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Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of natural dimension or building stone varieties, including:

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67-568: It is unrelated to human-made blue brick . The term "bluestone" in Britain is used in a loose sense to cover all of the "foreign," not intrinsic, stones and rock debris at Stonehenge . It is a "convenience" label rather than a geological term, since at least 46 different rock types are represented. One of the most common rocks in the assemblage is known as Preseli Spotted Dolerite—a chemically altered igneous rock containing spots or clusters of secondary minerals replacing plagioclase feldspar . It

134-896: A reserved occupation during World War Two. The Black Country was a major producer of clay for brickmaking, often mined from beneath the 30 foot Staffordshire coal seam . The industry dates back to at least the 17th century, however brickworks really took off in the 19th century. A key date is 1851 when the Joseph Hamblet brickworks were founded in West Bromwich , which became one of the largest producers of Staffordshire blue bricks. Other sites produced these as well, including Albion in West Bromwich, Cakemore works at Blackheath , Springfield at Rowley Regis , John Sadler, Blades and New Century at Oldbury , Coneygre at Tipton , and Bentley Hall near Darlaston . This type of brick

201-471: A further four coffins were believed to have been moved to Pentridge in 1937. As the gaol was progressively decommissioned, the building's fabric, including bluestone grave markers of executed prisoners, was incorporated into a sea wall at Brighton in Victoria in the 1930s. The grave marker for Martha Needle, executed in 1894, was rediscovered after being buried by metres of sand. During World War II ,

268-605: A glacier transported the stones, then it must have been the Irish Sea Glacier . In support of the glacial erratic theory, researchers reporting in 2015 found no firm evidence of quarrying at Rhosyfelin in the Preselis. However, in such event, one might expect to find other bluestone boulders or slabs near the Stonehenge site, but no such bluestones (apart from fragments) have been found. The archaeological find of

335-527: A letter protesting his innocence, which he threw over the prison walls. Operators also run several features, including the candlelit Hangman's Night Tour (with actors portraying prolific and brutal hangman Michael Gateley), and the daily Watch House Experience ; an interactive performance in which visitors are treated as the prisoners would have been during its operation. In 2010, the Old Melbourne Gaol Crime and Justice Experience won

402-645: A makeshift gallows in Melbourne in 1842. The contemporaneous executions were apparently quite a spectacle: one man, Maulboyheenner, twisting on the rope, strangled slowly in front of a crowd of 5000. They had been convicted of killing two whalers in Western Port. Both the Tasmanians and the whalers – one was called the Yankee – were a long way from home." They were arrested at Powlett River . In 1870,

469-425: A new north wing was built; which included entrance buildings, a central hall and chapel. Between 1862 and 1864, a cell block was built for female prisoners on the western side – it was basically a replica of the present east block (until this time, female convicts were not kept apart from the male prisoners). In 1864, the perimeter wall, and the gaol overall, was completed; making it a dominant feature of authority on

536-587: A new wing, with its own perimeter wall, was constructed between 1852 and 1854; the building using bluestone instead of sandstone. The design was based on that of British prison engineer Joshua Jebb , and especially the designs for the Pentonville Model Prison in London (which suited the current prison reform theories at the time). The new wing was extended in between 1857 and 1859, with the boundary wall also being extended during this time. In 1860,

603-794: A number of significant bluestone buildings exist, including the Old Melbourne Gaol , Pentridge Prison , St Patrick's Cathedral , Victoria Barracks , Melbourne Grammar School , Deaf Children Australia and Victorian College for the Deaf , Vision Australia , the Goldsbrough Mort warehouses ( Bourke Street ) and the Timeball Tower at Williamstown , as well as St Mary's Basilica in Geelong . Some examples of other major structures that use bluestone include Princes Bridge ,

670-529: A review of the penal system was conducted, with the recommendation being made to close the gaol and relocate prisoners to more suitable locations. The gaol gradually slowed its operations, and demolished portions of the original site between 1880 and 1924. In 1924, the gaol was finally closed. However, in March 1927, the Old Melbourne Gaol was integrated into part of the new Emily McPherson College and

