Location | Dutton Park, Queensland, Australia |
---|---|
Security class | Maximum Security |
Opened | July 1883 |
Closed | November 1989 |
Managed by | At first prisons fell under the control of the Sheriff until the 1890s. The Prisons Department (later the Department of Correctional Services), ran the site until closure. As a historical site the prison was run by different government departments, including State Development and Public Works. |
H.M. Prison Brisbane, commonly known as Boggo Road Gaol, was Queensland's main prison from the 1880s to the 1980s. By the time it closed, it had become notorious for poor conditions and rioting. Located on Annerley Road in Dutton Park, an inner southern suburb of Brisbane, it is the only surviving intact gaol in Queensland that reflects penological principles of the 19th century. [1] After closing in 1992, the larger 1960s section was demolished, leaving the heritage listed section (built as a women's prison in 1905).
It was officially known as "Brisbane Gaol" but was commonly known as "Boggo Road" after the original name of the Annerley Road. A new street formed after 1996 now has the name Boggo Road.
In the 1850s, the district where the gaol was subsequently located was known unofficially as "Boggo" or "Boggo Scrub", and by the late 1850s the track through the area was known as Boggo Road. [2]
It has been suggested that the name came about because the area was very boggy in wet weather. Another theory is that Boggo (or "Bloggo" or "Bolgo") was a corruption of an Aboriginal word meaning 'two leaning trees', and that the road was named after two prominent trees at either One-Mile Swamp or what is now Wilkins Street, off Annerley Road. [2] Another possibility is that Boggo Road was an unofficial and unmaintained short-cut between Ipswich Road and Stanley Street that became very boggy after rain. [3] Boggo Road was officially renamed Annerley Road in 1903, but the colloquial name for the gaol that had long been in use stayed. [4]
In 1863, land off Boggo Road was set aside as a government reserve, finally proclaimed a gaol reserve in 1880. [5] [4] The first cellblock opened on 2 July 1883, [6] built by Robert Porter, contained 57 cells, and was constructed using materials from the demolished Petrie Terrace Jail. [6] [7] In 1903, a new prison was built to hold female prisoners. [1] This later became known as the No. 2 Division, and is now the only section still standing, and is listed on the Queensland State Heritage Register. The "No. 1 Division" built in 1883 was the scene of 42 hangings, including the hanging of Ernest Austin in 1913—the last execution in Queensland. A new prison was built around the perimeter of No. 1 prison during the 1960s and No. 1 prison was demolished leaving area for an oval and recreational facilities for the newly built prison, which had running cold water and toilet facilities in all cells. Under the oval was the facility that became known as the "black hole" where prisoners were subjected to "punishment". The "black hole" continued in use until the late 1980s. A new women's gaol was also built at this time. The gaol was originally designed to cater for 40 male prisoners serving as a holding place for prisoners heading to St Helena Island in Moreton Bay. [8] However, by 1989 there were 187 male prisoners and the women's facility had around 200 additional prisoners.
Protests at the gaol during the 1970s saw inmates undertake hunger strikes, roof-top protests, and rioting over the poor conditions and treatment. The prison was constantly in the headlines and became notorious around Australia. Cells in the No. 2 prison did not have any form of sanitation, and facilities for washing were lacking. [7] Prisoners were required to use a bucket through the evening for toilet breaks and empty it, or "slop out", in the morning. A Queensland Government inquiry into the living conditions of State prisons found Boggo Road to be outdated and inadequate for prisoners' needs. No. 2 Division was closed in 1989. No. 1 division was closed in 1992 and was demolished in 1996 (a small section of what was "C5" and guard tower still remain). [1] The women's prison operated until 2000 and was demolished in 2006. [5]
Since 1992, the No. 2 Division was home to the Boggo Road Gaol Museum, which featured displays of prison-related artefacts. Throughout the 1990s, ex-officers conducted guided tours of the site, and from 2003 the museum and tours were operated by the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society, a non-profit incorporated association of volunteers. [9] From 2012-20, Boggo Road Gaol was a tourist attraction with guided tours being conducted by Boggo Road Gaol Pty. [10] [11] Like many other similar places around the country, the site also hosts guided ghost tours.
