Boggo Road Gaol

Okay, so I'm here at what's left of Boggo Road Gaol, officially H.M. Prison Brisbane. It was Queensland's main prison for about a hundred years, from the 1880s right up to the 1980s. You can tell just by looking at it that it's got a lot of history, and it's actually the only intact jail left in Queensland that shows you what 19th-century prisons were like.

The name "Boggo Road" is pretty interesting. Back in the 1850s, this whole area was unofficially called "Boggo" or "Boggo Scrub," and the road itself was known as Boggo Road. Some people think it was because the area got really boggy when it rained, which makes sense. There's also a theory that "Boggo" might be a corruption of an Aboriginal word meaning 'two leaning trees,' possibly referring to some prominent trees nearby. Even though the road was officially renamed Annerley Road in 1903, the jail kept its old, colloquial name, and a new street formed after 1996 even got the name Boggo Road again.

The first cellblock, called "No. 1 Division," opened in 1883. It was built using materials from the old Petrie Terrace Jail and had 57 cells. This place saw 42 hangings, with the last execution in Queensland happening here in 1913. The section I'm looking at now, the one that's heritage-listed and still standing, was originally built in 1903 as a women's prison. Later, in 1921, it became "No. 2 Division" for men.

The jail actually grew quite a bit. In the 1960s, a new prison was built around the perimeter of No. 1, which then got demolished to make way for an oval and recreational facilities. Those new cells even had running cold water and toilets, which was a big deal. But underneath that oval was something called the "black hole," used for punishment right up until the late 1980s.

Conditions here really deteriorated. By the 1970s, there were hunger strikes, rooftop protests, and riots because of how bad things were. Cells in No. 2 Division didn't even have sanitation; prisoners had to use a bucket overnight and "slop out" in the morning. An inquiry found it outdated, and No. 2 Division closed in 1989. The original No. 1 Division closed in 1992 and was mostly demolished in 1996, though a small bit of "C5" and a guard tower still remain.

After it closed as a prison, No. 2 Division became the Boggo Road Gaol Museum in 1992, with ex-officers giving tours. They even hosted a "Jailhouse Rock" concert in 1993 with bands like Divinyls and Powderfinger! It was closed for a while during some urban redevelopment from 2005 to 2012, but then reopened for tours, including ghost tours. Now, it's temporarily closed again as of March 2022 for more development, so check ahead if you're planning to visit. It's a really significant spot, listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.