Life & Death in the Sunshine State

Ernest Austin,1913 (Truth)

(This article is adapted from The Haunting Question: Boggo Road Ghosts?, available as a free ebook here.)

Ernest Austin was sentenced to death in 1913 for the vicious murder and sexual assault of an eleven-year-old girl, Ivy Mitchell of Samford, and he was executed at Boggo Road (this week is the centenary of his hanging, more on that here). The crime was particularly atrocious as he had raped the girl and then cut her throat. The people of Samford never did forgive Austin, and his crime haunted Ivy’s family for the rest of their lives.

Austin found a kind of infamy as the last prisoner to be hanged in Queensland. He has also found a place among the pantheon of alleged Boggo Road ghosts, and there are rather fantastical versions of his death and afterlife currently being circulated on a number of paranormal-themed websites. There are some serious issues with these stories.

"But there's a conspiracy theory to hide the truth!"

The story goes that as he stood upon the scaffold awaiting death, Austin shouted out that he was proud of his crime and that his victim ‘loved it’, and then he laughed heinously, mocked the assembled witnesses, and told them he would return from the grave and cause even more suffering:

"As the executioner released the trapdoors beneath his feet, the murderer began to laugh, all the way to the very end of the 13-foot rope. Even then he tried to force out one last little chuckle from between his lips. It was said that the laughter was often heard in the early mornings in the cellblocks."

The historical record actually tells a very different version of events to those described above. Austin’s execution was witnessed by several reporters and officials, and although there were some minor discrepancies in their reports on the event, they all told a very different story to the later version. His last words, probably spoken under the influence of morphine, were reported in the Brisbane Courier as:

"I ask you all to forgive me. I ask the people of Samford to forgive me. I ask my mother to forgive me. May you all live long and die happy. God save the King! God save the King! God be with you all! Send a wire to my mother and tell her I died happy, won’t you. Yes tell her I died happy with no fear. Goodbye all! Goodbye all!" (Brisbane Courier, 23 September 1913)

A very similar account appeared in the Truth newspaper, this one reporting that ‘God save the King’ were his actual last words. Did the reporters lie? It has been claimed by those defending the ‘evil laughing’ story that this version of events was just part of an official cover-up of the more-disturbing events on the gallows, as the authorities were trying to maintain public support for hanging and did not want the awful truth of what Austin had really said getting out. However, the Courier and the Truthtook opposing stands on capital punishment, so why write the same story? Surely it would have suited the anti-hanging writers at the Truth to print a story with Austin laughing at his executioners, showing the failure of the death sentence to impress any sense of repentance upon him. The angle they instead took was to portray Austin as a ‘feeble-minded degenerate’, someone with a ‘mental deficiency’ who was raised in a home for neglected children and lived an institutionalised life that had made a monster of him. Their headline proclaimed ‘THE STATE SLAYS ITS OWN CREATION’. Blame for the crime was apparently to be shared with government authorities, his Frankensteinian creators.

When you start using claims of an unproven and illogical conspiracy theory to defend a far-fetched ghost story, the game is pretty much up.

"But old timers say it's true!"
In later years, Austin was re-created as a supernatural demon. It has been claimed that prisoners would see a face appear outside their cell door, and when they looked into his eyes they somehow knew it was Austin and that he had made a deal with Satan to deliver their souls in exchange for his own. Having locked eyes with the prisoner, the ghost of Ernest Austin would then come through the door and try to strangle them, driving some to madness…or so the story goes.

I have spoken with many former prisoners and officers, and while some of them have a weird story or two about ghostly happenings, none of them knew anything of this supposed Austin story. I'm talking about people who were actually confined for months in the dormitory area of 1 Division that in earlier years was the gallows area itself. Not only did people not see or hear anything spooky there at all, the prisoners weren't even aware that the place was supposed to be haunted. Quite simply, the story did not exist, much less the ghost.

This also takes into account the tendency of people inside the prison to make up or spread ghost stories just for a laugh. There is plenty of evidence for that happening.

So how did this Austin story come to be? How did it gain currency after the closure of Boggo Road despite strong contradictory evidence? The only plausible explanation is that it was well suited to the theatrical tenor of a ghost tour story. It just takes one person to refer to someone else repeating it, and the ‘evil Austin’ ghost story spreads on the Internet as the desire to tell a sensational story overode a proper reading of the historical record.

He haunts the wrong part of Boggo Road!
One of the mysteries of this story is that Austin is said to haunt No.2 Division - a place he never set foot in. In 1913, No.2 Division was actually a prison for women. Austin was confined and executed in a completely different part of the prison reserve, one that has long since been demolished, but his spirit somehow moved to another building to haunt a part of the ghost tour route. How incredibly convenient.

Be gone, demon!
The transformation of Austin from a vicious but all-too-human murderer into a (literally) satanic monster is an injustice to historical enquiry and an insult to the intelligence. The existence and propagation of this story also demeans the memory of Ivy Mitchell. Not to mention overshadowing the historical importance of the abolition of execution in Queensland (the first part of the British Empire to do so). Fortunately, other people have stepped up to present the real story sans spooks, as when Liam Baker presented an excellent talk on the the life and crime of Ernest Austin at the Royal Historical Society of Queensland's 'Centenary Open Day' in June 2013. We can only hope that the debunking of the phoney phantom of Ernest Austin will help this ridiculous aspect of the story fade into history.

"And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth."
(Mercy Seat, Nick Cave)

There was an interesting result to the quiz on the Boggo Road Gaol Facebook page yesterday. It asked which demographic made up the greatest proportion of the 42 people hanged at Boggo Road, giving a choice of Irish, Aboriginal, Chinese or South Sea Islander as the answer. Unlike most quizzes on that page, the answers were divided, and the whole exercise actually provided a bit of an insight into perceptions about hanging in colonial Queensland. Most people thought it would be Aborigines who suffered the most at the end of the noose, but the correct answer (as given by about 25% of respondents) was actually South Sea Islanders, which clearly surprised some people. The full range actually looked like this:

The overall make-up of convicted prisoners has always reflected historical circumstance. This is why Irish or British men formed a clear majority in early capital punishment statistics when they comprised the vast majority of convicts. The conflict between Indigenous peoples and the new arrivals also resulted in a steady flow of Aborigines into the prisons and onto the gallows throught the 19th century. It comes as little surprise that Aborigines formed the largest number of executions (21) in the overall totals, shown below:

The end of the convict era and the subsequent arrival of waves of immigrants from around the world is also reflected in the execution data. The influx of Chinese labourers to work in regional Queensland during the early 1850s saw a spike of Chinese men held in Brisbane prison during that time, accounting for as much as 40% of prison expenditure in 1851. This was largely a result of workplace relations conflict between the immigrants and their new bosses, not to mention an ever-present backdrop of racist hostility towards non-white immigrants. As the chart below shows, a total of nine Chinese men were hanged in the colony, comprising about 10% of the overall total.

Germans were another prominent immigrant group in 19th-century Queensland, and six German men were hanged here. As far as Boggo Road goes, it was the arrival of South Sea Islanders (or more specifically, Solomon Islanders) from the 1860s onwards that was most reflected in the execution numbers. A total of 13 of these men were hanged in Queensland over the next half-century, eight of them in Boggo Road. The Islanders were brought to work in the sugar plantations in often-controversial circumstances, especially in the earlier years, and there was a lot of racial tension on the central coast. Many of the murder cases involving these men had an element of racial conflict in them, and it is clear that some Islanders did react to provocation in a swift and brutal manner. Most of the executed South Sea Islanders came from Malaita Island (see below) and were no strangers to a violent culture. The novelist Jack London was familiar with the region and described Malaita as "the most savage island in the Solomons". It is notable that even if the Malaita men were counted as their own demographic group, they would still comprise the largest proportion of Boggo Road's executed prisoners. Here is the full list of the hanged prisoners:

Miorie, from Malaita Island, hanged May 1895
Narasemai, Malaita Island, May 1895
Sayer, Malaita Island, July 1895
Wandee, Malaita Island, May 1901
Arafau, Malaita Island, December 1901
Sotulo, Malaita Island, June 1903
Gosano, Malaita Island, April 1905
Twadiga, Gawa Island, May 1906

There was a great deal of unfounded paranoia in white communities regarding South Sea Islander crime, and prison authorities took to bussing in labourers from various plantations in the vicinity of Mackay, Bundaberg and Rockhampton to act as reluctant witnesses at the Brisbane executions of their countrymen. The intent was to make sure that word got back to the plantations and so help reduce capital crime rates. It is interesting that during the 1850s, the authorities had all-but abandoned notions that public hangings had a deterrent effect on witnesses, and introduced private executions instead. It seems that the rule was only applicable to white people (enforced viewing also occurred at a number of hangings of Aboriginal men).

The introduction of the White Australia policy in 1901 saw most South Sea Islanders returned home during the following decade, although some remained and more hangings did take place in Brisbane, the last being in 1906. And that is how South Sea Islanders gained the unwanted distinction of making up the largest numbers of those executed in Boggo Road Gaol.

A small but touching moment provides an epilogue to this article. In 2005 I worked with the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society and Brisbane City Council to install a plaquenear the graves of the hanged prisoners in South Brisbane Cemetery. It lists the names of all those who were hanged, and where they came from. Among other dignitaries, an elder from the South Sea Islander community spoke very movingly at the unveiling ceremony. Earlier this year I was taking a Moonlight Tour through the cemetery one night when I noticed a wreath and a bit of paper with writing on it by the plaque. It had been left there by "A.S.S.I.S.", which on further investigation turned out to be the Australia South Sea Islander Secretariat. This year is the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Islander labourers in Queensland, and it seems the eight men who died on the Boggo Road gallows were not to be forgotten.

Wreaths on the South Brisbane Cemetery plaque (ASSIS)

Can you imagine reading this in the news?

"Today is the 125th anniversary of the death of legendary bushranger Ned Kelly at Melbourne Gaol. To find out more about his legacy, his rise as an Australian icon, and his impact on our national psyche, we spoke to local ghost hunter Joe Seagoon.

'Ned Kelly's ghost now haunts Pentridge Gaol after it moved there to be a part of my tours', Mr Seagoon told us. 'Many have seen his headless ghost walking the corridors, on a horse, wailing maniacally, out of his head under his arm. You can buy my book all about it, Ned Kelly's Ghost Ate My Cat: I'm Totally Not Making This Up on the tour, which... [tails off into two minutes of self-promotion]"

Probably not, but there again Melbourne has different news outlets to Brisbane.

A ghost yesterday.

22 September 2013 was the 100th anniversary of the last hanging to take place in Queensland. In the scheme of things that might not be a big deal to a 21st-century populace because capital punishment has slipped into the 'dark ages' of our memory, a time beyond living history. It barely even made the news when capital punishment was abolished here in 1922, so why should people care now? Truth is, the subject of hanging has become little more than a macabre historical curio in Queensland.

