'A career in the Victorian penal system might not seem to be a source of excitement, but for John Buckley Castieau it was the trigger for nearly three decades of diaries that reveal far more about the colony's early social history than what went on behind prison walls. J.B. Castieau was the governor of both Beechworth and Melbourne gaols as well as, somewhat disastrously, the Inspector-General of Penal Establishments. Well-educated, fond of the theatre, frequently in debt, impulsively generous, self-doubting and of 'unsteady habits' in his cups, he knew many of the prominent characters of 'Marvellous Melbourne' - the journalist Marcus Clarke, the famous and fiery legal figure, Sir Redmond Barry and Sir George Kerferd, Premier of the state. Fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in Victoria and the penal system from the 1850s to the 1880s. ' (Publication summary)
