OLD GAOL TRANSFORMED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17984, 9 January 1922, Page 7

OLD GAOL TRANSFORMED.

CENTRE FOR EDUCATION. Right in the heart of Sydney a wonderful transformation is going on, unknown to the hurrying passer-by, for it is hidden from the outer world by massive stone wafls. The old convict-built prison at Darlinghnrst is rapidly being changed into an up-to-date technical school. Several departments will be opened next March, and when completed the East, Sydney Technical' College, as it will be named, will accommodate 8000 students—ssoo boys and 2500 girls. Though little change will be Apparent from the outside, as the old outer walls are being retained, many remarkable changes and improvements in the interior of the old gao'l buildings are being carried out, Before these changes are completed 25,000 ton* of stone will have to be moved. So far 3000 tons have been dealt with. The solidity of the construction is wonderful. The outer walls are two and a-half feet thick, and on many of the blocks of stone are marked the numbers of the convicts who fashioned them.

i To obtain the bright and comfortable quarters which those buildings contain, many old walls bad to be removed. The future dressmaking department was once occupied by rows of gloomy cells. There were iron bars everywhere, but these have vanished, and tons of ironwork lie piled about the yards.