Even so, it is still something of a milestone, so what did we get in the news about the hanging of Ernest Austin, the last person to die on the gallows here? Was it placed in the historical context of declining support for capital punishment in the 1910s? Was there considered input from criminologists, legal experts, or experienced crime-and-punishment historians such as Libby Connors or Mark Finnane? Did we learn anything at all about the actual execution itself?

The answers are no, no and no again. What we got instead was a ghost tours bloke in fancy dress talking like Austin was a Scooby Doo monster. The first 60% of an article in Quest newspapers ran like this:

"Stories have been told over the past century of a ghost who would laugh maniacally, shriek like a banshee and look down upon prisoners from the upper floors of the Boggo Road Gaol. The ghost is said to be the spirit of convicted child murderer Ernest Austin, who has been "haunting" the jail since he was put to death in 1913 - the last man in Queensland to be hanged.

Gaol manager Jack Sim said the story of his execution and the ghoulish stories told about the infamous prisoner after his death were now the country's oldest continuously told prison ghost story. Both prisoners and wardens would retell the story to their peers, with the first known mention back in the 1930s.

"People have continued to talk about this ghost and its presence in the jail from not long after the execution of Ernest Austin" he said.

"It was said that late at night you could see him standing up on one of the upper floors of the jail looking down at you. In the 1940s, it was also being said that Austin's last words included laughter, and that the ghost would have this maniacal laugh just like him."

The remaining part of the article is just a sales pitch from the ghost tours guy, along with claims that a little metal BBQ plate he owns was a part of the gallows trapdoor (the trapdoors were actually timber). The Brisbane Times website, which is usually a bit more credible, had a short audio clip along the same 'spooks-n-sales' lines, again totally devoid of any historical analysis (and barely a mention) of the actual execution itself. A short Channel 7 news item was little better.

For now let's ignore the fact that the Austin ghost story is pure horsedust (as shown here) and that the execution took place in a whole other long-gone prison building (an inconvenient and unmentioned truth). Why was the significance of, or the reasoning behind, the abolition of hanging ignored? Queensland was, after all, the first part of British Empire to do so. Why weren't any historians consulted for these pieces? Is every significant milestone in Queensland criminal history now going to be treated as secondary to some highly dubious ghost story while Boggo Road becomes a sideshow Haunted House and goth hangout?

Fortunately the answer is 'no'. There are some adults in the room taking this subject seriously, including the Supreme Court of Queensland museum team. Their forthcoming capital punishment exhibition should present a mature and highly professional look at the whole subject, devoid of desperate stunts but brimming with considered research, creativity and a strong grasp of the educational needs of visitors. Whether or not the Brisbane media will cover this event remains to be seen.

Maybe the whole sorry episode with the dumbed-down 100th anniversary news is reflective of a broader societal disinterest in the subject of capital punishment. Maybe some junior reporters and interns facing a deadline are happy just to accept self-promotional media releases as face value. Maybe these reporters don't know what 'respected historians' are, because respected historians don't bombard news outlets with media releases every time some historical milestone pops up.

Whatever the reason, I really hope that newspapers and news outlets can lift their game in time for World War I commemorations and milestones, otherwise before long we'll be finding out all about the Headless Horseman of Beersheba and the Ghoul of Gallipoli instead of, you know, what actually happened.

Good morning all,

It has been a while since an update here on the situation at Boggo Road Gaol, mostly because keeping tabs on what is happening there is like herding cats on a water bed. Well, now is a good time to bring you up to speed with a couple of announcements.

Firstly...

BOGGO ROAD WILL NOT REOPEN PROPERLY UNTIL 2015
Leighton Properties are redeveloping the surrounding site and their plans are currently under consideration. Part of those plans will include work inside Boggo Road Gaol. Much of the old prison will remain a historical site, although some parts will undergo 'adaptive reuse'. What that actually involves I can't say, because I'm not sure. What I can say is that the place will not be opened fully and properly until 2015.

In the meantime, part of one cellblock is open on an interim basis only, but access is controlled by a small business with a long history of antagonism towards several not-for-profit groups. I'd advise you to avoid disappointment and wait to visit Boggo Road in all its glory, preferably under friendlier management.

Which brings us to...

A NEW WAY FORWARD
The big news for now is that a growing alliance of interested individuals and organisations have created the all-new 'Boggo Road Arts, History & Education Committee' (as it is called for now). The aim is to develop a new professional not-for-profit management body to take on the long-term running of Boggo Road. A brilliant new concept has been developed, and the right people are in place to make it happen. We're talking doctors, professors and professionals, people with a solid understanding of creativity, community and organisation.

This new group has been a long time coming. There have been a couple of false starts in recent years, largely due to the ongoing delays and uncertainty over the reopening of Boggo Road (now a massive six years behind schedule). However, the experience of those false starts has proved invaluable in getting us into a strong position now.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS
Personally speaking, I am looking forward to taking a background role in this whole process while better people than me move in. Most people should know by now that this whole interim opening of part of a cellblock has been 'controversial' (to put it diplomatically). I could write several thousand words on the subject, but won't. Suffice to say that the concept of 'do it once, do it right' went out the window. Of more relevance here is that a recent consultant's report to Public Works recommended (among other things) the installation of new management at Boggo Road - preferably a new professional committee - and a decision on that was expected by mid-July. The result would have been a massive improvement in community access and engagement.

What happened instead was three months of silence followed by a recent snap announcement of a two-week 'Expressions of Interest' period for interim management of Boggo Road into 2014. This had quite clearly not been recommended. There was only supposed to be an Expressions of Interest for the real reopening. Why this decision was made, I don't know.

Now, the BRGHS has never wanted to run Boggo Road by itself. The plan was always to have a larger not-for-profit organisation manage the place with the BRGHS doing what it can to assist. Last year the BRGHS could have put together an Expression of Interest submission to achieve that. However, this snap EOI, made while half the BRGHS committee were on overseas or interstate holidays, caught the group unprepared. A decision was quickly made. Engaging in the ongoing interim opening saga, with the endless secrecy and moving goalposts, was looking more and more like a waste of time and energy... especially to try and achieve something that we never wanted to do anyway! It was time to step back and refocus on the big picture. Recharge, recalibrate, reinvent.

AND OFF WE GO!
And that is just what has happened, and surprisingly quickly too. As a result of forming this alliance with some old friends and some completely new people, all with a shared vision for Boggo Road, the BRGHS has become part of something much bigger. There is now breathing space to carefully build something positive, creative and special.

We should have done this months ago!

Inspired by the recent 'Hanging in Queensland' month on this Boggo Road Facebook page, here (in no particular order) are the top twelve death penalty songs that I can (a) recall right now and (b) find a link to on the web.

'Long Black Veil'
Lefty Frizzell
1959

"The judge said son what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die
I spoke not a word though it meant my life
For I had been in the arms of my best friend's wife."

Now this is a proper country music song. A man is falsely accused of murder but refuses to provide the alibi that would prove his innocence. Why? He was having an affair with his best friend's wife at the time and was prepared to die in order to protect their secret. What a stand up dude. The kind of best friend we all want, unless we're married. As for me, I would have quite happily told all, complete with photographs.

'Mercy Seat'
Johnny Cash
2000

"Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied."

The obligatory Johnny Cash entry. This song was originally written by Nick Cave in 1988 and then brilliantly covered by an elderly Cash in 2000. By that time Cash was nearing 70 years of age and was in poor health, giving this death song an even deeper tone of sombreness. Cash claimed that he had heard the song after seeing some news about Texas executions, and he asked about long-term Death Row inmates, "If a man's been there 25 years, maybe we should consider whether or not he has become a good human being and do we still want to kill him?"

'The Green Green Grass of Home'
Joan Baez
1969

"Then I awake and look around me, at the four grey walls that surround me
and I realize, yes, I was only dreaming.
For there's a guard and there's a sad old padre -
arm in arm we'll walk at daybreak.
Again I touch the green, green grass of home."

Spoiler alert: it was all just a dream! OK, I could have picked any version of this country song. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride and Gram Parsons all covered it well, while of course Tom Jones had the biggest hit with it in 1966, a year after it had been written. However, I do like this 1969 cover by Joan Baez quite a lot.

'Send Me to the Electric Chair'
Bessie Smith
1927

"Judge, judge, good mister judge,
Let me go away from here
I wanna take a journey
To the devil down below
I done killed my man
I wanna reap just what I sow
Oh judge, judge, lordy lordy judge
Send me to the 'lectric chair"

The great Bessie Smith (1894-1937) was probably the single most popular female blues singer of her time. This song is often listed as 'traditional' but it can't be too traditional as the electric chair wasn't invented until 1889. In one line Bessie sings 'I cut him with my 'barlow'', referring to a type of folding knife with a single 3-inch blade. Don't mess with Bessie.

'Hang Jean Lee'
Ed Kuepper
2007

A song from Kuepper's 2007 album Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog, which was all about Jean Lee, the last woman to be hanged in Australia (1951). She and her two male accomplices had murdered 73-year-old Bill Kent in Victoria. The Wikipedia account of the crime reminds us of the 'good old days':

"They had heard that he kept money in his home, and thought Kent would be a soft target. While Lee kept Kent busy by performing oral sex, the two men would search the flat for money. The trio later gave conflicting statements to Police but what is known Kent was tied to a chair, by Lee, and over a period of hours all three kicked and beat him, while demanding to know where his money was kept, they took his money roll he had in his pocket but wanted more. Kent was at first defiant, but eventually insisted that he had no extra money. He was tortured then stabbed several times, before Andrews strangled him... Kent was found under a pile of sheets and clothing, his furniture had been broken and his home had been ransacked. A later report claimed that Kent's penis had been cut off and stuffed down his throat."

'Hangman's Blues'

Brownie McGhee

1951

"The hangman's rope is so tough and strong,
Hangman's rope is so tough and strong,
The hangman's rope is so tough and strong,
They gonna hang me boys, cause I done something wrong"

Tennessee-born Walter 'Brownie' McGhee (1915-96) had a long career and even appeared in such films as 'The Jerk' and the TV shows 'Matlock' and 'Family Ties'. Polio left him unable to walk as a child and his brother used to push him around in a cart. Because of this, his brother got the nickname 'Stick' and Stick McGhee went on to become a blues player himself. This song was originally written and recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Brownie McGhee

View this song on YouTube here

'I've Gotta Get a Message to You'
The Bee Gees
1968

"Now, I'm crying but deep down inside
Well, I did it to him, now, it's my turn to die
I've just gotta get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on"

Going into my teenage years, the Bee Gees were definitely not cool. Disco had recently died and become a cultural embarrassment, and the Bee Gees were big casualties of that shift. Their 1960s output, however, still holds up well. They turned out a lot of quality light pop, and were quite fond of writing about mining disasters and that sort of thing. This song, which like 'Green, Green Grass of Home' was about a man in his condemned cell, reached no.1 in Britain in 1968. Not so much of the old 'stayin alive' in this one.

