouls and frighten the biggest men.The stone is smooth and warm in the midday sun,seemingly innocuous yet witness to unbearable sufferingand hardship, a reliable keeper of intimatesecrets and deep, dark wishes. Those bricks havesoaked up more than the sun since they were laid.They continue to bask in the warmth, but their viewis substantially improved these days. The quarriedbasalt and local bricks of the old Ballarat Gaol, heldtogether with lime mortar and still standing afterone and a half centuries, have borne witness tomyriad internal struggles.The sound of the inmates’ own breathing wouldhave been almost deafening in the pitch black ofthe cell. The only other sounds were the scurryingof small, unidentified animals looking for crumbsfallen from the dented metal tray left at the door,and the odd whispered curse. But otherwise, silence.The constant, aching silence of the mad. Thelost. The broken. The creatures that once identifiedas men; now reduced to nothing more than shellsof their former selves, covered in their own filthand that of their environment. Many of them staredhard at those walls, willing them to crumble.The wardens, supposed curators of this hell, wereoften not much better. Their own sins on par andalready paid for, or gone undetected. They snuckaround, all broken, brown teeth and glinting eyes:madness in human form. Who was watching whom?Still, the silence continued. Men who—for days,weeks, months on end— were kept in cages toosmall to pace in, too dark to see more than a footaway, and too cold to describe were left to their owndevices; to slowly walk the path to madness alone,observed by those only a little less mad themselves.This cycle of punishment at the old Ballarat Gaolcontinued for inmates unlucky enough to be incarceratedin the 1800s. While the official registers recordsolitary confinement of only hours or days, it iswell known that: failure to follow orders; talking orspitting; contraband; or other misdemeanors wouldentitle the perpetrator to an indeterminate stay inthe ‘dark cell’. Psychologists suggest that damagecan occur after only a few hours in the dark cell.Within only a few weeks, serious psychological disturbancesand bizarre behaviour can be noted andinmates would have suffered long-term from inabilityto focus their attention or to shift their attention,becoming paranoid and obsessive. This would haveled to mental health issues in already unhealthymen. Suffice to say it would not have been a positiveexperience for those already suffering frommental illness.
The Quakers originally developed solitary confinementas an alternative to the squalid conditions inprisons around the turn of the 19th century. Theyfocused on punishment and reformation. The darkcell at old Ballarat Gaol is underground; local historiansand archeologists have as yet been unableto obtain permission to go in and survey the roomand report on its condition. No-one has been downthere since the 1970s. There are only two other intactdark cells in Victoria; one at Castlemaine andone at the notorious J Ward in Ararat. The originaliron lacework gates of the Gaol are still standinghowever, as are the watchtower, turnkey’s residence,governor’s residence, and parts of the originalwall. These have been incorporated into theGaol’s current reincarnation as a university.The prison was a panopticon. Designed by JeremyBentham, a British philosopher and social reformerin the 1700s, this was the perfect design asit required less staff to observe inmates due to itsunique characteristics. The Ballarat Gaol was builtusing the same plan as Pentonville in the UK, whichwas modeled on the Eastern State Penitentiary inAmerica. This involved a central tower where theguard would sit, with the cell wings radiating outfrom the tower. This meant that the guard couldlook to any direction at any given time; the prisonerscould see the tower but not whether anyonewas inside (often there was not) due to the layout.The access and egress to the tower were masked byzigzagged openings with no doors or lights; this ensuredthat the inmates would never know when orif a guard was entering or exiting the tower, lendingto the idea that they were forever being watched.Prisoners would always have the central towerlooming before them as a reminder of their loss offreedom and identity.Michel Foucault in his 1975 work Discipline andPunish: The Birth of the Prison, said of panopticismthat ‘the effect is to induce in the inmate a stateof conscious and permanent visibility that assuresthe automatic functioning of power…to arrangethings that the surveillance is permanent in its effects,even if it is discontinuous in its action’. Prisonerswere given jobs to do in their cells and guardswould check on them 4-5 times every hour. To addto the mental uncertainty of being watched constantly,guards would remove their shoes, wearingonly socks on their rounds so as not to make anynoise under foot as they were approaching. Prisonerswould only know of the guards’ approach oncethey could see them peering into the cell. Theywere in their cells for up to 23 hours a day, with noaccess to sunlight.By Kim SavageCreative CornerPhotos by Teghan Johns9
Page 2 and 3: ContentsEditors’ WelcomeThis year
Page 4 and 5: News & ViewsThanks to the Student S
Page 6 and 7: Hot PotThe best thing about this re
Page 10 and 11: Mon.. Tues. Wed.. Thurs. Fri.. Sat.
Page 12 and 13: BallaratEventfulWhat: Back to Schoo
Page 14 and 15: HorshamEventfulWhat: The Girls from
Page 16 and 17: Fun, sexy, and a little bitcheeky
Page 18 and 19: Life & LeisureThe Golden Key Intern
Page 20: EXPERIENCE ITSOUTHERN UNIGAMESBALLA

Issue 8 Hotch Potch - University of Ballarat

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