Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Going To Gaol In Cooma

It seems like every small town in Australia has an old gaol (jail) that's now a museum. So proud of their convict past!

Don't take a wrong turn in Cooma. Actually, not a museum. Right across the street from the "Corrective Services NSW Museum" is the genuine, open for incarceration, real thing, a working gaol. It just looks nicer than the exterior of the museum so it better fits this post.

Inside the museum, a big hodgepodge of artifacts from various defunct New South Wales gaols. You don't like prison chow? Go to the store and get yourself some fine Wheat-Bix. And your bunkmate may thank you. Stay away from the frozen dinners in the "meal barrow" (the stainless steel cart).

Contraband Hall of Fame. Drugs, weapons, cell phones, Pokemon cards. Maybe the cards are OK. Could be a gateway hobby.

Do your time as a guard, rise to superintendent and they paint your portrait. And then your wife donates it to a museum. Riot gear. Or as the PR Dept calls it, Special Emergency Response Team.

Typical cell with odd collection of items. His and His fans, waffle iron and random blocks of wood. Must be a unique hooch that's made in the toilet. Is that a thing beyond prison movies?

Monday, 12 October 2026

Dam, It's The Snowy Mountains Scheme

Australia is an arid country with arable land and water sources mostly close to coasts. After WWII, the country initiated a Colorado River type of dams, reservoirs and hydro power projects on the Snowy River. There's a little museum in Cooma that explains the "scheme" and its history of development.

Come on in and discover the power of water.

Map of the project and a wall of old photos, detailing construction. Old engineering objects and a display about the wonders of irrigation. "You think that cabbage just grows itself?"

Drill, baby, drill. The project required lots of mountain tunneling and men with long things that behaved unpredictably.

Real time power usage monitor map. Someone in Berridale is running their washer too much. Train set-like model of the breadth of the project, not letting any of the snowpack go to waste.

Outside the center is a lovely, sad memorial plaque dedicated to the people killed during construction. The bronze frieze has a great WPA stylistic quality to it.