'Nebraska'
Bruce Springsteen
1982

"The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest
Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor neck back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin right there on my lap"

This understandably bleak song is based on the real-life killing spree of teenager Charles Starkweather in Nebraska and Wyoming in 1957-58, which left eleven people dead. Starkweather was executed in the electric chair in 1959. His accomplice was his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Fugate, and she got a life sentence.

''Lectric Chair Blues'
Blind Lemon Jefferson
1928

"And I wonder why they electrocute a man
at the one o'clock hour of night.
Because the current is much stronger,
when the folks has turned out all the lights"

Blind Lemon Jefferson was so named because he was blind (or at least seriously visually impaired) and his first name was, erm, Lemon. No, really. Born in 1893, he was one of the first and best blues players from Texas. Jefferson recorded this song in 1928, one year before his death (probably of a heart attack while he was lost in a snowstorm). Rumour has it - and I put no credence in these blues singer stories - that when they found his body, his hand was frozen to the neck of his guitar. All in all, a very different kind of death to the electric chair.

'Gallows Pole'
Led Zeppelin
1970

"Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
I Think I see my friends coming, Riding a many mile.
Friends, you get some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my dear friends? Keep me from the Gallows Pole.
What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?"

This ‘Traditional’ (author unknown) song was popularised as a Blues song called ‘Gallis Pole’ by Leadbelly. Led Zeppelin rearranged it and changed the verse. The lyrics are about a prisoner trying to delay his hanging until he can be rescued by his friends and family. There are a number of versions of this song, most of them ending with the hangman setting the prisoner free, but Led Zeppelin's version ends with the hanging taking place despite all the bribes.

A similar folk song called ‘Slack Your Rope’ was sung by Peter, Paul and Mary as ‘Hangman’. It was adapted from a 15^th-century British ballad, when even up to the last step on the gallows, most crime could be paid off with money.

'I'll Fly Away'

Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch
2000

"When the shadows of this life have gone,
I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I’ll fly way (I’ll fly away)”

Just a few more weary days and then,
I’ll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)”

Maybe a bit of a debatable entry this one, but it gets over the line by being on one of my favourite soundtracks at the moment (O Brother, Where Art Thou) and also being referenced by 71-year-old Edward H. Schad, Jr before his execution in Arizona last month. This hymn about 'flying away to God's celestial shore' was written in 1929 by Albert Brumley and was based on a much older song called 'The Prisoner'.

'The Last Outlaw'
Le Doogan
2010

And to top off this list with a very local song, here's one about Patrick Kenniff, who was hanged for murder at Brisbane's Boggo Road back in 1903. There's a lot been written about this event and the supposed guilt or innocence of Kenniff, and this 21st-century take from Sydney band 'Le Doogan' was actually written by a Kenniff descendant.

Patrick Kenniff

View 'The Last Outlaw' on YouTube here

There are many more songs that could easily have been listed too (e.g. 'Bohemian Rhapsody'), but maybe they can wait for another Top 12.

While working at Boggo Road Gaol Museum late one afternoon back around 2004 we had a couple of people from Toowoomba turn up asking if the objects they had recently donated to us were out on display yet. What objects, we asked? Some old prison laundry baskets, they said. The staff looked at each other - we didn't have any baskets in the collection. However, the visitors were insistent that somebody from the museum had turned up to their house to collect these baskets. We knew nothing of it, but when they described the person to us we guessed what had happened.

They had advertised the baskets for sale, and this person turned up asking for them to be donated to the museum instead, which is what they thought they did. They had been scammed.

If you or a family member has some old prison stuff at home (uniforms, photos, paperwork, prisoner-made items, bits of a prison building... anything), then this is the kind of story you need to keep in mind. Please be careful, and thoroughly check who is asking about it.

If you are concerned about what might happen to your prison stuff in future and don't want to see it thrown in the bin (or some shyster to get their hands on it) then your best bet is to donate into the care of the not-for-profit Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society so they can add it to the Queensland Prisons Collection.

Pre-1960s cap badge (BRGHS)

This collection has evolved over some time now, going through a few different guises along the way. I myself have been heavily involved with it since 2002, no doubt more than any other single person since that time as I collated, cataloged and stored hundreds of prison artefacts. I know this stuff like the back of my hand and am very happy to say that the care of this collection has just got even better.

The EPA Boggo Road collection (1992-2002)

To start off with... the Environmental Protection Agency supervised the Boggo Road museum collection during 1992-2002. The artefacts were documented, registered, and stored at the BoggoRoadGaolMuseum as the ‘EPA collection’. Following the retirement of the curator in May 2002 I conducted a thorough on-site stocktake and found that several hundred on-site artefacts were unregistered, because:

many were not associated with the Boggo Road site, or
it was not known where they came from, or
they were duplicates of other artefacts, or
certain groups of artefacts had just not been fully registered (such as books).

The BoggoRoadGaolMuseum Collection (2002-2003)

I was not authorised to enter these 'homeless' artefacts into the EPA collection, so in order to minimise further deterioration and possible loss I registered them in an interim collection register I named the ‘Boggo Road Gaol Museum Collection register’. This way, the objects could be registered into the EPA collection in future.

The Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society Collection (2003-2010)

After the formation of the BRGHS in 2003 the register was renamed the ‘BRGHS Collection’. NEW artefacts collected by the museum staff after May 2002 were also entered into this register. When the on-site collections were analysed for the Queensland government in 2004, some of the items in the interim BRGHS collection were absorbed into the government-owned collection (as I had planned for) and then moved off site at the end of 2005 when Boggo Road closed.

What was left formed the BRGHS collection was also moved off site. There were now two separate collections. The BRGHS collection was still active, but the government collection is no longer being added to.

Prisoner-made tattoo machine

And finally... the Queensland Prisons Collection (2010)

The BRGHS continued to receive artefact donations but their collection system was outdated because many items in that register had been returned to government. In 2010 I developed a new numbering system and collection policy and re-registered all remaining items into the ‘Queensland Prisons Collection’.

This collection has recently been put into new storage and a new database set up. The upcoming Queensland Prisons Museum will be a great opportunity for some of these artefacts to be displayed for the Queensland public again. In fact, the BRGHS has a number of new displays in the pipeline at various places. This has prompted a wave of new donations to the collection

We continue to collect, document and store artefacts and images relating to Boggo Road and Queensland prisons. If you have any, let me know!

WARNING!

ALWAYS CHECK WHO YOU ARE DONATING TO.

ARE THEY NOT-FOR-PROFIT, OR A PRIVATE BUSINESS?

Please be aware that some organisations requesting your artefacts and stories are private companies who may use them for personal profit by restricting free access to the material and then prohibiting other researchers from using it.

It is also possible that items you donate could later be sold.

The BRGHS is a not-for-profit incorporated association and cannot use your donations for personal profit.

Please email us if you are not sure about people requesting donations from you.

This is Eddie. Eddie is happy for me to tell his story but he’s a bit reluctant to show himself on the Internet and Eddie is not his real name. He is, however, a real person. I have known him for several years now, have spent many hours talking with and recording him, and he counts me among his friends, which is something I regard as both an honour and a surprise. I say surprise because we’ve led very different lives.

A quarter-century ago when I was a hedonistic 20-year-old , Eddie had already lived more of life than I ever will. He had served in Her Majesty’s forces decades before and experienced powerfully dramatic events in the line of duty that I won’t go into here but they still affect him to this day. After leaving the armed forces to settle down he joined the prison service and worked in Boggo Road for years. He is adamant that some of the events he was involved in there probably had even more of an effect on his psyche than being in combat zones.

When it comes to being in a position to tell some stories about Boggo Road history, Eddie has more than earned his stripes. Heknows the place inside out and can see a mark on the floor or a hole in the wall and be able to tell you the stories behind them. He tells them well and he really enjoys sharing his knowledge with the public. I've written about why these tours would be great before.

However, at the moment Eddie and others like him have a problem in that they are only allowed to share their stories with the public at Boggo Road Gaol if they work for the financial benefit of that small business.We hope that when Boggo Road Gaol is reopened on a permanent basis, Eddie and his colleagues will have fair access to share their real-life stories, and the public get the unique but finite opportunity to hear some compelling first-hand history from those who lived it.

With long-term planning now in process, we need to make sure that these tour guides and the public both get that opportunity, because when it comes to telling history, there ain't nothing like the real thing. Which is a terrible double negative but a great song.

You can help us secure a Better Future for Boggo Road by signing the petition HERE.

Here's the third installment of comments from our 'Better Future for Boggo Road' petition over at change.org. Once again a big thanks to everyone who has signed so far, especially those who leave comments too.

Thanks also to the thousands(!) of people who have signed the paper version of the petition.

Ian Hutchinson

heritage sites are public assets for the benefit of the whole community and should not be privatised

Stephen Paul Oldham

It is MY history and I have every right to protect it.

Ted Domanski

Because people who never experienced the feel of working amongst prisoners, shouldn't be running the place.

Julie Massie

I am concerned it will just get sold

Evelyn Williams

part of our history, i teach Legal Studies

Tony Smallwood

Heritage should be vailable to the community as easy as possible.

Chris Dillon

This is part of our heritage and history something needs to be protected. Find somewhere else to ruin and leave this historical site alone.

Lorraine Carter

My father was born in Brisbane and I have cousins who still live there. I fly from WA to Queensland each year to do family research. Family researchers need easy access to all records. Boggo Road Gaol should be for the community and looked after by the govt as many heritage properties are.

Chris Wright

This is Qld Heritage and should be available to all Queenslanders, which cannot be guaranteed if it is sold.

Marion Hall

The Boggo Road Goal is a heritage museum and should be available for the public as such.

Kevin Wallace

Public access to historical buildings is important and this must always be inexpensive.

dawn pearce

this is OUR heritage and should not be used only by private companies

Bruce Woodstock

As a fellow Historical Society we realise the importance of havibg access to premises that reflect the history of our state or country

Denise Comerford

I think our Public Heritage Assets should be protected.

Tony White

Keep our heritage in the hands of the people

Tennikah Webster

Brisbane has such few remnants of its history, don't take what's left.

Lynn Anich

Important parts of our state heritage are too important to be handed over to private enterprise

Kate Krause

This is a significant part of our history and everyone should be able to access it...it needs to be run by those who are passionate about taking care of it.

Lynda Hinz

Our Australian is so important to all of us and especially our children.

Anne Panitz

As a community museum volunteer i know the work it requires to keep these places open to the public. Dedicated volunteers have a love for these places and for preserving the history of such a place. Please let dedicated people with the history of Queensland in their hearts run such a place!

sonya jackson

history is history it should be protected not sold to someone who may turn it into a shopping complex!

Barbara Wild

Brisbane deserves an accessible, interactive historical site. Why should Melbourne and Sydney have all the fun?

Denis Peel

The Historical Society has contributed a huge amount to the preservation and development of the gaol and are now being effectively locked out.

fred van essen

I recently took my family to the gaol. It is a fantastic site, the entry fee may have been expensive. but.... if the money made is also used for maintainence, you do not mind!!.but .... their is no maintainence being carried out on this site.So if placing control of this site back to the government brings the goal back to its formerly glory, then this should be done.

