Erected in 1856 at a cost of £3200, Redruth Gaol was the first gaol in South Australia outside of Adelaide. It was closed in 1894 and the prisoners transferred to Gladstone Gaol.
In 1897, the Gaol was restored and reopened as a girls’ reformatory but closed in 1922. The residents were moved to a Salvation Army home in the Adelaide suburb of Enfield.
The Gaol is famous for the filming of the 1979 movie Breaker Morant. It was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register on 24 July 1980 and on the former Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978.
The building was restored in the late 1980s, with the National Trust of Australia and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia funding the renovations as an Australian Bicentenary project. It was subsequently opened as a museum and is one of the eight buildings owned and maintained by the Burra National Trust.
Accessible using the Burra Heritage Passport, available from the Burra Visitor Centre. Passport holders can gain access to the exercise yards, the old shower block site, main entrance, offices and living quarters.