How you can tour the Adelaide Gaol with a bingo twist

Just a stone’s throw from Adelaide’s CBD is the Ade­laide Gaol, one of the creepi­est her­itage sites in South Aus­tralia that you can actu­al­ly wan­der through and explore.

And it’s not just for adults to enjoy – there are activ­i­ties spe­cial­ly designed for chil­dren too. Like the new East­er Bin­go Chal­lenge.

The chal­lenge involves com­plet­ing a range of fun East­er-themed gaol activ­i­ties that are list­ed on your Bin­go card, such as dis­cov­er­ing what pris­on­ers did at East­er time, guess­ing what Gaol sto­ries are fact or fic­tion in the Activ­i­ty Room, uncov­er­ing what creepy crawlies pris­on­ers shared their cells with and much more.

When you’ve crossed off 4 activ­i­ties in a row on your card, either hor­i­zon­tal­ly, ver­ti­cal­ly or diag­o­nal­ly, shout out ​‘Bin­go’ and you’re done!

The East­er Bin­go Chal­lenge is a great way to explore the grounds and learn about the fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry of one of the state’s old­est buildings.

Along the way, keep your eyes peeled – there’s a giant bun­ny hid­ing in the gaol, see if you can spot him. 

The East­er Bin­go Chal­lenge is free with entry and should take about an hour to com­plete. It can be under­tak­en any day of the school hol­i­days between 10 am and 4 pm. 

Once the kids have com­plet­ed their bin­go card, they’ll receive a lim­it­ed edi­tion East­er 2022 school hol­i­day badge. 

The badge, the first of a new school hol­i­days col­lec­tors’ series, will be avail­able for the first 1000 par­tic­i­pants on a first come, first served basis. There will be a new one to col­lect every school holidays. 

What else to see and do

The fun doesn’t end when the kids’ bin­go card is com­plete – after­wards, spend some time tour­ing the onsite muse­um, the Mugshot Exhi­bi­tion and the recent­ly reopened upstairs wing of the Remand building.

Here you can learn more about this icon­ic site, the pris­on­ers that were kept there, what land­ed them behind bars, the real­i­ties of prison life, and the ways they tried to escape.

Walk through the cells, around the exer­cise yard and into the hang­ing tow­er, or look at the offi­cial doc­u­ments and arte­facts of the pris­on­ers and guards, such as mug shots and uniforms.

About the Ade­laide Gaol

Built in 1841, Ade­laide Gaol is one of the state’s two old­est pub­lic build­ings, a title it shares with Old Par­lia­ment House on North Terrace.

The gaol final­ly closed its doors in 1988 when the last inmates were trans­ferred to oth­er institutions.

It had oper­at­ed for 147 years, host­ing more than 300,000 pris­on­ers – and exe­cut­ing 45 of them.

Now the gaol is one of Adelaide’s most pop­u­lar her­itage attrac­tions, with self-guid­ed tours avail­able 7 days a week, as well as guid­ed his­tor­i­cal tours for groups and schools, and ghost tours.

Love learn­ing about South Australia’s her­itage? You might like these sto­ries: Your guide to under­stand­ing SA’s State Her­itage Places and 7 her­itage places you might not know about.