NSW regnal town of Cooma was home to ‘world’s only gay prison’ | — Atralia’s leadg news se

Contents:

• COOMA JAIL: PRISON THAT WAS ONCE 'WORLD'S ONLY JAIL FOR GAY MEN'
• EXPOSG THE SHOCKG PLAN BEHD ATRALIA’S GAY PRISON
• COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS
• EXPOSG THE SHOCKG PLAN BEHD ATRALIA’S GAY PRISON
• A TE CRIME POD ABOUT ATRALIA’S ‘GAY ONLY’ PRISON IS HERE AND WE’RE ALREADY FKN HOOKED
• COOMA 'GAY PRISON' PODSTERS LL FOR ERNMENT APOLOGY FOR ENTRAPMENT, PERSECUTN OF HOMOSEXUAL MEN
• HOW ATRALIA HID THE EXISTENCE OF A GAY PRISON OM HISTORY SAVAS ABADSIDIS DECEMBER 23, 2022SHARE COOMA IS SMALL TOWN THE SOUTH EAST PROVCE OF NEW SOUTH WAL ATRALIA. IT IS HOME TO THE WORLD’S ONLY PRISON THAT  BEGNG 1957 OPERATED AS SPECIFILLY FOR TAG MEN NVICTED OF HOMOSEXUAL OFFENS.IT IS THE SUBJECT OF JOURNALIST PATRICK ABBOD’S LATT AUDIBLE PODST THE GREATT MENACE: INSI THE GAY PRISON EXPERIMENT.THE BBC:REOPENED 1957 WH THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF RCERATG MEN FOR “HOMOSEXUAL OFFENS,” WAS ALSO SAID TO BE ED AS A HUMAN TTG GROUND WH THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF ERADITG HOMOSEXUALY OM SOCIETY.COOMA’S JAIL IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN THE ONLY KNOWN HOMOSEXUAL PRISON THE WORLD, ACRDG TO A NEW PODST.ACRDG TO THE BBC, UNTIL NOW, EVEN SOME PRISON STAFF SAY THEY DIDN’T KNOW THE REAL REASON GAY PRISONERS WERE SEGREGATED THERE.L STRZELECKI, 66, STARTED AS A CTODIAL SERVIC OFFICER AT THE PRISON 1979, AND LATER SET UP THE CORRECTIVE SERVIC MM COOMA. HE BELIEVED MAT WERE SENT THERE FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY. “COOMA WAS A PROTECTIVE STUTN. WE’D RED STAMP HOMOSEXUAL PRISONERS WH ‘N/A’: NON-ASSOCIATN WH MASTREAM PRISONS,” HE TELLS THE BBC. “THEY WERE AT RISK OF VLENCE AT BIGGER PRISONS LIKE LONG BAY [ SYDNEY].”BUT ANOTHER FORMER EMPLOYEE, CLIFF NEW, CLAIMS WAS FOR LS PASSNATE REASONS. HE TOLD AUDIBLE’S PODST SERI THE GREATT MENACE THAT PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PSYCHIATRISTS WERE “G ALL THE TIME” AFTER THE JAIL REOPENED 1957. HE UNRSTOOD THE AS ATTEMPTS TO NVERT THEM: “THEY WERE TRYG TO GET THEM ON THE ‘RIGHT’ TRACK… THEY RECKONED THEY ULD CURE THEM.”IT’S ALSO WHY PRISONERS WERE SGLE CELLS, HE SAID. “YOU WOULDN’T BUNK TWO TOGETHER… THAT WAS ONE OF OUR BIGGT PROBLEMS – KEEPG AN EYE ON THEM,” SAYS MR NEW, NOW 94.HISTORIL DOCUMENTS SUGGT NEW SOUTH WAL (NSW) JTICE MISTER REG DOWNG TOOK CRED FOR TABLISHG THE PRISON. HE REPORTEDLY EXPRSED “PRI” AT HIS PET PROJECT, TELLG THE SYDNEY MORNG HERALD 1957: “NOWHERE EUROPE OR AMERI DID I FD ANY PRISONS WHERE HOMOSEXUALS WERE SEPARATED OM OTHER PRISONERS.”A 1958 PRS STATEMENT OM MR. DOWNG NAM COOMA PRISON AS “THE ONLY PENAL STUTN THE WORLD, SO FAR AS IS KNOWN, VOTED SPECIFILLY TO THE TENTN OF HOMOSEXUAL OFFENRS”.PRISONERS AT COOMA WERE RCERATED FOR BEG GAY, OR CRIM RELATED TO BEG GAY; HOMOSEXUALY WASN’T CRIMALIZED NSW UNTIL 1984.REG DOWNG EXPRSED PRI SEPARATG GAY PRISONERS OM OTHERSNEW DRANIAN STATE LAWS 1955 HAD CRACKED DOWN ON HOMOSEXUALY. THEY FOLLOWED PRSURE OM THE STATE’S POLICE MISSNER, COL DELANEY, WHO, ACRDG TO THE THEN ATTORNEY GENERAL, FELT “THAT REMEDIAL LEGISLATN [WAS] AN URGENT NECSY TO BAT THE EVIL”.“NEW CLS CLUD ‘SOLICG’ – A MAN ULD BE ARRTED FOR SIMPLY CHATTG UP ANOTHER MAN,” HISTORIAN GARRY WOTHERSPOON TELLS THE BBC. “THE LEGISLATIVE CHANG WERE VERY WI-RANGG THEIR ASSLT ON THE CIVIL LIBERTI OF MEN THOUGHT TO HAVE HOMOEROTIC SIR.”THE CRIME OF BUGGERY RRIED A 14-YEAR SENTENCE. ATTEMPTED BUGGERY RRIED FIVE YEARS, AND A HARSHER CRACKDOWN, A CLSE WAS ADD STATG “WH OR WHOUT THE NSENT OF SUCH PERSON.”“DISVERG WHAT SOME OF THOSE MEN WENT THROUGH THE PROCS OF BEG TRAPPED AND CHARGED, ’S HORRIFYG. IT REALLY IS,” ABBOUD TOLD  EARLIER THIS YEAR. “THEIR LIV WERE STROYED, AND THEY’RE STILL REELG OM .”WHAT PRISONERS EXPERIENCED THE COOMA FACILY WAS CHILLG. BUT AT THE HEART OF THE GREATT MENACE REMAS A MYSTERY. “THEY TABLISHED A PRISON SPECIFILLY TO RCERATE GAY MEN, SPECIFILLY TO RCERATE HOMOSEXUALS AND THEY HAD AN TENTN BEHD THAT,” ABBOUD SAID. “WE UNVERED THE TENTN. AND THEN WHAT ME OF THAT TENTN? AND THAT’S THE PART THAT REALLY NIGGL AT ME THE WHOLE TIME. WHERE’S THE REPORT? WHERE’S THE FDGS OF WHAT HAPPENED? MY STCT IS THAT THEY DIDN’T WANT TO BE WILY KNOWN.”
• CATEGORY ARCHIV: GAY & BISEXUAL
• NSW REGNAL TOWN OF COOMA WAS HOME TO ‘WORLD’S ONLY GAY PRISON’