737-414: A rope must never be used again. He was posthumously pardoned on 27 May 2008. Frederick Bailey Deeming was born on 30 July 1853. At 16 years of age he ran away to sea, and thereafter, he began a long career of crime, largely thieving and obtaining money under false pretences. He was responsible for the murder of his first wife Marie, and his four children, at Rainhill, England, on or about 26 July 1891, and

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804-509: A second wife, Emily, at Windsor, Melbourne, on 24 December 1891. Less than three months elapsed between the discovery of Emily Mather's body in Windsor, Melbourne , in March 1892, and Deeming's execution at the Old Melbourne Gaol for her murder in May 1892; a remarkably short time by comparison to modern western legal standards. After his execution, it was reported that over 12,000 people cheered on

871-547: A time – including those imprisoned for petty theft or vagrancy, or simply those staying with a convicted parent. Babies under twelve months old were allowed to be with their mothers. The youngest prisoner was recorded as three-year-old Michael Crimmins, who spent 6 months in the prison in 1857 for being idle and disorderly. In 1851, the 13 and 14-year-old O'Dowd sisters were imprisoned because they had nowhere else to go. Prisoners convicted of serious crimes, such as murder, arson, burglary, rape and shooting, would begin their time on

938-728: A year later marked it as a site that needed to be preserved at all costs. Furthermore, in 1965, the Melbourne Junior Chamber of Commerce floated the idea of converting it into a museum, for the purposes of tourism. In 1972, the gaol was reopened as a public museum, under the management of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). As of 2010 , the gaol is recognised as Victoria's oldest surviving penal establishment, and attracts approximately 140,000 visitors per year. The cells have been filled with information about individual prisoners, which also serve to illustrate

1005-478: A youth he clashed with the Victoria Police, and after an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. He killed three policemen, and subsequently the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws. A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in a home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was captured and sent to gaol. He

1072-550: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Old Melbourne Gaol The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street , in Melbourne , Victoria , Australia . It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings, and opposite the Russell Street Police Headquarters . It

1139-495: Is a medium grained dark and heavy rock, harder than granite. Preseli bluestone tools, such as axes, have been discovered elsewhere within the British Isles. Many of them appear to have been made in or near Stonehenge, since there are petrographic similarities with some of the spotted dolerites there. The bluestones at Stonehenge were first used there during the third phase of construction at Stonehenge around 2300 BC. It

1206-648: Is also widely used, and is the main construction material (often with facing of Oamaru stone , a local compact limestone) in many of the notable historic buildings in the southern South Island, most of which were constructed during the financial boom following the Otago gold rush . Prominent structures to use this combination include Otago University Registry Building , Dunedin Law Courts , and Dunedin Railway Station . Similar construction using Timaru bluestone

1273-527: Is assumed that there were about 80 monoliths originally, but this has never been proven since only 43 remain. The stones are estimated to weigh between 2 and 4 tons each. The majority of them are believed to have come from the Preseli Hills , about 250   km (150 miles) away in Wales , either through glaciation ( glacial erratic theory) or through humans organizing their transportation. A summary of

1340-487: Is given attractively coloured surfaces by ferric oxide and other minerals deposited in joints and bedding planes. The slate is laid in masonry with the mineralised surfaces exposed. Bluestone was most popular from about the 1850s to the 1920s, quarried in the Adelaide Hills at Dry Creek , O'Halloran Hill (formerly Tapley's Hill) and Glen Osmond , as well as a number of other places in rural areas. In Tasmania,

1407-497: Is known as bluestone is a basalt or olivine basalt. It was one of the favoured building materials during the Victorian Gold Rush period of the 1850s. In Melbourne , it was extracted from quarries throughout the inner northern suburbs, such as Clifton Hill , Brunswick and Coburg , where the quarry used to source the stone for Pentridge Prison is now Coburg Lake. Bluestone was also sourced in many other regions of

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1474-409: Is made from the local red clay, Etruria marl , which when fired at a high temperature in a low-oxygen reducing atmosphere takes on a deep blue colour and attains a very hard surface with high crushing strength and low water absorption. Brickworks were a key industry across the whole Black Country throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and were considered so important that they were designated as