Robyn Evans

I am sick of governments selling off our assets & history and would like to visit when I come to Qld every winter.

Tricia Simpson

This process should have been tendered and the historical society should have been taken into consideration

Ron Pokarier

History belongs to the people, not to commercial operators.

Glenda Pokarier

This historic site should not become an opportunity forsmall business profiteering.

Mick Dance

I worked at Boggo Rd for 11 years in the 1980's. It is a very special place for me and holds many memories. It should be refurbished and protected as an historical site. There are many tales to be told about "THE ROAD".

Maree Ganley

the work of volunteers researchers and tour guides helps to ensure all of our history is known and preserved for generations to come. We go into the future with the strength of knowledge of our past

Lynette Fleming

As a member of a local Family History Society I see the importance of preserving our history.

Evan Skuthorpe

Important part of our heritage.

Ken Davis

I'm sick of back door privatisations of public assets against the will of the community. Enough!

Steve Reynolds

People should be able to listen to the people who were warders or prisoners, not some pack of kids who know nothing about the jail.

John Strike

Lets keep history for future generations in the hand of people who are concerned for the Gaol as it is, not for money hungry privateers.

Laura Adler

this is heritage for everyone, should not be profit for only some!

Peter Wilson

Historical Society were fantastic, finding information and assisting my research. Why destroy an outstanding community organisation for a few pieces of silver, Campbell?

suzanne andrews

Because it's a wonderful part of Brisbane's history and should be available to all not at a profit for a private company.So many fantastic things about this city.It shouldn't have a price .

Karen Webster

the heritage of the State belongs to the people of Queensland, so they can learn about their history and where they have come from.

Jan Grant

Because it is a heritage site and should be managed by people who know how to preserve this heritage and keep accessibility free of private commercial control whose only interest is in making money.

Ray Thurlow

Heritage matters are best left in the hands of a not-for-profit organisation as is already the case in many other places.

Margaret Greer

Our historic buildings should be accepted as such. And not allowed for private profit

Dorothy Joycey

The Historical interest is huge.

Rebecca Fitz-Herbert

History gives perspective on where we have been and who we are now. The story needs to be told properly!

Lee Hunter

because we have sold off far too much of our government owned land and property as it is. Something like this needs to be preserved and available to the general public, not just those who can afford to pay the high prices a private firm would charge for access (if they dont just find a way to tear it down in the first place!)

Colleen O'Leary

It is part of our history in this state and should not be run as a profit making business.

Glenys Prins

Our heritage belongs to the people no to some private company to make money out of.

Tara Young

Australia's heritage & landmarks should be accessible by both Australians & tourists at a reasonable cost. They are our heritage & a symbol of our past, not a business to make a profit from. We have lost too much if our heritage already to it her Privatisation gone wrong or modern development. Listen to the people...we want this Gaol to remain affordably accessible & maintained for our future generations.

Stefania Zara Kleynendorst

because it's a public historical building that should be available open to all

Cat Steele

Shame LNP shame! Boggo Road is our heritage

Bob Aldred

Historical sites are the property of the community, and not for the commercial profits of individuals and companies. Also, not for profits have something different to offer that commercial companies.

John Elliott

to preserve the historical site

Annette Hall

Too much of Queensland's history has been demolished. The future is important but the past once was the future and is worth hanging onto for all time.

Greg Glidden

This is an important heritage site of historical significance. Furthermore, it is an asset which was paid for and belongs to the people of Queensland and must continue to be managed by the government. Private enterprise has no place here!

Steffy Duncan

Because my Grandfather worked there, not sure what his role was as I was only young but a part of Boggo's history is a part of my family history.

Brodie-Ann Wright

History belongs to us all.

Peter Johnson

As this is a Qld heritage site, it should not become a private business venture.

(This article has been transcribed from notes written this morning)

It is, as I put this to paper, 11a.m. on 4 December 2013. I am sitting in the South Brisbane Cemetery. The sky is blue, peppered with small white clouds, and it is cool in the shade of a fig tree. Away to the west a city council worker slowly climbs a hill in a ride-on mower. The recent rain has left the freshly-cut grass lush, and the fir and eucalyptus trees give the cemetery a park-like feel. Off to the east another worker in safety gear whipper-snips between rows of old headstones. The hum of their activity is accompanied by birdsong, cicadas, and the bustle of Annerley Road at the top of the slopes.

Mowing in South Brisbane Cemetery, 4 December 2013 (C Dawson)

Meanwhile, a few kilometres away at Mount Gravatt, the funeral of Roma Waldron, aged 72 years and the president of the Friends of South Brisbane Cemetery, has just started. I couldn't get there today for a number of reasons, but being in the neighbourhood of the cemetery I thought it might mean something to spend an hour here and write a few words about Roma because this place meant so much to her. The cemetery is not perfect, it never is, but I think she'd take some pleasure to see it as it is right now, with the workers tending to it while somebody remembers what she did for this place.

Roma Waldron, 2011

Roma had devoted a large chunk of her life to to researching cemeteries, both in New South Wales and Queensland. Her long list of publications included:

(Not to mention her 'Willy Cockroach' children's book series and numerous poems).

She also, when capable, put a lot of physical energy into looking after cemeteries. However, when it came to South Brisbane Cemetery it was the emotional energy she expended that I most remember. Roma was one of three women (with Marilyn Paul and Tracey Olivieri) who created the Friends of South Brisbane Cemetery back in 2005. They acted out of sheer frustration at the apparent neglect of this historic cemetery, and over the next few years these few women not only recorded every single headstone in the place, they also cleaned the debris from every single grave and pathway too.

Their legacy is a cemetery that not only looked better, but has been recorded like never before. The FOSBC records for the cemetery are second to none, and they contributed every word and image on South Brisbane Cemetery to the brilliant Australian Cemeteries Index website.

In recent years, Roma's declining health saw her take a back seat as far as cemetery work went, but she never stopped caring. Her passion was evident at meetings of the Greater Brisbane Cemetery Alliance, where she would oscillate between threatening to 'rip the nuts off' bureaucrats to shedding tears as she read cemetery poetry.

She fought the somewhat careless construction of the Busway next to the cemetery with quite some determination, and led the charge to have excavated headstones preserved and returned to their original locations. She fought against the disrespectful carry-ons of 'Ghost Tours', which she despised, and proudly earned herself her own legal threat from serial threat-maker 'Jack' Sim. Also, one night after misunderstanding a discussion about a potential 'Cemetery Watch' scheme, she arrived at the cemetery gates demanding to see the tour license of a ghost tour guide. This led to the hilarious scene of 'Jack' Sim complaining to the police about this little sexagenarian woman. She never did, as she often proclaimed she would, 'rip his nuts off, if he has any'.

But that was Roma, temperamental, caring, testicle-removing, fearless, loving and angry. That was the kind of passion she brought to the FOSBC. Her heritage ideas could be misplaced sometimes (we had to persuade her that her plan to erect a white timber cross on each of the thousands of unmarked graves in South Brisbane Cemetery was both impractical and illegal) but she embodied the kind of love for a place that should be at the beating heart of every local history group.

So while Roma's passing brings sadness for those close to her, there is solace to be found in the fact that she had more or less completed her labours of love and left the cemetery a far better place than when she found it. Sometimes people live and die and their work can be for nought, but not so Roma, and among those who lost something with her death you can count the South Brisbane Cemetery itself.

She was and is, as the Friends of South Brisbane Cemetery motto has it, a genius loci - 'guardian spirit of the place'.

The first headstone in the cemetery, dated 1870. An appropriate to leave some
flowers for Roma. Red flowers, to match her fiery personality. (C. Dawson)

The interim reopening of Boggo Road recently took another unwelcome turn when an independent recommendation to install new interim management at the old prison was ignored by the state government.

The recommendation was one of a number made to the government by a consultant who had been engaged by the site developers. He met with a wide range of stakeholders back in April-May of this year, after the end of the initial trial reopening period at Boggo Road that saw community stakeholders denied fair access to this heritage-listed public asset by the small business that had been installed there without a tender process.

After years of amicable co-operation between Public Works and Boggo Road community stakeholders, the newly-elected government held a series of private meetings with a small business in 2012 about reopening part of the historic prison. These meetings were kept secret from community stakeholders for three months before being unwittingly leaked on social media. By that time, certain decisions had already been made.

Back in April I stated my opinion that the interim opening had been a failure. The small business in question, 'Brisbane Ghost Tours', had a long and bitter history of attacking heritage groups and individuals that 'posed a threat' to their business interests by engaging in similar activities. Indeed, these sometimes resulted in police and court involvement. The Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society had received extraordinary legal threats over their web address! It was inevitable that Ghost Tours would use control of access to squeeze out other stakeholders, and that is exactly what happened. High prices and restricted access saw community activities fail to happen at Boggo Road. Historic and creative communities and the Queensland public had lost out in the name of personal profit.

A subsequent community campaign attracted thousands of supporters and unwanted publicity for Boggo Road. Investigating journalists were denied access to basic official information. Questions were asked in parliament.

The consultation process was no doubt intended designed to alleviate the situation. A large number of meetings were held over two months with a number of stakeholders, including local schools and arts organisations. The consultant eventually came up with a range of recommendations, and although the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society did not agree with all of them, they were quite prepared to work within the new framework.

The most significant recommendation was that control of access to Boggo Road be taken away from the private business and vested in a new committee for the remainder of the interim opening. This change of management was to take place without an Expressions of Interest phase.

The findings were clear. Despite the marketing spin, privatised access to Boggo Road had failed.

After all, as the saying goes, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

The final decision on the recommendations rested with Public Works, who were expected to make a decision within weeks. That decision came three months later when, completely out of the blue, they called a snap 'Expressions of Interest' phase - just two weeks long. The report had been ignored and hidden. Why? What was the point, after three months of silence, of having this sudden and unnecessarily rushed process? The workable solution that had been crafted during the consultation process could have been finalised during that time.

It's a bit like getting one day's notice to do a university assignment. Sure, you could do it, but you would produce a more solid result with a month's notice. It was all the more galling as it had taken three whole months to come up with this announcement.

We can only speculate as to the reasoning behind this decision.

So another two months of our lives had been wasted in participating in the consultation. With most of the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society committee either overseas or interstate on family holidays when the EOI was called, they were in no position to put together a submission (for something we never wanted anyway). They were in a position to do so last November, when calls for a tender process were ignored, but after months of being kept in the dark and having goalposts shifted, a lot of people had simply lost faith that this interim opening process was ever going to be coherently managed .

The snap timing of the EOI, and the fact that the BRGHS were denied access to basic data that the incumbent was privy to, meant that the EOI process could never be equitable. Instead of a solution, it could only create further controversy.

As it was, only Ghost Tours and one former prisoner even put a submission in. This was the same Ghost Tours who had failed so utterly and spectacularly to meet their promises in managing Boggo Road that they would have been sacked if they were public servants. Still, with practically no competition, the result was inevitable.