In 1993, Boggo Road Gaol hosted the concert "Jailhouse Rock", which included bands such as Divinyls, Rose Tattoo, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Spy Vs Spy and Powderfinger. [12]
Redevelopment of the surrounding site began in 2006, leading to the temporary closure of the Boggo Road Gaol historical site. Since 2012 the gaol has been re-opened to the public. [10] Boggo Road has since been turned into an urban village called Boggo Road Urban Village and was completed in 2010. [13] [14]
The No. 2 Division and the remnants of No. 1 Division were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1993. [15]
42 prisoners were hanged at the Gaol. [25]
Name | Year of birth | Year of death | Place of origin | Victims |
---|---|---|---|---|
James Gardiner | 1864 | 1883 | Scotland | Murder of Ada Gardiner at Rockhampton [26] |
Jango | c.1866 | 1883 | Australia (Aboriginal) | Murder of Mrs Eliza Mills at Dingo [26] |
George | 1858 | 1883 | Australia (Aboriginal) | Rape of young girl at Rockhampton [26] |
Walter Edward Gordon | 1857 | 1885 | England | Murder of Walter Bunning on Darr River Downs station [27] |
Tim Tie | 1856 | 1886 | China | Murder of Jimmy Ah Fook near Dulbydilla [28] |
Wong Tong | 1857 | 1886 | China | Murder of Cock Tow at the Seaview Plantation, Bundaberg [29] |
Christopher Pickford | 1856 | 1887 | United States | Murder of Martin Emmerson at Ravenswood [30] |
Ellen Thompson | 1846 | 1887 | Ireland | Murder of her husband William Thompson near Port Douglas [31] |
John Harrison | 1860 | 1887 | England | Murder of William Thompson near Port Douglas [31] |
Edmond Duhamel | 1851 | 1888 | France | Murder of Sarah Descury at Rockhampton [32] [33] |
Sedin | 1864 | 1888 | Java | Murders of John Fitzgerald, Christian Mariager, and J. P. Davis at Normanton [32] |
Donald | c.1863 | 1892 | Australia (Aboriginal) | Rape of a married white woman [34] |
Francis Charles Horrocks | 1875 | 1892 | Queensland | Murder of Rudolph Weissmuller at Mooraree [35] |
George Gleeson | 1865 | 1892 | India | Murder of Patrick McKiernan at Prince of Wales Island [36] |
Leonard William Moncado | 1850 | 1892 | Chile | Murder of Bob, an Aboriginal boy aboard the barque "Sketty Belle" [37] |
George Thomas Blantern | 1858 | 1893 | England | Murder of Flora McDonald at Marlborough [38] |
Hatsuro Abe | 1863 | 1894 | Japan | Murder of a Japanese woman named Omatzie at Thursday Island [39] |
Mi-Orie | 1866 | 1895 | Malaita Island | Murder of Francis Macartney near Bundaberg [37] |
Narasemai | 1862 | 1895 | Malaita Island | Murder of Francis Macartney near Bundaberg [37] |
Sayer (Safhour) | 1870 | 1895 | Malaita Island | Murder of Peter Anderson at Etowrie, near Mackay [40] |
Jacky | 1864 | 1895 | Australia (Aboriginal) | Murder of Jacky Williams at Mount Morgan [41] |
Frank Tinyana | 1858 | 1895 | Filipino | Murder of Senior Constable William Conroy at Thursday Island [42] |
Willie Broom | 1870 | 1900 | Australia (Aboriginal) | Murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Le Blowitz at Stanton Harcourt, near Bundaberg [37] |
Charles Beckman | 1859 | 1901 | Germany | Murder of Alfred Anderson at McCartney's Creek, near Bowen [43] |
Wandee | 1881 | 1901 | South Sea Islands | Murder of Alfred Burnstead at Ayr [37] |
John Rheuben | 1846 | 1901 | Portugal | Murder of Fanny Hardwick at Rockhampton [37] |
Orifough | 1879 | 1901 | South Sea Islands | Murder of Morris Summers at Ashburton, near Mackay [44] |
David Alexander Brown | 1846 | 1901 | USA | Murder of Graham Haygrath at Charters Towers [37] |
Patrick Kenniff | 1865 | 1903 | NSW | Murder of Police Constable George Doyle at Lethbridge's Pocket near Carnarvon [37] |
Sow Too Low | 1875 | 1903 | Malaita Island | Murders of Sergeant David Johnson, John Martin and Alice Gunning in the Mackay area [45] |
Gosano | 1870 | 1905 | South Sea Islands | Murder of Jack Parsons at Ingham [46] |
James Warton | 1845 | 1905 | Ireland | Murder of William Munday at Toowong [47] |
Johannes | 1867 | 1906 | Ceylon (Sri Lanka) | Murder of Police Constable Albert G. Price [48] at Mackay [49] |
Twadiga | 1876 | 1906 | Solomon Islands | Murder of William Baulch at Mackay [49] |
Look Kow | 1844 | 1906 | China | Murder of Lee Choy Yuen at Townsville [37] [50] |
August Millewski | 1855 | 1907 | Germany | Murder of Wallum Nabby at Nanango [51] |
Bismarck | 1886 | 1909 | Australia (Aboriginal) | Murder of Mrs Janet Evitts at Jundah [52] |
Arthur Ross | 1888 | 1909 | England | Murder of James Muir (Bank Clerk) at Gayndah [53] |
Alexander Bradshaw | 1882 | 1910 | Queensland | Murder of George Sutherland at Carron River (The charge of murder of Sutherland's wife Alice was then not proceeded with) [54] [55] |
George David Silva | 1884 | 1912 | Queensland/Ceylon | Murdered six members of the Ching family at Alligator Creek [56] [57] |
Charles Deen | 1865 | 1913 | Ceylon | Murder of Peter Dina (Or Dinah) at Innisfail [58] [59] |
Ernest Austin | 1890 | 1913 | Victoria | Rape and murder of 11-year-old Ivy Mitchell at Cedar Creek Rd, Samford [60] [61] |
