Let’s face it, many of our most famous so-called “fascinating and unique” tourist sites can actually be a touch boring, bland, and sanitised… not so, Old Dubbo Gaol!

This genuine Victorian-era lock-up has had a bleak enough past for any crime and punishment aficionado, with a number of grim happenings in its dark and foreboding interior.

As well as the unfortunate Moore, another seven men were executed by hanging at the site between 1877 and 1904 out of a total of 32 prisoners who had originally been condemned to death there.

This included Jacky Underwood in 1901 — an accomplice of Jimmy Governor of 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' infamy involved in the Breelong Massacre in 1900 — and the “Murdering Gardener”, Wong Ming in 1898, who was found to have killed a colleague in Warren, after an altercation allegedly involving his excessive opium smoking!

He was later buried in the Chinese section of the Old Dubbo Cemetery.

But, for many visitors over the years, its unique and quirky animatronic prisoners and guards were a real highlight, with one condemned figure, a spooky stand-out.

“My name is Thomas Moore, and this will be my last day on earth…” the robotic bearded old man used to inform tourists from his murder row cell in the 1887-built prison.

These figures made an indelible and macabre impression on visitors since their introduction in the late 1980s.

As well as Moore, there were a grand total of 12 animatronic and mannequin figures, that also included woodcutters (Harry Patch and Jimmy Ninefingers) who had been sawing the same log since 2002.

Another unusual figure was that of Eric Gosper, a figure representing the prison’s last gaoler which used the actual voice of the real-life governor himself.

Several other mannequins and animated figures were stationed throughout the cell blocks and work areas to simulate 19th-century prison life, and some -- like Thomas Moore -- were upgraded with more realistic features and movement.

But that all ended in 2020 when it was announced that Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields was to “pardon” the Old Dubbo Gaol animatronic prisoners.

“[Moore] has been a feature of Old Dubbo Gaol for so long, and his resemblance to the real and original Thomas Moore is uncanny," Cr Shields said at the time.

"I'm pleased to say that the Thomas Moore animatronic will be donated to the Western Plains Cultural Centre's collection to live on for posterity,” he announced. Well, not quite... the old lag now spends his days as a static exhibit at the gaol after his "execution" was commuted to life in prison.

Dubbo Gaol was originally erected on the site of the original Dubbo Court House and officially opened around 1887. Many of the buildings, however, were already in existence by this time with a number of new buildings added on to complete the facility.

Closed as a gaol in 1966 and originally planned for demolition soon after, the complex instead re-opened as a tourist attraction in the mid-1970s. It's a great place to take the kids during the school holidays.