New Zealand’s oldest prison, which housed some of the country’s most dangerous criminals, has been recognised with the highest heritage listing.
Heritage New Zealand has given Napier Prison, known as Napier Gaol, Category 1 status in the New Zealand Heritage List.
The top category recognises a building’s special or outstanding historical or cultural significance.
The prison, decommissioned in 1993, has been home to the Waaka family since 2002. It was built on Bluff Hill in 1862, and was further expanded in 1863 and 1869.
Marion Waaka remembered seeing tumbleweeds and ivy on the outside of the building.
She said she was proud of the Category 1 status, and that it provided her “a sense of relief, because it’s protected now”.
In 1875, a stand-alone asylum also opened on the prison site.
Four executions were carried out in the prison between 1872 and 1889, and some prisoners are believed to have stuck around and made their presence known to guests.
“There was one girl in particular who said that at night she would wake up and someone would be stroking her arms and her hair,” Toro Waaka said.
By 2002, it was a tourist attraction. Tours are now being given in 15 languages.
Toro Waaka said many people wanted to see the place.
“They would tell us stories and all of them were very interesting,” he said.
The prison housed infamous criminals, like mass murderer Roland Edwards . In February 1884, he killed his four children and his wife.
It also held Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki before he was exiled without trial to the Chatham Islands on unproven spying claims. The Māori leader, guerrilla fighter and founder of the Ringatu Church was pardoned in 1883.
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