1541-554: Is of particular value to the economy of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania . The Starrucca Viaduct , finished in 1848, is an example of Pennsylvania bluestone as a building material. Bluestone is quarried in western New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and eastern New York. It is also quarried in the Canadian Appalachians near Deer Lake in Western Newfoundland. The Pennsylvania Bluestone Association has 105 members,

1608-403: Is used extensively in Victoria as railway ballast , as road base , and in making concrete. Combined with bitumen , it is used as a road surfacing material. In South Australia , the name bluestone is given to a form of slate which is much less durable than Victorian bluestone, but was valued for its decorative appearance. The interior of the stone is usually pale grey or beige in colour, but

1675-664: The Boscombe Bowmen has been cited in support of the human transport theory. Preseli Bluestone dolerite axe heads have been found around the Preseli Hills as well, indicating that there was a population who knew how to work with the stones, In 2015, researchers claimed that some of the stones at Stonehenge came from Neolithic quarries at Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin in the Preseli Hills. The quarrying hypothesis has been hotly disputed by Brian John, Dyfed Elis-Gruffydd and John Downes, whose own detailed research led to

1742-796: The Paleozoic Era , approximately 370 to 345 million years ago. The Catskill Delta was created from runoff from the Acadian Mountains ("Ancestral Appalachians"). This delta ran in a narrow band from southwest to northeast and today provides the bluestone quarried from the Catskill Mountains and Northeastern Pennsylvania . The term "bluestone" is derived from a deep-blue-colored sandstone first found in Ulster County, New York . It can, however, appear in many other hues, mostly shades of grays and browns. Bluestone quarrying

1809-574: The Kuhn people, when the two Tasmanian Aboriginal men were publicly hanged for murder." The Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner public marker Archived 3 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine exists at the place of execution. The website contains historical research and information on the artists commissioned for the marker, Artist Brook Andrew, along with Trent Walter. "Two Tasmanian Aboriginal men, clad in white pyjamas, went to their deaths on

1876-401: The Melbourne skyline. At its completion, the prison occupied an entire city block, and included exercise yards, a hospital in one of the yards, a chapel, a bath house and staff accommodation. A house for the chief warders was built on the corner of Franklin and Russell streets, and 17 homes were built for gaolers on Swanston Street in 1860. Artefacts recovered from the area indicate that even

1943-472: The Victorian volcanic plains, and used in towns and cities in the state's central and western regions, including Ballarat , Geelong , Kyneton , Port Fairy and Portland . It is still quarried at a number of places around the state. Bluestone is a very hard material and therefore difficult to work, so it was predominantly used for warehouses, miscellaneous walls, and the foundations of buildings. However,

2010-564: The abundance of the stone in the Rockingham County area, the first settlers used it as foundations and chimneys for their houses. When James Madison University was built, the local bluestone was used to construct the buildings because of its high quality and cultural heritage. Blue brick Staffordshire blue brick is a strong type of construction brick , originally made in Staffordshire , England . The brick

2077-642: The adjacent Federation Wharf, and Hawthorn Bridge . Because of its distinctive qualities, post-modern Melbourne buildings have also made use of bluestone for nostalgic reasons. They include the Southgate complex and the promenade in Southbank, Victoria . Bluestone was used extensively as cobblestone , and for kerbs and gutters, many examples of which still exist in Melbourne's smaller city lanes, and 19th-century inner-suburban streets and lanes. Crushed bluestone aggregate , known as "blue metal" (or "bluemetal"),

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2144-410: The aftermath of the 1853 triple hanging of bushrangers William Atkins, George Wilson and George Melville: All went to Melbourne. Passed by the jail and saw the tightened ropes which supported the lifeless bodies of three wretches who had been executed a half an hour before. The bodies were hidden from view by a wooden erection, a contrivance which takes a little from the horror of the exhibition. To have