COOMA JAIL: PRISON THAT WAS ONCE 'WORLD'S ONLY JAIL FOR GAY MEN'

Image source, The Greatt MenaceImage ptn, Cooma jail was once ed exclively to imprison gay menSet one of the lst and wdit small towns Atralia, Cooma prison holds a dark only was reopened 1957 wh the specific purpose of rceratg men for "homosexual offenc", was also said to be ed as a human ttg ground wh the ultimate goal of eraditg homosexualy om 's jail is believed to have been the only known homosexual prison the world, acrdg to a new now, even some prison staff say they didn't know the real reason gay prisoners were segregated Strzelecki, 66, started as a ctodial servic officer at the prison 1979, and later set up the Corrective Servic Mm Cooma.

We'd red stamp homosexual prisoners wh 'N/A': non-associatn wh mastream prisons, " he tells the BBC. "You wouldn't bunk two together… that was one of our biggt problems - keepg an eye on them, " says Mr New, now source, Thomas McCoyImage ptn, L Strzelecki (left) worked at the jail before settg up the lol Corrective Servic MmHistoril documents suggt New South Wal (NSW) Jtice Mister Reg Downg took cred for tablishg the reportedly exprsed "pri" at his pet project, tellg the Sydney Morng Herald 1957: "Nowhere Europe or Ameri did I fd any prisons where homosexuals were separated om other prisoners. " A 1958 prs statement om Mr Downg nam Cooma prison as "the only penal stutn the world, so far as is known, voted specifilly to the tentn of homosexual offenrs".

EXPOSG THE SHOCKG PLAN BEHD ATRALIA’S GAY PRISON

Prisoners at Cooma were rcerated for beg gay, or crim related to beg gay; homosexualy wasn't crimalised NSW until dranian state laws 1955 had cracked down on homosexualy. "The legislative chang were very wi-rangg their asslt on the civil liberti of men thought to have homoerotic sir. Attempted buggery rried five years, and a harsher crackdown, a clse was add statg "wh or whout the nsent of such person" source, State Library of NSWImage ptn, Reg Downg exprsed pri separatg gay prisoners om othersBoth Mr Wotherspoon and the podst ce evince of police actg as "agents provotrs" to ce men to m homosexual acts.

