Melbourne Goal

This morning while Dan was finishing up at his conference the boys and I trotted off down the road to Melbourne Goal.

Now all I can say is if my youngest ever carries out a non-law abiding act I will be very surprised. To say he was totally and utterly mortified by the whole experience would be under emphasising his experience there. The day started off with a guided tour round the eery cell block which was brilliant.

They used study the physical facial features and the size of the skull as they thought there was a link to criminal character traits, so after a person was hanged plaster casts of their heads would be taken other wise known as 'death masks' to study this theory.

We learned about the infamous Ned Kelly. The boys got to dress up in prison gear. The youngest person on record in the Goal was a 3 year old boy who spent 6 months in The Goal - imprisoned for being idol and disorderly!

The death penalty was one of the topics which our guide discussed, not to sway opinion but in an open way giving the pros and views against. As our guide pointed out he believes that while quite a dark topic it is part of our history and is something our children should know about as it is only a vote away and might very well be something our younger generation may have to vote on later in their lives.

Then came the second half of the tour ... role play - where we were all fearsly instructed to line up against the wall and given que cards outlying our credentials such as our name, age and crime. Unfortunately the acting wall too real for our youngest and when prompted to come forward to the bench, he had to declare he ws caught shoplifting, "But I didn't do it - I don't know what shoplifting is" at which point the tears started to roll. He genuinely thought we were all going to spend a night in the cells... well a bit further along we did briefly experience being locked up (the group not individually) in the dark... much to his dismay, poor thing. The trauma has scarred him for life. I have to hand to our guard for her oscar winning performance.... hmm may be this is the way forward to reform naughty children at school... just thinking?

Silence Mask or Calico Hood