2211-433: The age of 25, on 11 November 1880. After a two-day trial, Kelly was convicted of killing a police officer. As stated by law at the time, executed prisoners were buried in unmarked graves in the gaol burial yard. Before burial, a death mask was produced from the executed prisoners head as part of the phrenological study of hanged felons. Historian and associate professor of Wollongong University , John McQuilton, states that

2278-404: The beam was placed for each hanging (a common design, used in other Victorian gaols at Ararat, Geelong, Beechworth, Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Melbourne and Pentridge; and interstate at Adelaide and Long Bay, New South Wales). It was later moved a few metres to a side gallery below the octagon, where it remains today. The first hanging of a woman in Victoria, Elizabeth Scott, was performed in

2345-486: The brain removed for research after death. The films and TV productions Ned Kelly (1970) , Trial of Ned Kelly (1977), The Last Outlaw (1980) , Besieged: The Ned Kelly Story (2004), Ned's Head (2011) and True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) all used the interior of Old Melbourne Jail as a set for the scene of Kelly's hanging. The scenes were filmed either at the actual location of Kelly's execution or, in

2412-415: The completion of their sentence, and debtors, were housed on the third floor communal cells. These top level cells were large, and held up to six prisoners at time; and were mostly reserved to prisoners convicted of minor crimes such as drunkenness, vagrancy, prostitution or petty theft. During its operation, the gaol was the setting for 133 hangings. The most infamous was that of bushranger Ned Kelly at

2479-463: The conclusion that the so-called quarrying features were all natural, created over a long period of glacial and periglacial landscape change. Further, no independent evidence has ever been found to support the thesis of long overland or sea transport of Preseli bluestones from Wales to Salisbury Plain. There are three distinct building materials called "bluestone" in Australia. In Victoria , what

2546-534: The corner of Russell and La Trobe Streets, adjoining the then Supreme Court . The first cell block was opened for prisoners in 1845, but the facilities were considered inadequate; escapes occurring frequently. The gaol was already crowded by 1850. With the discovery of gold in 1851 (when the Port Phillip District became the new Colony of Victoria), and the resulting influx of population, law and order became more difficult to maintain. Subsequently,

2613-485: The gaol was used as a military prison for soldiers found to be absent without leave . A new wall was built in the eastern courtyard during this time, so that cell block inmates were separated from the college girls. After the end of the war, the section used for holding prisoners was then used only as a storage facility for the Victoria Police force, whose headquarters were nearby in Russell Street. In May 1974,

2680-426: The gaolers and their families lived within the gaol walls in the 1850s and 1860s. Much of daily life inside the gaol could be gleaned from sources such as diaries written by John Castieau, governor of the gaol between 1869 and 1884. During its operation, the gaol was used to house short-term prisoners, lunatics and some of the colony 's most notorious and hardened criminals. It also housed up to twenty children at

2747-416: The ground floor with a time of solitary confinement . They were also forbidden from communicating with other prisoners, which was strictly enforced by the usage of a silence mask, or calico hood, when outside their cells. They would only be given a single hour of solitary exercise a day, with the remaining 23 hours spent in their cells. Inside the cells, prisoners would be able to lie on a thin mattress over

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2814-553: The heritage and cultural tourism category at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Hobart. A skull, long believed to be Ned Kelly's, was on display in the museum until it was stolen from a glass cabinet in 1978. Efforts have been taken by scientists and the government to determine the location of the skull, and whether it was authentic to begin with. It was reported that members of the public may have

2881-473: The history of Melbourne itself. In addition to historical information, it also includes various memorabilia ; including death masks , an iron mask, and a pair of leather gloves designed to prevent inmates from practising self-abuse. Notably, it still includes Ned Kelly's death mask, pistol and replica of his suit of armour. In addition, the gaol had previously displayed the pencil used by Colin Ross to write

2948-421: The inner courtyard, and in 1995, removed the temporary war-time pavilion classrooms. As of 2010 , the sections that RMIT owns are collectively known as the "RMIT Building 11. Architect: Colonial Government Architect", and include the entrance block and chapel; with the bath house and chapel serving as art studios. In 1957, the National Trust of Australia listed the Old Melbourne Gaol on its heritage register, and