"They'd e hunky policemen to entrap gay men by enticg them to have sex, ually public toilets, " Mr Wotherspoon 1958, the NSW ernment announced a mtee of quiry to the "e and treatment of homosexualy". It nam Cooma prison as "a special stutn for nvicted homosexual offenrs" which will "facilate the vtigatn" a "scientific evaluatn of the problem and possible solutn" has been found, Mr Downg is quoted as sayg, "the ernment nsirs that the problem mt be attacked wh vigour".

' and nclud that 'overmotherg' was "a major e of homosexualy, " says podst creator and journalist Patrick Abboud, who has spent years rearchg the prison. "We know they failed their missn to eradite homosexualy bee our podst reveals gay men havg ongog relatnships the prison. "The elive report has never been found - somethg Mr Abboud says amounts to a "ver up" source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Cooma is a town of about 7, 000 peopleIt's unclear when homosexual prisoners were no longer sent to Cooma.

COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS

Corrective Servic NSW and the NSW Department of Communi and Jtice cled to ment on the allegatns, cg their "historil nature" Abboud believ gay prisoners may have been sent there until the early 1980s, cg a 1982 statement om the rrective servic mister claimg the policy still stood. Sex offenrs were also sent to Cooma and this further stigmatised gay prisoners, says Mr Wotherspoon says, wh recent parliamentary bate of a Relig Discrimatn Bill threateng to allow discrimatn based on sexual orientatn, such recent history rri a soberg warng. You may also be terted :Media ptn, How Atralia's first gay imam is 'savg liv'.

The gay marriage bate Atralia had boiled over, and while he was verg an anti-gay marriage prott, the openly gay journalist was mobbed and the SBS work Christmas party, he was unwdg wh a uple of drks, then planned to h the dancefloor before gog home and takg a break om reportg for a while. Journalist Patrick Abboud has created a podst about the world’s only gay Rohan ThomsonThat was exactly when his iend and -worker Simon Cunich walked up to him to say he’d received an trigug story tip.

“Simon said a iend of an acquatance had told him that there had once been a prison somewhere NSW that was set up to rcerate gay men, ” says Abboud.

EXPOSG THE SHOCKG PLAN BEHD ATRALIA’S GAY PRISON

’”Abboud, wh Cunich as -producer, voted the next three years of his life to fdg out about , and the rult is The Greatt Menace, an eight-part Audible Origal lotn of the jail NSW shocked Patrick Rohan ThomsonIt sounds like somethg out of Rsia or East Germany or the US ep south, but happened Cooma, the small town an hour-and-a-half drive south of Canberra known as the gateway to the Snowy 1957, the town’s jail, which had been closed the early 1900s, was re-opened wh a new rem – was to be a prison for homosexuals. Abboud disvered that the prison was a ordated effort between ernment and police to provi a pool of subjects for study and experimentatn to disver a “cure” for homosexualy. As Abboud searched for throughout the seri, he felt that “they eher didn’t disver what they wanted, and uldn’t cure homosexualy, so they need to bury the report, or the thgs they did were so horrific that they never wanted anyone to see the tail.

”Homosexualy was a crime NSW until 1984. Abboud terviews gay men now their 70s and 80s who tell raw and revealg stori of beg targeted, entrapped and arrted by unrver police at gay beats such as public toilets, parks and beach.

And here Atralia, the seeds of were planted that gay prison Cooma. As celebratns ramp up ahead of Sydney's annual Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras this week, a dark part of Atralia's LGBTQI+ history is beg explored by a new pots:The Greatt Menace podst explor the dark past of Cooma's jailThe se reopened the 1950s as a "gay jail"Podst maker says was the world's only "gay prison"Podst The Greatt Menace has unearthed the tth behd the world's only "gay prison, " which operated the regnal New South Wal town of Cooma om 1957 to hoe men nvicted of homosexual historic jail and one-time asylum closed the early 1900s before s reopeng.

A TE CRIME POD ABOUT ATRALIA’S ‘GAY ONLY’ PRISON IS HERE AND WE’RE ALREADY FKN HOOKED

"When someone tells you that there was a gay prison signed to rcerate gay men that self was shockg enough.

