Crime through time

The NSW Corrective Services Gaol Museum in Cooma is now open seven days a week.

The museum is one of Cooma’s premier attractions and one of NSW’s best kept secrets, located between the Cooma Correctional Centre and the Cooma Court House on Vale Street.

Andrew Weglarz took over the ownership and operation of the museum eight years ago with a vision of turning a small local attraction into something that would appeal to visitors from far and wide.

Over the years, he has worked on his passion project, travelling to gaols across the state and collecting unique and interesting pieces of memorabilia to showcase at the museum.

In recent times, a number of new items and exhibits have joined the museum collection, including a historical portable medical facility that used to travel between various correctional facilities across the state, the actual spy hole from Ned Kelly’s cell, new dioramas of various correctional facilities across the state and more.

Popular exhibits at the museum also include the death mask of the infamous bushranger Captain Moonlite, a complete recreation of an old padded cell with the original padding, a variety of prison-made weapons and paraphernalia confiscated from inmates and many more unique and interesting items. However, the NSW Corrective Services Museum provides not only historical relevance, but a contemporary one as well, supporting current inmates with their rehabilitation to modern society. The Cooma Correctional Centre is primarily a minimum-security facility and has an emphasis on providing inmates with skills to help them more easily integrate into the workforce. Working at the museum is one of the more coveted roles and perhaps the only one that allows inmates to interact with members of the public.

For years now, Andrew and his colleague robert have been helping provide inmates with unique skills, guiding tour groups through the museum and creating art, textiles and crafts to be sold at the museum gift shop.

So if you’re interested in checking out one of the more unique museums in the state, come check out the NSW Corrective Services Museum next door to the Cooma Gaol on Vale Street, open seven days from 9am to 3pm.