3015-636: The jail being incorporated into the RMIT University , and the rest becoming a museum. The three-storey museum displays information and memorabilia of the prisoners and staff, including death masks of the executed criminals. At one time the museum displayed what was believed at the time to be Ned Kelly's skull, before it was stolen in 1978; as well as the pencil used by wrongly convicted Colin Campbell Ross to protest his innocence in writing, before being executed. An allotment of scrubland to

3082-413: The lack of monitoring for burial processes was odd, given Victorian society's normally brilliant attention to detail. The gallows occupied several different sites within the gaol. A free-standing scaffold was used for early executions, initially outside the main gate and later in one of the yards; for a triple hanging in 1864 it was erected just inside the main gate complex. Diarist Charles Evans witnessed

3149-435: The last awful grapple with death set up like curiosity for the edification of a gaping multitude is a sickening contrivance unworthy of an advanced country. After 1864 a fixed gallows was installed below the octagon across the main axis of the prison block, against the wall dividing the male block from the female block. It comprised a single-leaf trap cut into the metal walkway, with iron sockets in either wall above, into which

3216-428: The major aspects of the Stonehenge "bluestone conundrum" was published in 2008. In 2018 a book devoted specifically to the problem of bluestone provenance and transport concluded that the Stonehenge bluestones are essentially an ill-sorted assemblage of glacial erratics. Much further research into the origin of the bluestones has been published between 2012 and 2022 particularly by geologists Richard Bevins and Rob Ixer. If

3283-548: The name bluestone is given to dolerite (diabase), which is a dominant stone variety in the landscape, and used in a variety of building roles. Timaru bluestone (also known as Port Chalmers bluestone) is an attractive building material, used both historically and to the present. It is a grey basalt similar to Victorian bluestone, quarried near Timaru in the South Island. Bluestone from near Kokonga in Central Otago

3350-405: The north-east of Melbourne was selected as Port Phillips first permanent gaol. On 1 January 1838, George Wintle was appointed to be gaoler at the prison at £100 a year; with the site becoming colloquially known as Wintle's Hotel . Construction of the gaol started in 1839–1840 on Collins Street West, but it was considered too small at the time. A second gaol was then built between 1841 and 1844 at

3417-427: The prison on 11 November 1863 – along with her co-accused, Julian Cross and David Gedge. The last person to be executed was Angus Murray in 1924, the same year the gaol was closed. Edward "Ned" Kelly, born sometime between June 1854 and June 1855, was an Irish-Australian bushranger . He was seen by some as merely a cold-blooded killer, while to others he was a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities. As

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3484-480: The remains of bones and teeth taken as souvenirs when graves were exhumed in 1929 for reburial at Pentridge Prison. A skull from a skeleton buried under the initials "E.K." was taken, with the apparent assumption that this stood for Edward Kelly. Special interest was directed to finding a photograph of former South Melbourne councillor Alex Talbot holding skull purported to be Ned Kelly's, and information on grave exhume contractor Lee of Lee and Dunn , or his family, who

3551-412: The second floor – whereby they would be allowed to work in the yards every day. Male prisoners would perform hard labour – including breaking rocks, and other duties in the stone quarries, while women would sew, clean and cook. Women would also make shirts and waistcoats for male prisoners, as well as act as domestic servants for the governor and his family. Prisoners who had become trusted, those nearing

3618-423: The sections used by the school were remodelled by architects Eggleston, McDonald and Secomb, to act as the schools food and fashion departments. The Emily McPherson College was merged into RMIT University in 1979, bringing the gaol entrance gates, and other facilities alongside it. In 1990, RMIT performed work to restore the enclosed balcony to its former 1927 design. In 1994, RMIT performed further work to landscape

3685-422: The slate floors. They could only bathe and change clothes once a week, and attend the chapel on Sundays (with a Bible provided to promote good behaviour). Prisoners might only have been allowed to finally socialise with other prisoners towards the end of their sentences. The routine for prisoners was regulated by a system of bells, and enforced by punishments; prisoners who obeyed the rules would be promoted to