(Supplied: Patrick Abboud)The Amazon podst spends eight episos explorg the history of the Cooma Correctnal Centre as a "gay prison" the mid to late 1900s and clus terviews wh mat om that time. "I'd walked past that prison multiple tim as a teenager gog through my own stggle wh my homosexualy, " he said.

COOMA 'GAY PRISON' PODSTERS LL FOR ERNMENT APOLOGY FOR ENTRAPMENT, PERSECUTN OF HOMOSEXUAL MEN

(Supplied)"I n't help but sometim feel like 's still the 50s and 60s when the NSW ernment was tryg to eradite homosexualy om the face of the earth, " he said. Homosexualy was a crime NSW until 1984. He terviews gay men now their 70s and 80s who tell raw and revealg stori of beg targeted, entrapped and arrted by unrver ArticlThk eely.

HOW ATRALIA HID THE EXISTENCE OF A GAY PRISON OM HISTORY SAVAS ABADSIDIS DECEMBER 23, 2022SHARE COOMA IS SMALL TOWN THE SOUTH EAST PROVCE OF NEW SOUTH WAL ATRALIA. IT IS HOME TO THE WORLD’S ONLY PRISON THAT  BEGNG 1957 OPERATED AS SPECIFILLY FOR TAG MEN NVICTED OF HOMOSEXUAL OFFENS.IT IS THE SUBJECT OF JOURNALIST PATRICK ABBOD’S LATT AUDIBLE PODST THE GREATT MENACE: INSI THE GAY PRISON EXPERIMENT.THE BBC:REOPENED 1957 WH THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF RCERATG MEN FOR “HOMOSEXUAL OFFENS,” WAS ALSO SAID TO BE ED AS A HUMAN TTG GROUND WH THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF ERADITG HOMOSEXUALY OM SOCIETY.COOMA’S JAIL IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN THE ONLY KNOWN HOMOSEXUAL PRISON THE WORLD, ACRDG TO A NEW PODST.ACRDG TO THE BBC, UNTIL NOW, EVEN SOME PRISON STAFF SAY THEY DIDN’T KNOW THE REAL REASON GAY PRISONERS WERE SEGREGATED THERE.L STRZELECKI, 66, STARTED AS A CTODIAL SERVIC OFFICER AT THE PRISON 1979, AND LATER SET UP THE CORRECTIVE SERVIC MM COOMA. HE BELIEVED MAT WERE SENT THERE FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY. “COOMA WAS A PROTECTIVE STUTN. WE’D RED STAMP HOMOSEXUAL PRISONERS WH ‘N/A’: NON-ASSOCIATN WH MASTREAM PRISONS,” HE TELLS THE BBC. “THEY WERE AT RISK OF VLENCE AT BIGGER PRISONS LIKE LONG BAY [ SYDNEY].”BUT ANOTHER FORMER EMPLOYEE, CLIFF NEW, CLAIMS WAS FOR LS PASSNATE REASONS. HE TOLD AUDIBLE’S PODST SERI THE GREATT MENACE THAT PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PSYCHIATRISTS WERE “G ALL THE TIME” AFTER THE JAIL REOPENED 1957. HE UNRSTOOD THE AS ATTEMPTS TO NVERT THEM: “THEY WERE TRYG TO GET THEM ON THE ‘RIGHT’ TRACK… THEY RECKONED THEY ULD CURE THEM.”IT’S ALSO WHY PRISONERS WERE SGLE CELLS, HE SAID. “YOU WOULDN’T BUNK TWO TOGETHER… THAT WAS ONE OF OUR BIGGT PROBLEMS – KEEPG AN EYE ON THEM,” SAYS MR NEW, NOW 94.HISTORIL DOCUMENTS SUGGT NEW SOUTH WAL (NSW) JTICE MISTER REG DOWNG TOOK CRED FOR TABLISHG THE PRISON. HE REPORTEDLY EXPRSED “PRI” AT HIS PET PROJECT, TELLG THE SYDNEY MORNG HERALD 1957: “NOWHERE EUROPE OR AMERI DID I FD ANY PRISONS WHERE HOMOSEXUALS WERE SEPARATED OM OTHER PRISONERS.”A 1958 PRS STATEMENT OM MR. DOWNG NAM COOMA PRISON AS “THE ONLY PENAL STUTN THE WORLD, SO FAR AS IS KNOWN, VOTED SPECIFILLY TO THE TENTN OF HOMOSEXUAL OFFENRS”.PRISONERS AT COOMA WERE RCERATED FOR BEG GAY, OR CRIM RELATED TO BEG GAY; HOMOSEXUALY WASN’T CRIMALIZED NSW UNTIL 1984.REG DOWNG EXPRSED PRI SEPARATG GAY PRISONERS OM OTHERSNEW DRANIAN STATE LAWS 1955 HAD CRACKED DOWN ON HOMOSEXUALY. THEY FOLLOWED PRSURE OM THE STATE’S POLICE MISSNER, COL DELANEY, WHO, ACRDG TO THE THEN ATTORNEY GENERAL, FELT “THAT REMEDIAL LEGISLATN [WAS] AN URGENT NECSY TO BAT THE EVIL”.“NEW CLS CLUD ‘SOLICG’ – A MAN ULD BE ARRTED FOR SIMPLY CHATTG UP ANOTHER MAN,” HISTORIAN GARRY WOTHERSPOON TELLS THE BBC. “THE LEGISLATIVE CHANG WERE VERY WI-RANGG THEIR ASSLT ON THE CIVIL LIBERTI OF MEN THOUGHT TO HAVE HOMOEROTIC SIR.”THE CRIME OF BUGGERY RRIED A 14-YEAR SENTENCE. ATTEMPTED BUGGERY RRIED FIVE YEARS, AND A HARSHER CRACKDOWN, A CLSE WAS ADD STATG “WH OR WHOUT THE NSENT OF SUCH PERSON.”“DISVERG WHAT SOME OF THOSE MEN WENT THROUGH THE PROCS OF BEG TRAPPED AND CHARGED, ’S HORRIFYG. IT REALLY IS,” ABBOUD TOLD  EARLIER THIS YEAR. “THEIR LIV WERE STROYED, AND THEY’RE STILL REELG OM .”WHAT PRISONERS EXPERIENCED THE COOMA FACILY WAS CHILLG. BUT AT THE HEART OF THE GREATT MENACE REMAS A MYSTERY. “THEY TABLISHED A PRISON SPECIFILLY TO RCERATE GAY MEN, SPECIFILLY TO RCERATE HOMOSEXUALS AND THEY HAD AN TENTN BEHD THAT,” ABBOUD SAID. “WE UNVERED THE TENTN. AND THEN WHAT ME OF THAT TENTN? AND THAT’S THE PART THAT REALLY NIGGL AT ME THE WHOLE TIME. WHERE’S THE REPORT? WHERE’S THE FDGS OF WHAT HAPPENED? MY STCT IS THAT THEY DIDN’T WANT TO BE WILY KNOWN.”