The current situation is that only a small part of Boggo Road is now open, the failed privatised system is still in place while taxpayers fork out for maintenance, and that the old prison is going to be closed again next year anyway before reopening permanently and properly in the future. We in the community have turned our focus to that reopening and putting together a carefully crafted plan that makes sure the public get full value from this public asset.

Boggo Road Gaol was supposed to form part of a community-integrated development. When you install an anti-community businessman in there, it's just not going to work. The shelved report should be ringing some loud alarm bells in Public Works. We cannot be expected to be part of protecting a failed project that works against community interests, and a new public campaign will be launched next year.

Many of the escape attempts from Boggo Road prison were subtle affairs, requiring discrete planning, construction of tools such as ropes, grappling hooks, fake weapons, or smuggling of saw blades and files. There was one attempt, however, in which a more direct approach was taken. Sure, there was a lot of planning involved, but instead of going over the wall or making a break for it while out at the hospital, these men actually smashed through the main gates of No.1 Division in a garbage compactor truck.

In March 1991 an internal prison intelligence report warned that three prisoners had been paying ‘considerable attention’ to the comings and goings of vehicles at the main gate, including the laundry truck, the garbage truck and even the bread truck. Although the gate officer was alerted, there wasn’t much that he could about what happened during the next afternoon.

A recent cut in prison staff numbers meant that only one officer was guarding the garbage truck inside the prison that day, and he was at the rear of the vehicle. He did not see when four prisoners overpowered the two drivers at the front of the truck and took control of it.

Once inside the truck, the fleeing prisoners hit the accelerator and drove into the heavy steel-barred gates at high speed. An officer working in the kitchen at that time recalled what happened next:

‘...we’re cooking the breakfast and the next thing you know, couple of gunshots go off, pow, pow, anyway we’re locked in the kitchen so I was happy to be there, so I thought ‘I won’t go outside to find out what’s going on’, and the next thing, Christ Almighty, ‘crash’, it was the truck hitting the gates, and the prison half shook, you know, ‘I’m in here, I’m not going outside!’ Anyway, more shooting going on because the bloke down the boom gate he had his little gun, he bloody shot six into the truck, it’s pretty scary. By that time, they used to call them hooters but they’re like sirens, the hooters are all going off, whoo whoo whoo, like air raid sirens... Got the prisoners, put them all back in [the cells], went over to the gate, they give me this big shock, by that stage the whole front doors been smashed off, and the gates been smashed, a hole through it, you could see the end of the road.’

The truck broke through both the inner and outer gates with such force that this is what they looked like afterwards:

Looking out (S. Gage)

Looking in (S. Gage)

As the truck headed for Annerley Road, prison officers in the towers opened fire, hitting the driver. The vehicle stopped in nearby Nelson Street, and the men jumped out and ran. One tried to steal a car, but was headed off by an officer. Another was caught a couple of hours later.

The truck on Nelson Street - right next to my old house! (S. Gage)

A third escapee, who had also been involved in an escape attempt a few months earlier, was recaptured four weeks later at the Pineapple Hotel at Kangaroo Point. The last man, Harold M^cSweeney, proved to be a lot harder to bring in. He re-emerged in May, suspected of committing two armed robberies to steal a total of $25,000 and shooting a security guard in the process. Four days later he was spotted in a car in Toowoomba. Police chased him through the city centre at noon and collided with him on a street corner. He jumped out of the car and in the shootout that followed he shot a police officer in the hip. Running from the scene he hijacked a car and later transferred to a motorbike.

Police roadblocks were quickly set up, but M^cSweeney rode straight through them, again exchanging fire with officers. Police sealed off some bushland after they found he had abandoned his motorbike, and a Channel Seven news crew, including newsreader Frank Warwick, who were following the action in a helicopter landed nearby. To their surprise M^cSweeney emerged from the bush and surrendered to them. The footage of this surprising event, along with scenes from the day of the escape itself, can be viewed below.

(Channel 7 News)

One year later M^cSweeney was involved in an even more spectacular but ultimately tragic escape attempt, but I’ll save that story for another day.

(The No.1 Division of Boggo Road was closed in 1992 and demolished in 1996.)

What was the state of play in Catholic/Protestant sectarianism in Brisbane at the beginning of the 20^th century? Judging by the angry mob of Catholics who attacked the Protestant Hall in 1900 with bricks and smashed almost every window there and knocked women unconscious, it probably could have been better.

There is, of course, a backstory here.

Above: Joseph Slattery.
Below: Mary Slattery

Mary and Joseph were in town. More precisely, Mary and Joseph Slattery. He was a Baptist Minister who had been booked to speak at the Protestant Hall that night on the subject of ‘Why I Left the Roman Catholic Priesthood’. He was a former priest who had been ordained as a minister in Massachusetts, and he was now on a speaking tour of Australia and New Zealand to explain his transformation.

To make things so much worse, his wife Mary was a former nun. She was engaged for a number of speaking appointments herself, mostly for female audiences.

Joseph usually delivered flamboyant ‘For Men Only’ lectures, dressed in his former Catholic vestments. He denounced the ‘Romish conspiracy’ of the church with talks such as ‘Why I Left The Roman Catholic Priesthood and What I Saw Therein’, ‘The Secret Theology of the Confessional’, ‘Where is Purgatory’, ‘The Jesuits and Their Secret Theology’, ‘Why Do Priests Not Wed’, and ‘How to Get In and Get Out’.

Mary, often under the name of ‘Sister Mary Elizabeth in the Convent’ or even ‘The Escaped Nun’, delivered a ‘For Ladies Only’ lectures titled ‘Secrets of Nuns, and the Confessional Exposed’, ‘The Secret and Hidden Life of Convents’, and ‘The Enforced Celibacy of the Clergy’.

The Slatterys had been holding these speaking tours for several years, mostly in the United States, and they were linked to the anti-Catholic American Protective Association. It was common for them to be denounced by their many opponents as frauds who had never been in the Catholic Church at all, and who were making a tidy living out of their tours.

Many Protestants would have lapped their material up, but the tour was seen as nothing less than an act of high treachery by most local Catholics. These two people were not only very publicly criticising their Church, but those same people had once (allegedly) been among its most trusted order of members. Needless to say, the Slatterys endured many rough receptions on their antipodean travels, but none compared to what took place in Brisbane.*

The Protestant Hall in which they were booked to speak was situated between Raff Street and Queen Street, and was run by the Loyal Orange Lodge.

Orange Lodge, Protestant Hall, Brisbane, 1889 (John Oxley Library)

Not surprisingly, the hall was packed for the night, and among the 700 attendees were many women and clergymen. Although it was known that there would probably be an organised attempt to disrupt and even stop the meeting, only a few policemen were present on the day.

The men, women and young children in attendance had to force their way in through a large crowd of Catholics that had gathered outside the hall that afternoon, and as soon as Slattery started to speak, a barrage of half-bricks and slate stones, some weighing several kilograms, rained down on the church roof, damaging some windows near Slattery’s platform. The uproar was short-lived and the missiles soon stopped, so Slattery collected himself and began to speak again. This only prompted another round of rock-throwing and one woman was hit on the side of the head and knocked unconscious, while elsewhere in the hall a reporter was knocked to the ground. Pandemonium broke out as almost every window in the hall was smashed and the crowd inside attempted to leave. Things were ugly outside:

‘A cowardly attack was made on a woman at the hall door as the audience were coming out. One of the aggrieved rioters raised a stick and struck her viciously across the back, but in less time than it takes to write the fact received a blow in the face that levelled him in the roadway.’ (Brisbane Courier, October 1900)

Only about six panes of the windows of the Protestant Hall escaped intact, and the floor inside was covered with broken glass, rocks and bricks. The damage was actually limited by the fact that the chairs in the hall had been bolted together, which stopped them from becoming weapons.

Many were injured in the fracas, but some of those in torn clothing who presented themselves for medical attention were reluctant to reveal their names. It was reported that it was only a matter of luck that people had not been killed.

The Slatterys remained in Brisbane for a short while longer, giving further addresses at the Protestant Hall, and it seems the protesters had vented their spleen because opposition was much quieter. Joseph returned to the Hall the following day to give a ‘men only’ lecture, and this time the police had put up rope barriers to help prevent a repeat of the previous days rioting. It was generally quiet, only the occasional stone being thrown, although one old man with a ‘rusty muzzle-loader’ rode up on horseback and threatened to shoot in the windows, but he was quickly arrested. There were about 150 police present, both mounted and on foot.

Mary also addressed an audience of women, and the proceedings were much calmer, despite the initial presence of another, smaller, protest crowd outside. At the same time three men appeared in the police court and were fined 10 shillings each for breaking the windows, with 15 shillings damages.

Brisbane Courier, 25 October 1900.

The Slatterys continued their provocative international speaking tours for years afterwards, still dogged by accusations of fraud and still attracting violent protest.

* With, perhaps, the exception of Kalgoorlie, in which the doors and windows of the lecture venue were broken in, a free fight broke out using umbrella’s and chairs as weapons, a ‘pungent chemical’ was sprayed at the building, and a man mistaken for Joseph Slattery was beaten up in the street. All this took place at a lecture for women.

The Slatterys were in Kalgoorlie for several days but each of their attempts to speak was marred with similar violence. Eastern newspapers attributed it to the ‘generally rough nature’ of the population of Kalgoorlie.

John Andrew Stuart.

Sometimes you see old prison artefacts and you just stare at them in utter disbelief. This happened last week when I saw, for the first time, a little collection of wire contraptions that had been swallowed in prison by John Andrew Stuart, who was convicted of the Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing mass murder in 1973. He famously protested his innocence and did what he could to the delay the trial, including hunger strikes and sewing his lips together with wire (I wrote about it here).

Before court appearances he would sometimes swallow wire crosses that would then lodge somewhere in his digestive system, necessitating his immediate removal to hospital for surgery. Some of these wire crosses have since finished up museum collections.

Swallowing wire involved getting two bits of steel wire which were bound together in the middle with elastic bands, tightly packed in bread to facilitate easier swallowing, and down the throat it went. As the bread dissolved in the stomach, the wires would open up and catch somewhere in the stomach or intestines. The pain must have been quite horrible.

I’ve seen some of these retrieved crosses before, rusted old bits of wire in little jars, but the new ones in the Queensland Prisons Collection were quite unlike those. Some were actually double hooks fashioned from large safety pins (discretely obtained in hospital or the prison laundry perhaps), and they were huge. The hook in the photo below would be about 6cm long and is shown here close to actual size.

A wire hook retrieved from the digestive system
of JA Stuart, 1970s (Qld Prisons Collection).

Imagine knowingly and willingly swallowing that thing with the aim of injuring yourself.

Cut in half, the pins were bent back and sharpened to form hooks, and much like the crosses they were bound together with elastic. After being carefully swallowed, the spring mechanism of the safety pin would activate after the elastic started to dissolve and then the fun would begin.

Stuart would have been taking a big risk swallowing these objects, it is not hard to imagine it having tragic consequences.

