H I S T O R Y

The site on which Boggo Road Gaol stands was first surveyed in 1863. In May of 1880, the site was designated a prison reserve. By the late 1800’s, Queensland prisons had become dangerously overcrowded, and the need for more prisons became a priority for the state government. In 1898, the Queensland government initiated plans to construct a purpose built prison for women at the Boggo Road site. It was to be built next to an existing prison for men that had opened in July of 1883. Construction of the women’s prison did not begin until October of 1901 and relied heavily on of the labour efforts of male prisoners from the existing male prison. Local builders, Lind and Son completed the gaol for female offenders in June of 1903. This company would later go on to build St Andrew’s Church, which is located in Brisbane City. The women’s gaol officially opened on the 3rd October 1903. This allowed for the closure of the Toowoomba Prison and the Fortitude Police Gaol, and the transfer of all prisoners from these sites to Boggo Road Gaol.

The new women’s prison was not connected to the existing men’s prison and was maintained and administered separately. It remained a women’s prison until 1921, when the entire Boggo Road site was reorganised to allow for the closure of the St Helena Island penal centre. The gaol on St Helena Island (located in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane) had fallen into disrepair. The Boggo Road Gaol female prison was now to be used for the confinement of male prisoners transferred from St Helena that were serving long sentences. The women were transferred to a building that no longer exists, at the southern end of the site. These changes meant that all industrial activities carried out on St Helena were transferred to Boggo Road. Security was updated and a new workshop was built in 1929. Boggo Road Gaol was now responsible for large part of Queensland’s overall prison industrial production. The workshops produced timber works, saddlery, and clothing. During the Second World War the workshops produced items such as gas alarms for Civil Defence. 

Most of the existing buildings at Boggo Road Gaol are those originally constructed during the 1901-1903 period. Only the large observation tower, visits area, and detention unit, were added after 1903. Many old buildings on the site have been demolished over the years, including the original prison for men, which was levelled in 1976. In the mid1970’s, Boggo Road Gaol became a maximum-security prison and by the 1980’s, Boggo Road had become a prison surrounded in controversy. Unrest at the gaol saw inmates undertake hunger strikes, roof top protests, and riot over the poor conditions and treatment they believed they were being subjected to. A Queensland government inquiry into the conditions of state prisons found Boggo Road to be outdated and inadequate for the housing of prisoners. The gaol was decommissioned in 1989, and officially closed its doors as a correctional centre in late November of the same year. The gaol has operated as a museum and place of interest since 1992. It is Queensland’s oldest existing prison and attracts thousands of visitors through its doors each year. Boggo Road Gaol remains one of Queensland’s most significant historical, educational, and architectural landmarks.