Ned Kelly hanging witness and Beechworth Gaol governor John Castieau's 1864 home on the market
The Beechworth Gaol governor's house, built in 1864 and first inhabited by John Buckley Castieau, most famous as the government representative at the hanging of Ned Kelly, is up for sale
The house was built using prison labour and granite from the onsite quarry behind the Beechworth Gaol. Castieau lived at the 1,374-square-metre property until 1869, when he left Beechworth to become governor of Pentridge Prison in Melbourne. Interestingly, Ned Kelly spent two months in Beechworth Gaol in 1869 on remand on a charge of being an accomplice of Harry Power.
Kelly spent two more stints in Beechworth Gaol in the three years following, a few months in 1870 for assault and lewd behaviour, and an 18-month term beginning in 1871 for receiving a stolen mare. The 18 months was part of a three-year sentence, and Kelly was transferred to Pentridge, then under the governorship of Castieau, for the remainder.
During Castieau's tenure between 1856 and 1869, Beechworth Gaol was known as “Castieau’s Castle”. He met his wife, Polly, in 1858 at a church bazaar, and the couple lived in the Beechworth property with the first of their 10 children once it was built.
Castieau was the goverment representative at Kelly's hanging on November 11, 1880 as he was governor of Old Melbourne Gaol by then.
Subsequent governors lived in the property before a home was built inside the gaol itself. Beechworth Gaol was closed in 2004, and the property has been vacant since the gaol's closure.
In the 1940s the property was divided into three separate homes, and they can be bought together or separately. It is being marketed by LJ Hooker agent Dean Lupson in conjunction with Hodges Real Estate agent Andrew Boyce, who have $747,500 hopes for the property as a whole, or between $235,000 and $285,000 for each house individually.
The elegant East Melbourne terrace that was home to Robert Ramsay, the chief secretary who authorised the trainload of police who went to Glenrowan in 1880 after Ned Kelly, is also on the market.