The property is owned by Department of Primary Industries - Western Lands Commissioner, an agency of the Government of New South Wales.

[2] In 1829 the NSW Government dispatched an exploratory party to trace the Murrumbidgee River under the leadership of Charles Sturt.

Sturt encountered large numbers of Aboriginal people near the Murray/Darling junction, but his expedition featured generally peaceful, though wary, meetings and interactions.

In the 1840s squatters became established over the land along the Darling and Murray Rivers and gradually expanded their holdings westwards from the Murrumbidgee and north eastwards from South Australia.

The first means of detention used in Wentworth was a huge tree trunk at the corner of Adelaide and Darling St. with a bullock chain and ring bolt, to which prisoners were handcuffed.

Passionate pleas to the Colonial Secretary described the overcrowded conditions in the gaol as a "disgrace", "shameful", and as the 'Wentworth Black Hole".

[2][7] On 1 January 1877 a letter from the Controller General of Prisons to the Colonial Secretary requested that a site be dedicated for the projected new gaol at Wentworth.

On 30 April 1877 the Comptroller General wrote to the Colonial architect "having conferred with the inspector of Police I am of the opinion that the Gaol should be designed as one of the class now building at Young.

If it were practicable to erect only a portion of the designed buildings at the present time, it would be desirable-but provision for a Hospital, Surgery and bath house should be made".

[2] The small single storey brick gaol with bluestone trim was designed by colonial architect James Barnet and built between 1879 and 1881.

In 1981 Mr. Peter Kiely took over the lease and ran the gaol as a tourist attraction, retaining the cottage as a residence, and from 2000, Mr. Paul Swarbrick has been the lessee.

[2] The form of the buildings is generally a series of pavilions having hipped slate roofs enclosed within a high brick wall.

[2] Since 1995 the Council of Wentworth Shire has undertaken a comprehensive restoration program including repairs to all slate roofs, new guttering, salt protection to brick walls, external and internal painting and interpretation.

In 2012 a project was completed to restore deteriorating brickwork through the injection of silicone at the base perimeter walls, painting of the gaol buildings, improved drainage and landscaping of the surrounds.

[2] The former gaol is now a tourism attraction for the region, and is open for public tours, from 10:00am to 5:00pm local time, Monday to Friday.

From 1986 onwards these works have been undertaken in accord with a conservation plan prepared by Elizabeth Vines, Heritage Consultant.

[2] Old Wentworth Gaol is also of state heritage significance for its research, archaeological and interpretive potential to contribute to the understanding of crime, punishment and incarceration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in NSW.

[2] Old Wentworth Gaol was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 October 2016 having satisfied the following criteria.

Barnet designed Wentworth Gaol and was responsible for some of Sydney's most prominent public buildings, including the General Post Office, as well as defence works at Port Jackson, Botany Bay and Newcastle, and court-houses, gaols, lock-ups, police stations, post offices and numerous lighthouses throughout regional NSW.

[2] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

[2] The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

Old Wentworth Gaol is of state heritage significance for its research, archaeological and interpretive potential to contribute to the understanding of crime, punishment and incarceration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in NSW.

[2] The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

Old Wentworth Gaol is of state heritage significance as a representative example of colonial incarceration and demonstrates how social and architectural planning considerations were applied to crime and punishment in NSW in the 19th century.