One visitor to the Queensland Prisons Museumwas especially interest to see these, as he had been selected for jury service on Stuart’s murder trial, but missed out when the trial was delayed after Stuart swallowed one of the wire crosses.

We have six of these objects pulled from inside JA Stuart and now mounted in a display case in the Queensland Prisons Collection. They are currently being used as a prop in public talks and will form part of a display in the Queensland Prisons Museum sometime later this year, where no doubt visitors will stand and stare at them in horrified silence before swearing, much like I did.

If you have any old prison artefacts, the Queensland Prisons Collection is the best place to donate them to. Drop us an email here. Thanks.

One of my favourite subjects of historical research - no doubt driven by my irrational phobia of being eaten alive underwater - is Brisbane River shark attacks. There are slim pickings in the modern era, but back in the 19^th century people were much more inclined to jump in the river. In a sub-tropical environment with no refrigeration, no swimming pools, no on-tap domestic water supply, no air conditioning, the sparkling-clean estuarine waters were a great temptation, especially in summer. This was also the same time of year that some rather large specimens of the river’s apex predator, the bull sharks, were in abundance. Humans and sharks (also dogs, as seen in this story) are an eventful mix.

One of the earliest recorded fatal attacks (although there must have been plenty during the millennia of previous Aboriginal activity in the Moreton Bay region) took place in December 1862, but it has to go down as ‘unconfirmed’ because there was no official record created. It involved Aboriginal people, who at the time were still ‘outside the system’, so there was no death certificate, no police report, and no cemetery funeral to be had.

The only European witness was a young boy named Tom Murphy. He was shooting birds near the first Brisbane racecourse, which had opened near New Farm in the 1840s. The exact location of this racecourse is unclear, although it was probably in the vicinity of the modern-day Brisbane Powerhouse. Tom was evidently a decent shot and he managed to hit a flying bird, but it fell wounded into the middle of the river.

According to Tom, a group of Aborigines were camped on the opposite bank. One of them was a young boy who saw the bird hit the river and immediately jumped in after it. He had swum about thirty yards from the bank when he noticed a large shark nearby. The boy quickly turned round and headed back to shore but the shark was in pursuit. The youngster dived three times, but reportedly ‘upon his rising the third time the shark was seen to turn upon his belly and seize the boy, who gave one scream and disappeared’.

His family and friends screamed out but there was nothing they could do. They were heard mourning loudly all night.

Tom was reluctant to officially report the incident because he thought he might get into trouble for shooting near the racecourse, but the story was relayed to the Courier newspaper by a reportedly ‘respectable correspondent’. A summary of the incident appeared a few weeks later, noting that victim’s body had disappeared and ‘was never afterwards seen’.

Bull shark.

I treat this account as being probably reliable, if only because of the detailed and realistic description of the attack. It was also in the same stretch of river where, 60 years later, a man carrying his young son out to a moored boat was attacked by a bull shark. The father was badly injured and the boy fell into the river and was swept away, also ‘never afterwards to be seen’.

The 1862 attack certainly has more credibility than a story which, quite bizarrely, formed part of a real estate ad for Newstead House, near Breakfast Creek, in 1878. The ad featured a fictional conversation between Captain John Wickham, a resident of the house in the 1840s, and ‘King Talloo-woobulloowagoapilly’ (aka‘King Billy’) about a shark attack that took place near Newstead in the years preceding European arrival at Moreton Bay. This rambling piece is transcribed more fully in the bookShovelnose: Tales of the Brisbane River Sharks.

‘King Billy’ recalled his group, including a young sister Eullah holding onto their small brother Oollu, swimming in the river one morning. A shark was spotted and a scream went up as the people swam for shore. The shark’s jaw gripped Eullah:

‘My dear sister’s form, with her long hair floating above the surface, was seen amidst the foaming spray, caused by the velocity with which she was being hurled through the water, while each hand encircled the ankles of Oollu, whose little head just peeped above the wavelets, fortunately face upwards… Eullah’s life’s blood mingled in the track she was forced along…’

The two children disappeared beneath the surface and hope seemed to be lost, but a young man named Warkoona (also identified as ‘Duke of York’, leader of the Brisbane clan in a similar ad) had swum to their rescue. After an underwater struggle the shark surfaced, ‘his entrails protruding’ and then sank, quite dead.

The children survived, although Eullah lost the calf of her left leg. Warkoona had cut the shark’s belly open with the fish-bone he had in his hair. He later married Eullah.

Now there could be a germ of truth in the story, but the style was so excruciatingly awful it is hard to take seriously (for example, as the children’s mother watched this scene her eyes ‘seemed literally to shoot in and out of their sockets involuntarily’). Unlike the Tom Murphy account of 1862, it is best ignored.

New Farm shark attack in 1862? It's probably true.

Remember when the History Channel used to be have shows on about History instead of UFOs, ghosts, unicorns, mermaids, or whatever else is popular this week? I can only presume that the channel executives had a meeting along the lines of 'Enough with this Hitler guy! Let's make money. People like Scooby Doo, and people like History a bit, so how about we combine the two?'

One of the shows currently infesting the channel and the minds of gullible viewers is Ancient Aliens. The History Channel's own synopsis for show reads:

'Ancient Aliens examine [sic] 75 million years of the most credible alien evidence here on Earth, from the age of the dinosaurs, to ancient Egypt, to the skies over the western desert in the present day US. Ancient cave drawings of strange creatures, an asphalt-like substance in an Egyptian pyramid made from the remains of unidentified creatures, continued mass sightings in the USA, these are just a few of the strange stories that will be investigated.'

In a nutshell, the show parrots Erich (Chariots of the Gods?) von Däniken and his theory that beings from another planet visited our ancestors and imparted their knowledge of astronomy, engineering and mathematics to them. The evidence for this can allegedly be found in ancient monuments such as the Nazca Lines, the Pyramids of Giza, and the statues of Easter Island. It's the usual amalgam of wild speculation, Logic Fails, and interviews with people of very dubious authority and hairstyles.

I read some of that von Däniken stuff over 30 years ago, and to a young mind it can seem quite convincing. But that's because you want it to be true. Only ten years earlier you believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. You want the universe to be full of magic and sci-fi wonder. You want there to be Sasquatch and an afterlife and aliens and dinosaurs in Scottish lakes. All that stuff would be brilliant. But don't delude yourself into believing it.

Then, one by one, all the great myths of the 20th century were exposed. The Loch Ness monster photo was a fake. The Bermuda Triangledoesn't exist. The Face on Mars was a pile of rocks. The Bigfoot footagewas faked. Ghost photography - all fake. And so on. There were dissenting expert viewpoints to von Däniken and it soon became apparent that he was talking out of his hat. The great Carl Sagansummed it up beautifully when he wrote:

"That writing as careless as von Däniken's, whose principal thesis is that our ancestors were dummies, should be so popular is a sober commentary on the credulousness and despair of our times... I also hope for the continuing popularity of books like Chariots of the Gods? in high school and college logic courses, as object lessons in sloppy thinking." (foreword to The Space Gods Revealed)

In the 21st century the hoaxes seem to be getting more elaborate and taking the form of TV series, but they are still easily debunked by those who know better. A couple of good articles that pull Ancient Aliens apart like Clive Palmer with a Cheese and Bacon Twister are 'I remember why I've never wanted satellite television' and'Ancient Aliens, or Why I Hate the History Channel'. South Park also did a brilliant send-up of the History Channel and Ancient Aliens:

They're laughing at you, History Channel.

Is the History Channel presenting these documentaries as 'object lessons in sloppy thinking', as Sagan would have hoped? It would seem not. Even though von Däniken has been consistently discredited by scientists and historians, his fantastical theories continue to find an audience, primarily with the same old aim of extracting cash from them. A fool and his money...

Other so-called 'educational' channels such as Nat Geo and Discovery are getting in on the act with increasing amounts of pseudoscience and pseudohistory content. Even Animal Planet is debasing itself with 'haunted pet' shows and entire series on Bigfoot hunting. Any sensible person knows that these creatures don't exist. It is beyond delusion to think that a very large bipedal mammal could somehow go unseen in the United States of America, of all places. Especially when real scientists are discovering the tiniest of new species each week. Yet here we have 'Finding Bigfoot', a series about a pack of dropkicks pretending to be hunting for something that every last one of them must surely know doesn't actually exist. The important thing, however, is that they get to be on TV and make money. So maybe they're not dropkicks after all.

It's sad that David Attenborough lived long enough to see this happen. Let's hope he hasn't noticed.

We can't even invoke that disingenuous last line of defence for paranormal frauds - "it's just a bit of fun". Not only do the people serving this stuff up demand to be taken seriously, but this it is actually affecting the worldview of a lot of vulnerable people. For example, when singer Kate Perry told Rolling Stone in 2011 that she had become obsessed with Ancient Aliens because 'When it talks about the sky people, how everyone comes from the sky and how the Pyramids were used for star observations, it's too much for me. It all seems to connect the dots. It's blowing my mind,' you just know she has millions of impressionable fans taking that opinion on board. Hey kids, only losers 'connect the dots' in a logical sequence.

And society takes another little step closer towards Idiocracy.

Why are large sections of the TV-viewing western world retreating into an Age of Unreason? Is 21st-century mass communication allowing people to exist in cocoons of their own unreality, cherry-picking sources of information that conform to and reinforce their own worldview, so their mind moves in ever-decreasing circles? We all do it to some extent, but has it allowed certain Australian governments to seemingly give up on evidence-based solutions to social problems (crime, climate change, communications infrastructure, you name it), yet find wide support for their wilful ignorance? If scientists can be ignored, what chance have historians got? When Australian Education Minister Christopher Pyne launches culture wars to demand children are taught his view of History, how do historians push back? Projects like Honest History will help, but when supposedly authoritative outlets like the History Channel actively engage in dumbing down history it gets that much harder.

The last word here goes to Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews over at Bad Archaeology, who summed the whole sorry mess up like this:

'I find it incredible and frightening that a worldwide distributed television channel that bills itself as ‘The History Channel’ can broadcast such rubbish as Ancient Aliens. If it were an entertainment programme, I’d have fewer worries (although it would still make me cross); it is the implied authority of the channel (‘The History Channel’, not just any old ‘History Channel’) that makes the broadcast of this series so potentially damaging... A channel that is making claims for its authoritative status, which offers educational resources, has a responsibility not to mislead its viewers (no doubt its executives think of them as ‘customers’). That responsibility is one that all makers and broadcasters of supposedly factual television have, but one that few of them take seriously: the responsibility to check facts.'

The murder of Bronia Armstrong in Brisbane in 1947 turned into a double tragedy when Reginald Brown hanged himself in Boggo Road’s F Wing just a few days after being found guilty of the crime. The authors of the new book Lingering Doubts (Deb Drummond and Janice Teunis) took another look at the case and discovered serious discrepancies that suggest there are - as the title suggests - lingering doubts about the verdict.

I recently interviewed Deb Drummond about the new book:

Congratulations on Lingering Doubts. What made you and Janice decide to research and write this book?

