Boggo Road Jail (usually known as Boggo Road Gaol – you know, ye olde English)is situated in the south Brisbane suburb of Dutton Park and is one of the things to do in Brisbane.
Early stages of the prison were around in the 1880s and it was completed in the early 1900s and was a high security prison until it was closed in 1989. The front entrance of the jail is shown below.
The reason I like this prison because it gives a fairly realistic representation of what it must have been like to be locked up in a cage – that is, absolute hell. Sure, there’s probably a good reason why people where imprisoned in there, but you’d want to make sure you’re not the one committing the crime. Since closure, the prison was left pretty much as is, including the graffiti (way more offensive than Australian Slang!), which I will talk about more in a moment.
Boggo Road Jail – The Real Deal Prison Cells!
The Boggo Road Jail prison cells were fairly primitive, considering it was only closed not that long ago – that is, no toilets or sewerage system was ever installed, so the prisoners had to use a metal bucket as their toilet. One of these amazing pieces of plumbing at the Boggo Road Jail is shown below:
What I found fascinating about the Boggo Road Jail was the graffiti that had been left behind and had not been covered over for the sake of political correctness. It is what it is!
The graffiti gives an amazing insight into the mind of a maximum security prisoner – and I can tell you that their artistic impressions on the walls hardly included illustrations of flowers or nice things like colourful unicorns prancing around the cell walls. The lyrics to the AC/DC song, ‘Jailbreak’ were almost unanimously written in every jail cell that I saw, so I’m guessing this famous song was always at Number 1 on the Boggo Road Jail Music charts.
Especially this lyric – ‘Gonna make a jailbreak, And I’m lookin’ towards the sky, I’m gonna make a jailbreak, Oh, how I wish that I could fly‘
From perusing the graffiti, I deduced that there wasn’t much rehabilitation going on in that prison – there’s a lot of hate there. I enjoyed checking out Boggo Road Jail, in my own backyard, more than I did going to Alcatraz in San Francisco. Alcatraz seems pretty sanitised in comparison, as all of the graffiti has been removed, with the biggest attraction is Al Capone’s cell and other stories associated with him.
One day, I’d like to visit the San Pedro Prison in Bolivia that Denham Hitchcock managed to check out.
Anyway, I’ve included a sample of the Boggo Road Jail graffiti below in these photos.
WARNING: Some of these photos contain potentially offensive or explicit content.
For your information: a ‘Screw’ is a Prison Warden.
You can view more information at the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society.
The Boggo Road Jail is open for tours. I know previously, there were ghost tours of the jail at night, and if you really wanted to, one could experience being locked up in a cell overnight.
Maybe not for me. I’m brave, but not that brave. I’m sure there are some ghosts still haging around there!
Check out more at The Big House: Life Inside a Supermax Security Prison. To find out more about Brisbane, check out Australia’s Brisbane & Queensland.
Other things to do in Queensland and Australia after visiting Boggo Road Jail – visit The Saint or drive the Mitsubishi Pajero.
I’m surprised that they weren’t made to clean the graffiti off the walls.
.-= Dan´s last blog ..Five ways to increase your travel fund =-.
Facinating post – unbelievable they had to use buckets.
.-= tempo dulu´s last blog ..Who has the best prison cell in Indonesia – Schapelle Corby or Artalyta Suryani? =-.
Memories of this place come back to me as an inmate (NOT PROUD OF IT)
back in 1978 aged 18,and this place was indeed full of hard men with no
hope of rehabilitation, bashings rapings stabbings and guards with filthy
attitudes,cells without windows the ever smelly sh-t bucket washed in 3A yard every morning,no work.there was no graffitting wall and doors because if you were court drawing it was 1 day in the hole (black hole)-a place to scare the tuffest villans.
Still one day when it opens again I plan to go have a look at E36 and maybe leave a message on the wall.
Hi E36, thanks for your comment. I thought the graffitti provided a valuable insight to jail life, that was until you left your comment! It definitely adds to the post. Hope things are good for you now.
Hi anthony,all good,I think the graffitti would have only been possible close to when the jail was closeing down because there are no dates attatched to the images,
hi anthony and e36 my name is willy and i was at bogga during the late 80s and early 90s when it was mainly a remand centre they had sentence imates there but they all had the jobs i was there when darren jeffers and shane ryan and others escape from k wing in 1991 and scaled down the wall wif a sheet if i wasnt in jwing i would hav escape 2 i was also mates wif nathan jones and remember wen he kicked his whole cell door off wen he was up in c wing i lso met wally lewis there and athur beetson and sam backo was the aboriginal and torris str8 islander social worker my cousin was also the 1 who went thru the main gates steve witana harry and jason meet them all up maxi sir david longlands where in friends wif them all aurtur currie stewy dawson horse ryan neil ashton gentlemen joe just 2 name a few the 2 deaf mutes who killed the taxi driver the sulivans father and son who did all the arm rob on the coast and his dad played league 4 australia im back in new zealand now deported happy memories made me who i am.
hey my name is Cole creevey my father Gregory Alan creevey was in boggo road division 2 unfortunately he passed away when I was 2 18 years ago I was hoping you knew abit about him I am stuggling to finding information about him would really appreciate your help if possible much appreciated
Hi, sorry I don’t – not sure how you would find out either. Try your nearest historical society and they might know.
Hey Cole, I’m Ben creevey Greg’s nephew. Bob’s second son. If u would like to talk send email or I’ll give you my number.
Hi i was there in 85, used to work in the laundry. I still remember the coffee table near the enterance of the meal room. as well as what was under there !!!
Sounds like Boggo Road Jail was an interesting place. Now you have me intrigued – what was under the coffee table? Or is this something I shouldn’t be asking!
Was a mattress (need I say more)
Hey Anthony. I like your domain and simply wish to say I write about Boggo Road in the olden days. So much history and so much is now hidden away from the sensitive eyers of modern day citizens. My nane is Larry Campbell and my sellf published book THE REAL BOOGO ROAD’ has been picked up by Bewely Books in the UK. I was a kid in a 5 yard cage with Slim Halliday and also Kel Langely in 1964. I am presently working on a writing called ;BOGGO ROAD TALES.. My heart goes out to the young men and their falies that suffered a rotten system of bullying and abuse. I know that many created beautiful families and sadly most of the prisoners of my day are dead. If you wish anthony send me a postal adress and I will send you a copy of THE REAL BOGGO ROAD when it is published this coming January. Good work mate and have a great year ahead. [email protected]
Hi Larry, sounds interesting – I’ll be in touch!
Hi, I’m trying to write a book on Harry McSweeney, any info, old stories would be appreciated
cheers judy
the guy trying to find info on his father maybe try writing to the Coroner’s office & maybe they can also supply police records…or going to local newspaper history section and going through old newpapers etc