I took the two hour 11am history tour and it was really good. I've never been to this place before, in fact is my first time in Ararat and doing this tour gave me a good solid understanding of what the conditions and the personalities of what these inmates had to live through. We also covered pretty much the whole grounds of the gaol, above ground and under ground, and were given plenty of stories and shown heaps of sentimental artefacts.
The tour guide was really really good. He was an older chap I should say. He has a great sense of humour and asked the attendees if they knew reasons or answers for any of the facts before he gave us the spill, which I thoroughly enjoyed as I tend to be a bit of a historian myself. Speaking of history, the tour guide is practically a walking history book for the J Ward as he did give heaps and heaps of stories and knew facts about practically everything. We spent a decent amount of time at each spot and he was very well informative with the attendees.
I had a great time on this tour and would definitely be interested in coming back to J Ward for the overnight ghost tour and investigation, but will have to wait for another occasion. read more