Boggo Road is mentioned in the Australian soap opera Prisoner as the prison where Joan Ferguson worked prior to coming to Melbourne. It was also visited in the season final of The Amazing Race Australia 2 . [62] Boggo Road is also the setting for the second episode of the sixth season of the American reality show The Mole . [63] Australian rock band, The Chats also reference a 1989 riot at Boggo Road in the song "Boggo Breakout", within the album Get Fucked , released in 2022. Eli Bell, the protagonist of the novel and Netflix series Boy Swallows Universe breaks into the prison to visit his mother Frankie on Christmas Day. Eli and his brother Gus' babysitter Slim Halliday was notorious for his escape attempts from the prison, one of which Eli replicated, but was unsuccessful.[ citation needed ]
Digby Frank Denham was a politician and businessman in Queensland, Australia. He was a Premier of Queensland and Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was the first of only two Queensland Premiers to lose their own seat at a general election.
Dutton Park railway station is located on the Beenleigh line in Queensland, Australia. It serves the Brisbane suburb of Dutton Park. The station is one of the oldest on the network.
Dutton Park is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Dutton Park had a population of 2,134 people.
Annerley is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Annerley had a population of 11,891 people.
Bathurst Correctional Centre, originally built as Bathurst Gaol in 1888, is a prison for men and women located in the city of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, and operated by the Department of Communities and Justice. Bathurst holds inmates sentenced under State or Australian criminal law, along with a small number of remand prisoners.
Toowoomba Gaol is a historic prison site in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
Fairfield is a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Fairfield had a population of 3,106 people.
Capital punishment in Australia has been abolished in all jurisdictions since 1985. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.
Ipswich Road is major road in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The road has been an important transport route since the 19th century when it connected the towns of Brisbane and Ipswich. In the 1990s, the section from Moorooka in Brisbane to Riverview in Ipswich was replaced by the Ipswich Motorway.
The Ballarat Gaol, a former maximum security prison for males, females and children, is located in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Replacing temporary structures including prison hulks in the Bay of Port Phillip and holding yards in Ballarat, the gaol operated between 1862 and 1965.
St Helena Island is a heritage-listed island in Moreton Bay, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is 21 kilometres (13 mi) east of Brisbane and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the mouth of the Brisbane River. Originally used as a prison, it is now a national park. Local Australian Aboriginals called the island Noogoon but it was renamed St Helena after an Aboriginal man named Napoleon was exiled there in 1827. The island is visible from the mainland, particularly the suburbs of Wynnum, Manly and Lota. It has its own permanent water supply, a spring in the centre of the island. Many migratory birds use the island as a watering hole; it forms part of the Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage Important Bird Area, so identified by BirdLife International because it supports large numbers of migratory waders, or shorebirds.
Ernest Austin was an Australian criminal, notable for being the last person to receive capital punishment in Queensland.
The Shire of Stephens was a local government area in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The shire, administered from Annerley, covered an area of 9 square miles (23 km2), and existed as a local government entity from 1886 until 1925, when it was amalgamated into the City of Brisbane under the City of Brisbane Act 1924.
Frank Pearson was an Australian bushranger, operating under the pseudonym Captain Starlight.
South Brisbane Cemetery, also known as Dutton Park Cemetery, is a heritage-listed cemetery at 21 Fairfield Road and Annerley Road, Dutton Park, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, adjacent to the Brisbane River. It was built from 1870 to 1990s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 October 2003.
Patrick Kenniff was an Australian bushranger who roamed western Queensland, Australia, with his brother James Kenniff (1869–1940). They were primarily cattle thieves, but the brothers were found guilty of murder and Patrick was hanged in Boggo Road Gaol in 1903.
Annerley Road is an arterial road in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was formerly known as Boggo Road due to the boggy condition of the road.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church at 68 Hawthorne Street, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Since 1869, three church buildings have stood on this hill top site. The current church was completed in 1930. It was designed by the architect Eric Ford, featuring Romanesque and Spanish Mission Revival style architecture. Its preserved original architectural features make the church a traditional wedding venue of inner Brisbane. The church was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 May 2008.
Michael Barry was a convicted Australian murderer.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) — mytalk.com.au. Retrieved 16 December 2014.