For three years Abboud has spent time vtigatg the secrets of a “gay only” prison that has been hidn ral NSW. In his new Audible te crime podst tled The Greatt Menace, Abboud vtigat how this prison Cooma tried to fd cur for homosexualy, ttg out treatments on queer prisoners. It sounds fucked bee is fucked, and ’s only ma more tense by the fact that Abboud is gay himself.

But this gay prison story and what we unver over the urse of our three-year vtigatn had a profound impact on me. Throughout the three years, I’ve lived and breathed this gay prison story.

CATEGORY ARCHIV: GAY & BISEXUAL

It’s also unlocked years of stggle for my own Paltian/Lebane fay g to terms wh me beg gay.

It’s dntg that we’re fally able to reveal the tth behd the gay prison this ty Atralian town for the first time and I’ve fally got the balls to tell my fay story publicly. “How did you first stumble upon the well-hidn ‘gay prison’ regnal NSW?

Abboud: “I don’t want to give too much away bee ’ll spoil the adventure but let’s jt say I got a tip-off om a lleague who heard a mour om a iend of an acquatance that Atralia ed to be home to a gay prison. Supposedly, a prison was built the 50s specifilly to rcerate gay men as some sort of human experiment. At the centre of all was a vert ernment operatn to eradite ‘the greatt menace to society’: homosexualy.

NSW REGNAL TOWN OF COOMA WAS HOME TO ‘WORLD’S ONLY GAY PRISON’

Readg the headl on the day The Greatt Menace was released, I uldn’t help but sometim feel ’s still the 50s, 60s when the NSW Government was tryg to ‘eradite’ homosexualy om the face of the earth. The discrimatn, the homophobia, the transphobia is still so unbelievably pervasive today the halls of power and that has to stop right now. Abboud: “When I started askg people about the gay prison a lot of people told me was always about protectg gay prisoners om the rt of the prison populatn.

The big twist me when we disvered rerds that reveal what the ernment’s actual ratnale was for segregatg gay prisoners one prison and was somethg far more sister.

Disverg the ernment operatn to fd a “treatment” or to “cure” homosexualy is one of many revelatns that still sends shivers through my re.