Parramatta Gaol: Ghost tours suspended as Aboriginal land council faces administration

Kayne Moreton is standing in wing three of Parramatta Gaol, one of his favourite parts of the prison, when a door slams shut, the noise echoing down the dark hallway.

He ignores it, instead pointing to a cell on his left: “That was where the last female gangster of The Rocks was housed in right there … this is where the celebrities, [and] what I mean by celebrities, this is where the high-profile murder cases [were imprisoned],” the senior conservation and cultural heritage officer for Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council said.

The history of what was once Australia’s oldest active prison is something Parramatta resident Jonathan Zhao knows well: he and the other members of APPI Ghost Hunts and Tours used to run ghost tours at the site, which has been described as “extremely haunted”