Sale of Old Geelong Gaol finalised

THE Old Geelong Gaol will be preserved as an interactive museum after the City of Greater Geelong agreed to sell the property to a Geelong-based company that owns several other historically significant buildings.

As part of the $1.5 million sale, Montgomery International has committed to keeping the gaol open to the public for at least 500 hours per year.

The company has also agreed to carry out almost $1.6 million in maintenance works within the next three years, and to allowing the Lazarus Community Centre to remain a tenant (via a council sub-lease) until at least April 2022. Lazarus, which operates in the Governor’s Residence, provides support services to homeless and isolated members of the community.

Rotary International’s lease on parts of the property, which runs until April 2020, will also be honoured.

Montgomery International plans to locate its head office at the site, as well as providing commercial car parking.

The sale concludes a process that started in 2013 when the council first identified selling the property as its preferred option.

Old Geelong Gaol is included on the Victorian Heritage Register and is within a Heritage Overlay in the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme.

This means Heritage Victoria has control over any changes to the building fabric, including demolition, and those controls will apply to the new owner.

The gaol housed some of Victoria’s most notorious prisoners from 1853 until its closure in 1991. It has been owned by Council since 1994.

Montgomery International’s sole shareholder is Dean Montgomery, a local resident who also owns Glenormiston College, Terang, Fletcher Jones Factory and Gardens, Warrnambool, and St Albans Stud, Geelong.

The council will now seek permission from the Minister for Planning to use funds of the sale otherwise repayable to the state ($360,000) for restoration of other heritage assets.

Geelong mayor Bruce Harwood said the sale was “a great outcome for the Geelong community and for the city”.

“The sale also releases some pressure on our budget as the gaol has been a very expensive property to retain.”