Old Melbourne Gaol - a museum located in a former prison on Russell Street in Melbourne. Among the exhibits - the death masks and memorabilia of some famous criminals, including the infamous Ned Kelly. This "forest hunter" in 1880 was convicted of murdering a police officer, executed and buried inside the prison. In the history of the prison it had executed 135 people. Today, the museum is visited by about 140,000 tourists annually.

Construction of the prison began in 1839 and finally completed only 23 years later. The project involved the use of many innovations to improve the monitoring of prisoners, the ventilation system of the building and central heating, but not all managed to carry out the plans. In 1924, the prison was closed and the building even dismantled. During World War II war criminals were placed here, and later the building was used as a warehouse. Only in 1972 the former prison was turned into a museum.

It is said that the corridors of the prison at night wandering ghosts of prisoners and local parapsychologists even managed to record the voice of a certain woman calling for help!

In 1957 the building of Old Melbourne Gaol was listed as a national heritage. Today it is considered the oldest institution in the state of Victoria, where the prisoners were kept.