Boggo Road & Beyond  

Tom King (2007)

Tom King spent 33 years of his working life at various Queensland prisons, rising to the rank of superintendent. In 1989, together with hundreds of other senior and junior prison staff throughout the state, he was declared redundant and the Kennedy report, which preceded the American inspired "cost effective" prisons-for-profit concept, was produced.

In Boggo Road and Beyond, Tom recalls his time at Boggo Road and other prisons, where he was a first-hand witness to some of the most interesting and turbulent eras in Queensland prison history, and he offers a frank and compelling assessment of what was right and wrong with the system during that time.

The Life and
Escapades of Slim
Halliday

Christopher Dawson(August 2005)

Arthur 'Slim' Halliday was the
most persistent escape artist in
the history of Boggo Road Gaol.
In his day, Halliday was the most
infamous face of the gaol.
Newspapers charted his 'career'
inside the notorious prison for 40
years, often on the front page.
Today he remains one of the
definitive icons of Boggo Road,
which now operates as an
historical site. This booklet
chronicles the prison life of Arthur
Halliday and follows his
progression from train fare
dodger to cat burglar to murderer.
It details his numerous escape
attempts from the prison that he
hated so much and helps paint a
picture of a highly intelligent but
troubled man.

South Brisbane Cemetery
and the executed prisoners
of Boggo Road

Christopher Dawson (May 2005)

They came from all corners of the
world - Asia, Europe, the Americas
and Australia ... They killed for
love or money, in desperation or
drunkenness ... They were all
hanged at Boggo Road, and they
were buried in South Brisbane
Cemetery.

A Pit of Shame tells the stories of
the 42 people hanged at the
notorious Boggo Road Gaol - their
crimes, their last words, and their
deaths.

Background, beliefs and fate
in the afterlife of Chinese
prisoners executed in
Queensland

Leonie Gane (December 2005)

In recent years the Boggo Road gaol
has gained a dubious reputation as a
'haunted' place. This book offers an
original look at the subject from the
perspective of traditional Chinese
beliefs. Produced by Leonie Gane, a
writer on Chinese divinatory arts,
Hungry Ghosts is a unique blend of
Chinese philosophy and Queensland
history that answers such questions
as:
• What is a 'hungry ghost'?
• Why was one Chinese prisoner
   buried without his head?
• What is the 'Black Rope Hell'?
• Who were the nine Chinese men
   executed in Queensland ?
• Why were Chinese witnesses sworn
   in by blowing out matches or
   breaking saucers with their knees?

A short history of Boggo
Road's No.2 Division
1903-1989

Christopher Dawson & Frank Wood
(June 2005)

The heritage-listed 'No.2 Division' is
all that remains of the larger Boggo
Road prison complex that operated
in Brisbane for over a century.
Originally a state-of-the-art prison
for women, No.2 Division went on
become one of the most notorious
male prisons in Australian history
before its enforced closure in 1989.
Originally written for visitors to the
Boggo Road Gaol Museum, Last
Prison Standing provides a concise
and information-packed history of
this gaol and those inside it,
highlighting the unique qualities
that make it such an important
historical site.

Christopher Dawson & Frank Wood
(September 2005)

The subject of prison escapes holds a
fascination for a lot of people. It is
also a subject that has played on the
minds of many prisoners, locked
away in cells or forced to labour for
many hours a day. This book tells
the story of a wide range of escapes
and attempted escapes from
Queensland's most notorious prison.
The tall redbrick walls that surround
the prison were supposed to make it
escape-proof. The stories inside this
book show that prisoners had other
ideas. Many of them tried to gain
their freedom over the years in
escapes involving ropes, bedsheets,
saws, hooks, keys, bar spreaders,
guns, trucks and a combination of
ingenuity, stupidity and opportunism.
Not all of them are 'classic' escape
stories, but even the most low-key
escapes help tell the story of how the
Boggo Road Gaol did (or did not do)
it's job.

Frank Wood (BRGHS, July 2006)

"It appeared from the evidence of the
constable that the defendant had, of
late, been rather given to truant
wanderings and occasional fits of
jollification at the public houses in
South Brisbane, which were totally at
variance with the vows she made
when the conjugal knot was tied. On
these occasions she was not over
particular with regard to her
language, which consisted of some of
the choicest epithets culled from
Billingsgate phraseology and caused
much annoyance to the respectable
portion of the inhabitants."

(Moreton Bay Courier, 5 Feb. 1848)

A selection of 19th century newspaper
articles, highlighting the distinctive
style of 'journalese' that was
employed to convey both humorous
and serious perspectives on crime
and punishment in Brisbane.

