The old gaol is a great subject for the visual arts, and over the years dozens of photographers and film-makers have taken their cameras inside the gates. Visitors ranged from high school students to Disney, who turned the gaol into a massive film set for a few days when they made part of 'Inspector Gadget 2' there (not their biggest success). There was also the bizarre Indian commercial I wrote about previously here. When the gaol does open up again this will a revenue stream for the place, although attracting TV and movie productions is dependent upon keeping as much of the historical integrity of the old buildings intact as possible.
The video shown here - 'Controlling Chaos: The screws of Boggo Road' - is one such worthwhile effort. These student films are always limited by their length (in this case about 3 minutes) but nevertheless quite a lot can be packed into them. It was made very recently by uni students and contains extracts of interviews with a couple of former 'screws', condensed from about 3 hours worth of material. It's worth a look:
Budding film-makers please note: You need to contact the Department of Public Works for permission to film at Boggo Road, not the BRGHS. While we do like to help where possible, we sometimes have a lot on our plates and have to say no.
