Corrective Services NSW

NSW State Correctional Museum

The NSW State Correctional Museum is located at Cooma in the Monaro region of New South Wales. Adjacent to it stand Cooma Correctional Centre and other historic buildings.

The museum showcases the History of NSW Corrections since 1788. It contains information, displays and artefacts from convict days to the present.

Minimum security inmates conduct guided tours explaining NSW correctional history from the first fleet to the present.

There is wheelchair access to and throughout the museum.

Opening times

Saturday to Thursday (closed Friday), 8:30am to 3:30pm

Public Holidays
Please call (02) 6452 5974 - external site  to check for opening times
Closed Christmas Day

Address

1 Vagg Street
Cooma NSW 2630
Telephone: (02) 6452 5974 - external site
Click ​here​ - external site  to view its location in Cooma 

Background

Starting out in one room in 1989 the museum moved into the decommissioned Cooma Correctional Centre in 1998. When the centre re-opened in 2002, two adjacent Corrective Services houses were converted into a new museum space and opened by the Commissioner of Corrective Services on 25 August 2005. 

Highlights of the collection include an original portable cell, restraint devices (e.g. manacles and leg irons), convict and prisoner clothing, tin wear manufactured within prison industries, security equipment (e.g. riot shields and batons), contraband (e.g. inmate weapons, escape devices and tattoo guns), artefacts from the notorious Katingal gaol, photographs, videos, oral histories, and film documentation.

Museum photos

This photo selection focuses on selected items in the museum collection. The museum brings together historical objects from correctional centres across the State of NSW to aid in their preservation, display and marketing. The collection has significant heritage value and contributes to an understanding of Australia's cultural history as a penal colony.

View the museum photo gallery

Boom Gate Gallery

Long Bay Correctional Complex has a long tradition of creating significant inmate artwork. Inmates continue to practice art at the complex, with many pieces available for display and sale at the Boom Gate Gallery - external site . You are encouraged to drop into the gallery just for a look.


Last updated:

30 Sep 2024

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