Heady Days in Dutton Park

Christopher Dawson
(December 2006)

100 years before the Schonell Bridge
transformed the quiet slopes of
Dutton Park, the arrival of the electric
tramway turned the neglected
riverside reserve into 'the most
picturesque and charming open-air
resort in Australia'. The trams
ushered in the era of the 'Continental'
variety shows, when live performers,
concert bands and silent movies drew
an estimated 5,000 people per night
to the park. A switchback railway was
built, and enclosed swimming baths
allowed bathers to enjoy the crystal
clear waters of the river. By the time
of the Great Depression, however,
the park had fallen into disrepair,
becoming a shanty town of relief
workers. Absolute Fairyland recalls
the surprising historyof the rise
and fall of a suburban park.

Boggo Road Heritage
Walk

Christopher Dawson
(September 2007)

Annerley Road, formerly known
as Boggo Road, has a lot more
history than your average
suburban street. This walk will
take you through a landscape
filled with 19th and early 20th
century heritage - if you know
where to look. Discover historic
cemeteries, parks, prisons,
hospitals, schools, churches,
cinemas, bridges, cenotaphs
and hotels on one of Brisbane's
most fascinating heritage trails.

Hanging & the
Moreton Bay Convicts

Christopher Dawson
(November 2007)

Mutineers, murderers, sheep
stealers and runaways. These
are the stories of the twelve
Moreton Bay convicts who were
hanged in the 1820s and 1830s.
This book, from the author of A
Pit of Shame and The Prisoners
of Toowong Cemetery, uncovers
another fascinating episode of
Brisbane's hanging history.
Find out:

• Who was the teenage
  pickpocket sentenced to death
  three times?
• Was convict life so bad that
  men committed murder just for
  the 'escape' of being hanged?
• Who was the acrobat who
  became the most notorious of
  all NewSouth Wales hangmen?

South Brisbane
Cemetery: A capital
punishment history trail

Christopher Dawson
(April 2007)

The historic South Brisbane
Cemetery, also known as the
Dutton Park Cemetery, is an
important touchstone to
Brisbane's past.

This publication takes the
reader on an intriguing
graveside tour, highlighting
the human connection between
the cemetery, the Boggo Road
Gaol, and the era of hanging in
Queensland.

Chinese burials in the
Brisbane General
Cemetery

Leonie Gane (August 2008)

Much of the history of
Queensland's Chinese pioneers
lies forgotten in the Toowong
Cemetery. This little book, which
is a companion to Leonie Gane's
The Hungry Ghosts of Boggo Road,
seeks to fill in a few of the blanks
and give a face to some of the
names in the cemetery register,
while taking a look at Chinese
beliefs and burial customs
and answering such questions as:

• What is the 'Bucket of Troubled
   Origins'?
• What is the 'Spirit that Clears
   the Way'?
• Who was George Shue?
• Who were the Chinese pioneers
   buried in the Toowong
   Cemetery?

South Brisbane
Cemetery Symbolism

Tracey Olivieri &
Christopher Dawson
(May2008)

A surprising array of gravestone
symbolism awaits the visitor to the
history-laden cemetery in South
Brisbane. Ships and anchors,
palettes and lambs, angels and
cherubs, Russian and Celtic
crosses, and a variety of plants and
flowers that held a range of now
forgotten meanings for the
Victorian era people who interred
their loved ones in this necropolis.

Rock of Ages provides an attractive
photographic record of these
headstones, taken from the
comprehensive databases of the
'Friends of South Brisbane
Cemetery'.

The history of a
unique suburban street

Christopher Dawson
(February 2008)


A chronicle of the early days of
Annerley Road, which grew from a
winding bullock track to become a
unique road with a unique name.
This book covers the years when
hundreds of Indigenous people
camped in a rich environment, to
the European development of the
One-Mile Swamp and Boggo, and
up to the near complete
disappearance of 'Boggo' from the
Brisbane lexicon in the early 20th
century. By that time the area was
home to one of Queensland's oldest
cemeteries and what was to become
Australia's most notorious prison,
and a 19th century legacy that
survives to this day.

Life, Death & the old
Petrie Terrace Gaol
Christopher Dawson (September 2006)

Toowong Cemetery is home to the
graves and memorials of many of the
great and good figures in Brisbane
history. There are some graves,
however, which lie hidden and forgotten.
Among these are the graves of the 23
men who died in Brisbane Gaol, Petrie
Terrace, 1875-1882. The often-dramatic
tales of this 'international brigade' of
prisoners are a reminder of life on the
other side of the tracks and of deaths
behind locked doors. Find out:
• How a horribly bungled Brisbane
  hanging drew the attention of Downing
  Street in London
• How the 'Aboriginal Ned Kelly' found his
  way to the Anthropological Society of
  Berlin
• Why the University of Sydney has the
  heads of two of the Toowong Cemetery
  prisoners
• How a convicted child molester became
  Queensland's executioner