Explorations in Banality: Prison Tourism at the Old Melbourne Gaol

What is it about?

If, as Mercer (: 1) argues, “feeling is believing,” then the emotional states and experiences engendered by heritage and heritage tourism will significantly influence the meanings, values and messages individuals will construct or have reinforced as they engage with heritage places. There is now an extensive literature that argues emotions are central not only to cognition but also equally importantly to the social and political judgements individuals make (Marcus; Marcus et al.; Sayer; Wetherell). Indifference is an emotional state, sometimes involving an active choice of refusing to exercise empathy and compassion, and sometimes denoting blithe, but socially meaningful, lack of awareness.

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Why is it important?

This paper discusses the results of interviews with 101 visitors at the Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne, one of that city's premier tourist attractions. It looks at the emotional strategies that visitors use to distance themselves from the dark and dissonant history of the Gaol to maintain indifference to social inequity in both the past and present.