JaniceTeunis

Deb Drummond

It began so simply - curiosity. Although, if I had any inkling about the enormity of what I was setting in motion, I may have walked away from the State Library and had a coffee instead of leaving with a bundle of newsprint.

My scrap book grew until Bob Bottom, respected investigative journalist, read the material. Bob went so far as to suggest a title for the story, which he said should be told, not only for the sake of our family but also in the public interest.

My cousin, Janice, was equally disturbed by glaring anomalies and, at her prompting, our partnership was formed. We began the long and arduous research that produced this book.In fact each injustice uncovered, made not writing Lingering Doubts, no longer an option.

The short answer: we wanted to give our grandfather the voice he was denied from the moment Brisbane detectives targeted him.

Could you outline the types of injustices and anomalies you came across?

Where do we start?

From the outset, without legal representation, our grandfather was interrogated by Det. ‘Stewie’ Kerr (later Comptroller General of Prisons) and Det. Sub-Inspector Frank Bischof (later Police Commissioner). Verbal accounts from various police officers were inconsistent and conflicting.

Boggo Road Gaol authorities confiscated the notes Reg Brown attempted to hand his solicitor. A known criminal was ‘discovered’ by police as a witness. A physical health problem our grandfather suffered from was concealed. And so it goes on...

In the book, you have acknowledged varying forms of assistance from dozens of people over the last seven years. The story has obviously been extensively researched – do you feel that the research is now complete?

We are surprised at the interest Reg Brown’s story has generated and grateful for the support we have received and continue to receive (yourself included). Over the years the Queensland Police Service has readily allowed us access to files and material, without which, the task of advocating for our grandfather would have been impossible. We’d like to think we’ve exhausted all avenues but hope our book might prove to be a springboard, so to speak, and more information may surface. To help with this endeavour, one of our supporters and family friend, Emma Starr, has designed our website. Our dream is that one day a, perhaps retired, legal professional will read Lingering Doubts and feel inclined to continue where we left off.

How much has this research changed your own perception of your grandfather? What effect has it had for your wider family?

Reginald Brown

When we started this journey, we (and our sisters and cousins) had no perception of our grandfather at all as he was missing from our childhood and our parents did not speak of him until we were adults – and then only to reluctantly disclose scant details about his arrest and imprisonment. My Dad, and Janice’s Mum, are well into their eighties now and retain wonderful memories of their father, Reg Brown. It’s taken enormous courage on their part to come forward and offer their contributions to Lingering Doubts. Although release from their crippling secret is liberating to a degree, they have had to relive the horror that shattered their family. The good thing is they now know much more than they ever knew.

Positive perceptions of our grandfather have consolidated as we began to meet him vicariously through archived material and personal memories of those who really knew him. We regret this loving family man was not in our lives.

This whole story is obviously within living memory for some of your family. How does the wider family feel about that story being used commercially in an unsympathetic manner?

Two of Reginald Brown’s children, teenagers at the time of the murder, are now in their 80s and have borne the stigma of their father’s ‘crime’ all their lives. By very careful analysis of all relevant details available to us via archived police files, trial transcripts and our interviews with people who were involved at the time, we believe we have made a credible argument for our grandfather’s innocence, and displayed the deviousness of police and the Crown prosecutor.

Our book needs to be read in comparison with other available works on this crime. The family thinks anyone peddling this very sad story needs to understand there is compelling evidence to suggest the tale being promulgated is a fabrication of cobbled half-truths.

Where can people get the book from?

Books are available at our talks and at our book launch, details of which are on our website. They can also be purchased on and at Copyright Publishing, and at The Book Bank (Top Floor, Toowong Village, Toowong).

February 2014

'A fair field full of folk found I in between,
Of all manner of men the rich and the poor,
Working and wandering as the world asketh.
Some put them to plow and played little enough,
At setting and sowing they sweated right hard
And won that which wasters by gluttony destroy.'
(W Langland, Piers Plowman, c.1390-87)

Yesterday I 'sweated right hard' myself and braved late-afternoon Brisbane summer temperatures that hovered in the mid-30s (brave for a old Lancastrian lard-arse like me, anyway) and headed out to discover the hidden history of Fairfield in southern Brisbane.

The event was a guided tour researched and headed by local resident Denis Peel, who had invited along a group of friends and colleagues for this inaugural heritage event.

The tour group at Robinson Park, Fairfield, 16 February 2014 (C Dawson)

I confess something of a personal attachment to Fairfield, having lived there with my wife during our hedonistic university days and having also written the Brisbane Beginnings: Fairfieldlocal history book (not to mention having been born at Fairfield Hospital in Jericho, Bury, Lancashire), so there was also a nostalgic element to my enjoyment of the day (especially finding that the 'AM + CD' we inscribed into wet roadside cement 14 years ago was still there).

As pleasant as it is, in the 19th century Fairfield was a generally agricultural area where, much as Langland would have described it, "Some put them to plow and played little enough", and so its history is not as incident-packed as some nearby suburbs. It is also bereft of major heritage landmarks and, as Denis pointed out, it's never even been home to a pub or a school. I discovered as much during research for the Fairfield book, and places like this require digging a bit deeper to get to the historical stories.

Interstate train passes through Fairfield, 1930 (John Oxley Library)

Denis had clearly done this groundwork, and although he acknowledged the help of the Fairfield book, he had uncovered so much more beyond that outline. We went from the railway station to Robinson Park (home of makeshift Depression-era golf links), saw some historic homes, including those of the Grimes family (we had Pam, a Grimes descendant, in the tour group as well), a scenic riverside stop, a church and the old Wilkins estate.Even as a former resident of Fairfield I still learnt a hell of a lot of new stuff and saw nooks and crannies of the suburb I hadn't noticed before.

It was a really good crowd of people too, with a few other history makers and buffs along for the walk. Although Denis led things along very comfortably, there were plenty of times when others in the group spoke up to add to the mix of information. It's a democratic approach to sharing history we also like to see on the Moonlight Tours of nearby South Brisbane Cemetery.

Mildmay Street, Fairfield, 16 February 2014 (C Dawson)

The tour will be repeated later this year, and similar walks will also be taking place in West End. Its great to see these projects being initiated at a local level, often without the framework of a historical society. The fact that they are non-profit (and usually free) show they are labours of love and genuine interest, which for me always gives this kind of activity the edge over for-profit tours.

I've always advocated that promoting a historical understanding of the buildings and streets and parks and waterways in the everyday suburban landscapes that surround us will promote a deeper sense of attachment to place in the community, and a stronger desire to protect heritage when it is threatened. So the more that people like Denis step up and create these excellent walks, the better.

I'll be looking to do a lot more of these suburban walks, especially come the cooler winter months. Right now I'm working on compiling a comprehensive list of these suburban tours and trails, so if you have any suggestions about Brisbane heritage trails, please let me know in the comments below or on the Boggo Blog Facebook page.

The end product / of Guddia law
is a viaduct / for fang and claw,
and a place to dwell / like Roebourne's hell
of a concrete floor / a cell door / and John Pat.

He's there - where?
there in their minds now / deep within,
there to prance / a sidelong glance / a silly grin
to remind them all / of a Guddia wall
a concrete floor / a cell door / and John Pat.
(from'John Pat', by Jack Davis)

(Sign the petition to stop ghost hunts in places where deaths in custody took place here)

In late 2012 I was sat in Brisbane with three senior Public Works officials discussing the controversial short-term reopening of part of a Boggo Road cellblock. They were trying to assure me that future site interpretation at the old prison would be both historical and respectful. Things like ‘ghost hunts’ were neither of these and would accordingly be banned.

I also raised issues of certain protocol regarding Indigenous cultures, as Public Works was allowing ghost tours inside a place where there have been deaths in custody. I was told (sincerely, I believe) these things would be taken care of.

Fair enough, I thought. A few months later I made an enquiry to Public Works after seeing online chatter about new ghost hunts at Boggo Road, and was told that they were still banned. All good.

Fast forward 12 months and there has been a sudden backflip. Ghost hunts can now be held at Boggo Road, Public Works say, because they have received ‘assurances’ that they would be 'respectful' and 'historical'.

Oh really? Let’s take a look at just how respectful and historical we can expect these ghost hunts to be.

I was going to write something about my opinions onghost-hunting pseudoscience and the ethics of selling a fraudulent product, but the reality is that any opposition to these hunts really only needs to be based on the fact that they are incrediblydisrespectful - and here's why:

Boggo Road was the scene of a number of deaths in custody, many within living memory and involving both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Some of these people were named in the 1991 report of the ‘Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody’.

These people died while in the custody of the Queensland Government.Is it therefore appropriate or respectful for the Queensland Government to sanction - and possibly even draw indirect revenue from - ‘ghost hunts’ at the scenes of these deaths in custody?

This memorial in front of the prison walls of the historic Fremantle Prison was was
erected in 1994 after the death of prisoner John Pat, and was placed 'in memory of all
Aboriginal people who have died in custody in Australia'. It was erected after
the death in custody of prisoner John Pat. (Creative Spirits)

And what do people directly affected by all this think about it? A relative of one of the deceased prisoners contacted me this week and had this to say:

‘Family members have varying views on the afterlife but the one thing they all agree on is that if seeking an audience and commercial gain is the ultimate goal, this type of sensationalist ‘ghost hunt’, especially when the poor miserable man's children still live, seems completely insensitive and unethical.’

I was also contacted by a man who was a prisoner there during the 1960s:

‘It is sad that people do not realise how offensive it is to trivialise the deaths of people in Custody. You may recall that I remembered a person who died in F wing while I was at No.2 (Suicide) I also was in the cell that Jimmy B------- died in (Pneumonia). Both men were Aboriginal. Mervyn T------- (Suicide) was Caucasian. He was quite seriously mentally compromised. Yet he was in mainstream Gaol. Have the people who are running round at night in the Gaol no sense of decency or sensitivity. That place drove people insane. It will bring them no joy to do this. Despite the crimes that Jimmy and T------ committed they were my friends and I feel a sense of outrage over what is taking place.’

Former officers who were first responders in these incidents and continue to be affected by those experiences are also unhappy. As one said to me just yesterday:

‘None of the ----- who run this shit ever stepped foot in the place, they don’t know what it was like. They don’t know what death is. And now they’re making a fucking mockery of it.’

And let’s not forget that an officer, Bernie Ralph, was bashed to death in Boggo Road in 1966. At a recent officer reunion there was emotional discussion about the alleged sullying of his character during tours at the prison. I do know that he is named in ghost tours. Here’s what a member of his family had to say about it:

‘For years my family have been tormented with nonsense in the media and on the internet about my grandfather’s death. This was a traumatic event that affects all of us to this day. My own father wasn’t much more than a boy when Bernard was killed, and the sadness and struggle the family endured shaped the adults they became, and the children that they went on to have.

The loss has been compounded in the years since by an awful man perpetuating stupid stories and rubbish about Bernard. He conducts tours and interviews focusing on my grandfather's supposed ghost... This man has even contacted me, as have a few ‘internet crazies’. It has all been very upsetting... They are also hurtful and distressing. And it makes me so angry that people are trying to make money by exploiting my family history. This man, Bernard Ralph, is still a very large part of some people’s lives.’

