Nelson's first gaol

A week after arriving in Nelson in March 1842, police magistrate Henry Augustus Thompson held the first court in a marquee near Church Hill.

Three sailors from the Lord Auckland were found guilty of stealing clothing from the Hargreaves family and were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

However, Nelson had no gaol! They instead had to share a simple raupo whare with Nelson’s only constable.

Building a gaol became a priority - £150 was approved for building both a courthouse and gaol, with tenders being called for in the Nelson Examiner’s first issue in March.

By May 1842, a wooden gaol with four cells sat on Church Hill along with a set of stocks. Since all the funds had been used, the courthouse wasn't completed until later.

In May 1842 the Nelson Examiner reported: “Nelson is beginning to give evidence of the arrival of civilised men on the shores of New Zealand, for it now has a gaol or lock-up house, backed by the stocks. Alas for human nature that it should be so; but so it is – civilisation and the gallows! However, the gaol here is finished and is well suited for the purpose for which it is intended.”

Just a few months later, its limitations were apparent and by November 1842 the Nelson Examiner was reporting:

“A gaol has been built and paid for, and is now about half the size which is required.”

As a police magistrate rather than a judge, Thompson’s jurisdiction was limited.

His only option for dealing with people accused of more serious crimes, was to send them to Wellington (at great expense to the Crown), bail them, or keep them in gaol indefinitely awaiting a jury trial.

But jury trials couldn’t be held in Nelson until a judge was appointed and a jury list was drawn up.

However, jurors had to be male land-owners, and until land titles were settled, none were eligible.

Escapes were frequent. Prisoners Bright and Turner escaped in 1843 by loosening a window bar.

According to the Nelson Examiner, another enterprising escapee found a novel hiding place:

"On the top of some boards, placed over one of the rooms of the building, from which he could look down into the police office and hear all the plans that were discussed for his capture, he remained in perfect security for four days. At night, he descended into a room, in which the Police Magistrate, the late Mr. Thompson, kept his stores, and regaled himself on claret, sweet biscuits and preserves. Some unlucky noise at length led to the discovery of his hiding-place, and deprived him of all further enjoyment of the magistrate’s claret.”

Eight hundred pounds was allocated for the building of a new gaol in December 1846, but it wasn’t until 1850 that the new Shelbourne Street gaol opened – and that’s another story.

This column is brought to you by the Nelson Historical Society. On Saturday 10 April, join society members in the Queens Gardens between 1pm and 3.30pm. to meet colourful characters telling stories about items in the gardens. There's even a special quiz for children.