Petone Police Station & Jail

Built in 1908 and moved to its current location in 1994, it was the home for the first elected police in New Zealand. In its heyday the station had ten police working out of the tiny building with four holding cells, brimmed with clientele. On its original site the building was set lower than the street and regularly flooded. Police were often seen dealing with prisoners wearing their gumboots to cope with the surrounding mud. In the early days, alcohol was the biggest problem for the area with many drunks spending the night sleeping off their stupor in confinement.

When the jailhouse was moved to its existing site, ten local young men who had been in trouble were used to help renovate the building.  To this day, the building is almost original and from the moment you step inside you get a sense of the rich history and life of the early settlers in New Zealand.  You can still see names of past inhabitants scribed in the interior walls of the jail.

Open: Monday – Friday 10.00am-4.00pm, or by appointment

For more information contact:

Petone Jail
274b Jackson Street
Petone
Ph: +64 4 939 2811
info@jacksonstreet.co.nz
www.jacksonstreet.co.nz