Professional historians have also voiced their opposition to these hunts. As a historian myself, I have previously made my own views known in the book The Haunting Question. This short extract refers to the fundamental issue of significancein cultural heritage:

‘The pursuit of a quick dollar can damage the long-term cultural heritage values of places that have more important stories to tell. In the case of Boggo Road, there are also essential lessons to be learned, lessons that cannot be learned if children are too afraid to go inside it, or are distracted by schlocky ghost stories.’

Is Boggo Road a historic prison with an important social history, or a novelty haunted house?

You also have to look at who is running these things. What is their track record, ‘respect’-wise? Ghost hunts run by ‘Brisbane Ghost Tours’ and ‘Queensland Paranormal Investigations’ were banned from Brisbane municipal cemeteries in 2009. A promotional video for the hunts featured smoke machines, ‘Ghostbusters’ music, and ‘investigators’ passing 'ghost-detecting equipment' over war graves in the South Brisbane Cemetery. To make things worse, one of the lead investigators in that segment was exposed on the ‘Australia and New Zealand Military Imposters’ website as a military imposter.

So that’s not too good, then.

BCC also had to intervene to stop pseudo-occult rituals being performed during ‘Ghost Tours’ in Toowong Cemetery, and people wearing horror-themed fancy dress during those tours. I understand that ghost tours and hunts are also not allowed in Ipswich cemeteries .

Then of course there is the now-infamous ‘second most haunted city claim’.

All of this indicates to me that when it comes to choosing between 'respect' and a dollar, Ghost Tours will chase the money every time until they are pulled into line. So clearly there are issues with respect here.

In fact, right now the field of paranormal research is infected with too many role-playing posers and frauds, chasing cheap thrills and a sad kind of celebrity.

If there was such a thing as the continued existence of human consciousness beyond bodily death, the subject should be a thing of awe and wonder. Understanding it would be an epochal triumph of science. Anybody truly serious about the paranormal would be doing the hard yards, studying thngs like the link between the supernatural and psychology. The work ofProfessor Richard Wisemanin this field is exceptional.

Unfortunately, what we are getting right now is Kentucky Fried Ghosts. People pissing on the memory of someone else's loved one. Important heritage sites being reduced to the status of fairground haunted houses.

I believe that there are two basic questions that anybody who supports ghost hunts should ask themselves. Firstly:

‘Would I allow commercial ghost hunts in the place where my own loved ones have passed away, with customers being told that the spirits of my loved ones haunt that place?’

And secondly:

‘Where do we draw the line? If ghost hunts are OK in places where people died in horrible circumstances in living memory of their loved ones, should the government approve commercial ghost hunts at the scenes of recent murders and suicides?

So my basic arguments as to why the Queensland Government should immediately reverse this decision and guarantee that such activities will not be allowed at Boggo Road in future are:

‘Ghost Hunts’ upset living relatives of the deceased.
Governments should never sanction 'ghost hunts' in ‘deaths in custody’ locations (or any other place, for that matter).
Where does the government draw a line between where ghost hunts are and are not allowed?Over-focussing on the paranormal demeans the real history of a place.
Can the business involved here be trusted to conduct themselves in a respectful manner?

When people talk about ‘A Better Future for Boggo Road’, it is not just an empty slogan. This is precisely the kind of inappropriate greed-driven activity that will continue to happen under the wrong management, and that is why better management is needed to make sure that all interpretation and use of this important historic site is respectful and appropriate.

The Boggo Road story should be told in many ways and by many voices. ‘Ghost hunting’ is not one of them.

If you want to express any concerns on this issue with the Public Works minister, you can do so here. Liking the Better Future for Boggo Road Facebook page is also a great way to keep up to date with developments.

And of course, don't forget to sign the petition to stop these hunts.

We can do better than this, both for Boggo Road and all those people who experienced that prison.

The following quotes are taken from some of the early signatories on the 'Queensland Government: Please stop allowing commercial ‘ghost hunts’ in places where deaths in custody took place' petition.

(Read Kentucky Fried Ghosts: The Boggo Road 'Ghost Hunt' Controversy here)

Kingsley Pocock

I think this is a gross invasion by a money hungry so called entrepeneaur who is desecrating this place. I served at the road for 4 years and never, never saw or heard a ghost'

Brian Black

As a former First Class Prison Officer at HM Prison Brisbane I am concerned about how the history of an important part of Queensland is being handeled. This may be lost if not processed correctly. First there are no ghosts, anywhere. Although there may have been some vile mean evil people serving time in Number Two Devision they were humans and when one of them died by whatever means it did effect all in there both inmates and staff. We former officers are getting older and our experiences and memories may be just going to dissapear. These so called 'Ghost Tours' are nothing but mockery of people who were once living and they are being treated with disrspect. This is purely in the cause of profit. To have people look for something on false emotional terms because someone has died or taken their own life is a discrase. Get the facts and revive the truth and the history of Number Two Devision.

Stephen M Gage

This is a disgraceful and disrespectful attitude from a Government Department that is hellbent on destroying the Historical value of Boggo Road Gaol

Michael Flannery

Macarbe

Anne Warner

Deaths in custody ought not be remembered as some kind of fun game. Before we get accused of being "killjoys" just consider the fact that deaths in custody still happen and they are no joke. People are placed in intolerable circumstances and are found dead for one reason or another. If the Government continues it's inhumane strategy of mandating solitary confinement for certain prisoners then watch the death in custody figures increase. Again this is no joke no occasion for ghoulish behaviour.

Ronald Bulmer

Respect should be shown to the dead

Sonya Pearce

This is disrespectful pure and simple.

Bernice Free

Father was Dep Super there for many years

Neville Buch

Respectful history is important for the mental health in the society. Credible historians with training in the discipline don't turn persons from the past into ghosts.

Kerry Guinea

I worked for Corrections for over 39 years, 10 of which was at Boggo Road. Making fun (and money)out of the misfortunes of those who had their lives ruined in there is noe on as far as I am concerned!

Leeann Crawford

Let the dead RIP have some compassion for relatives and friends.

Robert Johnstone

As a former inmate and having been in the Gaol from 1965 until 1967 during which time suicided in F wing and one Prison Officer was murdered (Mr Bernard Ralph ) Also two other prisoners I knew died while in Boggo Road one suicided and the other from Pnuemonia. I feel a sense of outrage that people who have no idea what it was like to be in Goal are allowed to roam through the prison without any consideration for the people who died there.

James Atherton

Our work there was serious, and should not be cheapened and made a mockery of.

Greg Beaumont

Because it is wrong and someone just out to make money

Gabrielle Ricketts

Ghost hunts being held in an area where Indigenous deaths in custody have taken place is disrespectful. And on the whole in very bad taste!

Glenda Masson

This is an inappropriate activity for the significant historical Boggo Road Goal.

Bruce Atkinson

This has been a long drawn issue in the way the Gaol is managed. Certainly this idea of a ghost hunt is totally disrespectful and makes a mockery of the whole thing. Let the Gaol be non profit making and a historic experience for all. Please review this and let the Boggo Road Historical Society have open access to the Gaol for a proper plan.

Lee Blume

Boggo Road Gaol is an historical site and should not host a commercial venture for profit to any one person or company.

Margaret Dakin

I want Boggo Road to be preserved as an historical site, not as a commercial venture for thrill seekers

Rob Pensalfini

While 'ghost-hunts' may seem like an innocent frivolous bit of fun, to hold them in a place that has been marred by deaths, some under questionable circumstances, including aboriginal deaths in custody, murders by guards and prisoners, and suicides is disrespectful in the extreme to the memories and families of those who died under these conditions.

Maureen Young

Deaths in custody are a significant part of Queensland's dark history. They should not be made light of and commercialised because it is disrespectful to those that died and those that remember them.

A new Brisbane prison was opened on Petrie Terracein 1860, but a few years later it was already full to capacity and the authorities needed another incarceration facility to cope with the overcrowding. The solution was the use of old ships, called ‘hulks’, moored in the Brisbane River.

The first hulk to be used in this way was the brig Julia Percy, purchased by the colonial government from Robert Towns in mid-1862 for use by the water police as a holding place for deserting seamen. The Julia Percy had been built at Portland Bay, Victoria, in 1847 and measured 67 x 19 feet, weighing 61 tons.

Although £871 was spent refitting this hulk, a few months later she was condemned but remained at anchor off Fisherman's Island, housing the water police and prisoners until she could be replaced. The hulks were used to hold both criminals and mutineers, and among the prisoners on Julia Percy in June and July 1863 were 15 crew members of the British ship Ariadne, who had attempted to mutiny during the voyage to Moreton Bay; 16 men from the Prince Consort, then in Hervey Bay; ten seamen from the Vernon, one seaman from the Salamander; and two deserters from the Legion of Honour. They were joined soon afterwards by 14 men from the Earl Russell and 17 from the Queen of the Colonies. Many of these men were charged with such crimes as breaking into their ship’s stores.

Painting of Hades and Proserpine.
(Charles-Joseph Natoire, 1735)

The Julia Percy was sold in late 1863 and re-rigged as a brigantine. She was replaced by the Margaret Eliza, an American-built barque of 505 tons which the government purchased in January 1864 at a price of £3000. She was refitted, towed to Fisherman’s Island among the mangroves and mosquitoes, and renamed Proserpine. The official reason for changing the name remains unknown, but in Greek mythology Proserpine was the wife of Hades, King of the Underworld, and is said to have kept a boarding house in hell.

The Proserpine had ten separate ‘cells’ but could hold up to 60 men. In 1864 a total of 104 prisoners were held in the Proserpine. 108 were confined there during the following year – all of them white men. One of the prisoners on board was James Alpin McPherson, the ‘Wild Scotsman’, one of Queensland's most colourful bushrangers, who received a 25-year sentence in 1866.

A Water Police guard lived aboard the vessel, and used the prisoners as oarsmen when the services of boats' crews were required. The prisoners were also taken to St Helena Island each day and employed in scrub clearing, well-sinking, and building the stone jetty and other buildings. The Proserpine was used as a prison hulk until May 1867, when the St Helena Island Penal Establishment officially opened and all the inmates were transferred there.

A typical barque of the 1870s.

The Proserpine became a reformatory for about 50-60 boys in 1871. This was done to separate the boys from the corrupting influence of adult prisoners. The hulk was then under the supervision of a Superintendent and a Visiting Justice, and was visited by a medical officer and school teacher who looked after the health and education of the inmates. The Proserpine was used in this way until 1881.

In mid-1881 she was recorded as being anchored in the Milton Reach of the river, for use as a quarantine vessel during a smallpox scare. Around this time she was described in the Brisbane Courier as a ‘leaky, rotten, old tub, fit only for firewood’. This proved to be her fate in early 1882, when she was towed back to St Helena Island and broken up for firewood and scrap metal.

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