UNDER the stairs of the Old Teacher’s College lies one of the best kept secrets of war.
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In a room sealed for decades and covered in dust, is a hidden storage room for priceless art, shipped to Armidale for safekeeping during World War II.
Now home to the New England Conservatorium of Music, the secret passageways of the Old Teachers’ College will be opened to the public for the first time.
NECOM director Russell Bauer said he had no idea what lay beneath the building when he arrived nine months ago.
“There are secret rooms under there,” he said.
“Originally intended for storage, they ended up with a much greater purpose in WWII, and that was to house some of Australia’s finest artworks when it was feared the country might be invaded.”
The paintings were trucked across to Armidale and stowed away, but the building has a spookier history than that.
Built as the Armidale Gaol in 1859, it housed mostly short-term prisoners from across New England.
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The gaoler was Samuel Caldwell and his wife Isabella was named matron, with their first prisoner locked up in 1863 and the facility closed in 1920.
Mr Bauer said most of the rooms on the tour haven’t been opened until now, but he’s still not sure about the rumours the building holds ghosts.
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“I know there’s been some unscheduled tours where people have come in for lessons and found their way into some of the spaces – but I know they wouldn’t have gone into a lot of the rooms,” he said.
“I’ve worked very late into the night here some nights, I’m even tempted to spend a night here because I am rather skeptical about ghosts.”
Expecting little over a dozen people to sign up, Mr Bauer was shocked with more than 160 explorers booking the tour.
It’s had such a big response he plans to run a second event on the next Friday the 13th, in July.
To book visit https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=369115