Pentridge Prison Tours — Attraction in Melbourne

A day tour with @pentridgeprison_tours guided by Luigi, a local retired legal studies teacher was excellent. Covering both B and H block, they were originally named A-Z but most are gone now. . 🗝 About - Operating 1851 - 1997, hosting mostly men, and women next door. Pentridge was known for escapes lol, more people escaped than those who met their end at the noose. . B division - For Long-term prisoners with behaviour problems. More chill, this is the one that has the hotel attached, and converted cells that are now hotel rooms. Two hotels and even a pool. Separate and silent was the theme, that courtyard, everyone gets a triangle to pod around in, masks on (think triple K style lol). . 🥐 We did both tours, with a 30min lunch break (the croissants are only $3 at the IGA!). . H division - High security, discipline and protection. Maximum security lighting is cool, there's props behind glass display cases, including the rope they used on the last man hung (1967). There's outdoor cells for rock breaking, like you see in the movies. The rocks were broken into small bits to pave Sydney Rd. . The guide is more of a facilitator, Luigi was great though and had all the answers, the guide does the intro and conclusion, but in between you get a phone device and headset - which is really great in theory, but if it glitches you lose time. On timing you need to move fast to hit up every room. Option to read instead of listen to the tour was good. Troubleshoot - if the device doesn't register which space you're in, go out then back in. Also know you can pick up the audio then step back out, if the space is busy. . Tip - After the tour check out the timeline of Pentridge upstairs in the mall, same level as the movies. . 🗝 @pentridgeprison_tours 📍 @pentridgecoburg 💵 Free day tours included in...

I’m deeply disappointed in the National Trust’s decision to feature a video of Raymond Kevin Mooney—a man convicted of raping a child—projected onto a public screen as part of their tour. The choice to center his voice, his reflections, and his experience in prison, while entirely omitting the survivor’s perspective, is not just irresponsible. It’s a failure of ethical storytelling.

There’s a long-standing cultural pattern of elevating male narratives, especially those framed as redemption arcs, while sidelining or erasing the harm they’ve caused. This video fits squarely within that pattern. It presents Mooney as thoughtful and rehabilitated, without ever acknowledging the violence he committed or the lifelong impact on the child he harmed. That silence is not neutral—it’s structural. It tells us whose stories are considered valuable, and whose pain is deemed expendable.

By giving Mooney a platform without accountability, the National Trust isn’t just curating history—they’re rewriting it. They’re reinforcing a system where perpetrators are granted complexity and visibility, while survivors are denied both. It’s not enough to say the video is part of a broader narrative. If that narrative excludes the victim, it’s incomplete. And if it centers the man who committed the crime without reckoning with the crime itself, it’s complicit.

Public institutions have a responsibility to engage with difficult histories honestly and ethically. That means refusing to sanitize violence, refusing to glamorize harm, and refusing to let convicted rapists speak unchallenged. Anything less is a betrayal—not just of the truth, but of the people who live with its...

As part of his Father’s Day gift, I treated my dad to a National Trust Tour of H Block — Dad is a history buff and had never before visited Pentridge. The guide for our tour was friendly and knowledgeable, having grown up in the area. A very small group of us started at 2:30pm — I expect they get bigger groups for their night tours.

After showing us around Pentridge and explaining the history of the main parts of the prison, we went into H Block. Here, we were given headsets to self-guide. Each cell had a different story, including recordings made by people who actually attended H Block as prisoners, guards, chaplains or lawyers. It was fascinating as well as horrifying. We learned it had been kept secret from the public that some of the most egregious physical and mental torture still occurred there as late as the 1990s.

Dad also enjoyed the Pentridge history gallery near Palace Cinema, which provides an overview of the history of the prison. This is available all the time for free, without a tour.

It was very convenient to park in the shopping centre, which is free for several hours. Champ Street is a little closer to the start of the tours, but there are limited spots as they are often used by tradies...