BOGGO ROAD OFFICIALLY CLOSED 25 YEARS AGO

BRISBANE CORRECTIONAL CENTRE CLOSES – 27 JULY 1992

25 years ago, on Monday 27 July 1992 Corrective Services Minister Glen Milliner closed the gates of Number One Division of the Brisbane Correctional Centre, officially ending the era of Boggo Road Jail Australia’s most notorious prison. In May 1988 the Kennedy Report had recommended the closure as well as a new focus on rehabilitation rather than retribution.

Over 119 years of operation, thousands of men and women served time behind its red-brick walls.

There were many infamous inmates including the “Houdini of Boggo Road” escapologist and jail-breaker “Slim” Halliday and the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub fire-bombers James Richard Finch and John Andrew Stuart. Forty-two prisoners were executed by hanging – the last in 1913.

In the 1980s Boggo Road was the scene of dramatic escapes, riots, hunger-strikes and roof-top protests which led to the prisons official closure 25 years ago in July 1992.

Heritage-listed No. 2 Division – the remaining section of Boggo Road – is as it was when it closed. It is part of the new Boggo Road Urban Village redevelopment.  Since 2012 Boggo Road Gaol Pty Ltd has conducted guided tours, events and experiences at the historic site.

SPECIAL EVENTS: Thursday 27 July 2017 – 10.30am outside the prison gates to commemorate 25 years since Boggo Road Gaol’s closure + History. Saturday night – Ghost Tours. 28 / 29 July – Hourly History Tours with re-enactments by the Prison Players.

Jail Open 7 Days – HISTORY tour (11am)  

Book Group Tours and Jail Hire / Events

RSVP bookings@boggoroadgaol.com