3752-528: The streets outside, and there was public speculation that Deeming was in fact Jack the Ripper . "Tragically two of these (Aboriginal) men, Tunnerminnerwait (known as Jack) and Maulboyheenner (known as Bob, or sometimes called Timmy or Jimmy), became the first people executed in the Port Phillip District . This took place in 1842, a mere seven years after John Batman's fraudulent treaty with

3819-503: The time, which ultimately served to condemn him. Despite his pleas of innocence (including an attempt whereby a letter was thrown over the gaol walls), he was executed by hanging in the gaol in April 1922 (only 115 days after the body was found). A new four-strand rope was used for the first time at the execution, and proved to be a failure; Ross slowly strangled for between 8 and 20 minutes before his death. A prison report later ruled that such

3886-546: The vast majority of them quarriers. The other, lesser known, type of American "bluestone" is a blue-tinted limestone abundant in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia . It is a limestone formed during the Ordovician Period approximately 450 to 500 million years ago, at the bottom of a relatively shallow ocean that covered what is today Rockingham County, Virginia . The limestone that accumulated there

3953-446: Was darker in color than most other limestone deposits because it was in deeper waters exposed to less light. The darker blue color resulted in limestone from this region being dubbed "bluestone" and with two sequences measuring about 10,000 feet (3,000 m) thick, it gives the area one of the largest limestone deposits in the world. The stone eventually fades from a deep blue to a light grey after prolonged exposure to sun and rain. Given

4020-412: Was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1845 and 1924, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger Ned Kelly and serial killer Frederick Bailey Deeming . In total, 133 people were executed by hanging . Though it was used briefly during World War II , it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of

4087-545: Was further speculation that the skull actually belonged to Frederick Bailey Deeming, with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine claiming that the skull is similar to both Kelly's and Deeming's death masks. Ned Kelly's actual remains were later located in the grounds of Pentridge Prison, and confirmed by DNA comparison to living relatives, including a piece of his skull. This skull fragment showed saw marks, showing that Kelly's cranium had been sawn open and

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4154-654: Was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880. His notoriety affirmed him as a polarising iconic figure in Australian history, folk lore, literature, art and film. Colin Campbell Ross, an Australian wine-bar owner, was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in December 1921. The case, dubbed the Gun Alley Murder , was heavily influenced by public hysteria at

4221-471: Was suggested that it may have been that of executed murderer Ernest Knox , who was hanged 14 years after Kelly and also had the initials "E.K." Former Pentridge Prison chaplain Father Peter Norden has stated that he believed the skull handed in could not belong to Kelly, and that it probably belonged to a woman, however later DNA testing showed that the skull was from a male. In 2010, there

4288-544: Was tasked with delivering Kelly's skull to the governor. In 2009, West Australian farmer Tom Baxter handed a skull to authorities, arguing that it was the one stolen from the gaol – while refusing to explain how he obtained it. Further examination confirmed that the Baxter skull was indeed the same one previously on display at the Gaol museum, however DNA testing in 2011 showed that it had not been Kelly's after all. Instead, it

4355-642: Was used for Christchurch Arts Centre . There are two distinct building materials called "bluestone" in the United States, one of which is also found in Canada. Bluestone from Pennsylvania and New York is a sandstone defined as feldspathic greywacke . The sand-sized grains from which bluestone is constituted were deposited in the Catskill Delta during the Middle to Upper Devonian Period of

4422-422: Was used for educational purposes. This necessitated changes to the prison; in 1929, despite poor record keeping of prisoner burials, historical evidence suggested the remains of approximately 32 executed prisoners, including Ned Kelly, were exhumed from the Old Melbourne Gaol and buried at mass graves in a quarry at Pentridge . In 1930, the women's cell block, walls and several other buildings were demolished, and

4489-479: Was used for foundations as well as being extensively used for bridges and tunnels in canal construction, and later, for railways. Its lack of porosity makes it suitable for capping brick walls, and its hard-wearing properties make it ideal for steps and pathways. It is also used as a general facing brick for decorative reasons. Staffordshire Blue bricks have traditionally been "Class A" with a water absorption of less than 4.5%. This material -related article

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