Rare Voices from the Prison

Are those rats I hear?

The 1861 Report from the Select Committee on the Public Prisons in Sydney and Cumberland was chaired by Henry Parkes Esq. The verbatim transcripts of the prisoners and staff provide a rare insight into many aspects of colonial prison life, including the health of prisoners and the prison environment.

Are the cells dirty?

Yes, for there is wood there that has been there for twenty y ears, and it is eaten by all sorts of vermin. And on the wall you will see the vermin, half-a-dozen in one spot, and when a man wants to lie down at night, they swarm about him.

The committee inspected a small cell [in the central Watch House] about seven feet by four and a half…. In the floor was a large rat-hole. The atmosphere in this cell was almost stifling, the only means of ventilation being two small plates of perforated iron...

Are those rats I hear? Yes

Is that a rat-hole? Yes

Do the prisoners complain of rats? Y es, this place is swarming with ra ts

unknown, prisoner