KEY SITE 9 Fairlea Women’s Prison
3 sounds
Fairlea Women’s Prison was the first dedicated women’s prison in Victoria, established in 1956 in the buildings formerly used for the Fairhaven VD clinic and Yarra Bend Asylum. Every year from 1988, anti-carceral feminists held “Wring Out Fairlea” protests outside the prison, and broadcast from inside.
In 1996 Fairlea was closed and its functions transferred to the Dame Philip Frost women’s prison in Deer Park (still operational). The buildings were razed to the ground.
