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Stop the Rot at Boggo Road
Are you concerned about protecting the heritage and history of the Boggo Road heritage prison?I am. I've devoted a big chunk of my life to the old place, as a labour of love without financial...
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A Trip to the Gold Diggings #3: Ipswich to Fassifern
In 1859 a wave of gold fever hit the newly independent colony of Queensland, and hundreds of men headed southwest to Tooloom, approximately 150 kilometres over the border into New South Wales. This...
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Western Maps & the Dreaming
The map to the right is not of downtown Moscow, but is instead how my hometown of Heywood, Lancashire, looked on a mid-1970s Soviet map of Britain. It was produced for a potential Soviet invasion, and...
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The Burleigh and Bilinga Sperm Whales
On the hot afternoon of 27 December 1926, hundreds of holiday-makers on the main surfing beach at Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, were horrified to see a massive white object floating out in the ocean....
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A Trip to the Gold Diggings #4: Fassifern to Koorelah Range
In 1859 a wave of gold fever hit the newly independent colony of Queensland, and hundreds of men headed southwest to Tooloom, approximately 150 kilometres over the border into New South Wales. This...
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Whaling Days at Tangalooma
Tangalooma, 1957 (State Library of Qld)Every southern winter, thousands of Humpback Whales migrate from the Antarctic and up the east coast of Australia to their breeding and birthing grounds in warmer...
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A Whale Hunt Off Moreton Island
In 1954 two Humpback Whales - a male and female - paired up as they headed along the eastern coast of Australia to the warm breeding grounds of the South Pacific. They, along with thousands of other...
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Three Men (& a Humpback) in a Boat: The Yeppoon Whale Tragedy of 1928
The whale-watching tourism industry springs into life off the coast of Queensland each year as Humpbacks migrate north to breeding and birthing grounds. The sight of breaching Humpbacks can be truly...
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The Lost Graveyard of Terranora Creek
There are of course many little old graveyards dotted around the Queensland landscape today, some in better shape than others, but there are lots more that never made it this far and have been lost to...
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Boggo Road: It's All Been Done Before...
A bull in Boggo Road? Already been done... (C. Dawson)I was recently having a discussion about the Boggo Road heritage prison, specifically about what kind of events could be held there, and which ones...
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A Trip to the Gold Diggings #5: Tooloom
In 1859 a wave of gold fever hit the newly independent colony of Queensland, and hundreds of men headed southwest to Tooloom, approximately 150 kilometres over the border into New South Wales. This...
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The Gallows of the Old Windmill Tower
Depiction of the 1841 hanging (Telegraph, 10 March 1970)The 'Old Windmill Tower' on Wickham Terrace is the oldest surviving European structure in Queensland and one of the heritage gems of Brisbane. It...
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A Trip to the Gold Diggings #6: Scenes From Tooloom
In 1859 a wave of gold fever hit the newly independent colony of Queensland, and hundreds of men headed southwest to Tooloom, approximately 150 kilometres over the border into New South Wales. This...
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Did Johnny Cash Play a Concert at Boggo Road?
Did the great Johnny Cash ever play a concert at Boggo Road? It's a reasonable question to raise, as I have been contacted twice during recent months by media/marketing types wanting a chat about 'that...
View ArticleThe Life & Death Quiz: Hanging in Queensland
Welcome to a new series of quizzes about Queensland history. In this first entry you can test your knowledge of the dark history of hangings in Queensland.Loading...
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The Short Life of Marburg Prison Farm
During World War 2 the small town of Marburg (about 60km west of Brisbane) had a brief but somewhat confusing role in the Queensland prison system. A new prison farm for women was established there in...
View ArticleThe Life & Death Quiz: Boggo Road History
Test your knowledge of this notorious Brisbane prison.Loading...
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The Life & Death Quiz: Brisbane Prison History
It's time for another 'Life & Death Quiz', this time with ten multiple-choice questions about the history of various prisons in Brisbane.Be warned - they're not too easy! You can find some answers...
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A Suffragette Recalls Boggo Road Gaol
Silver hunger-strike medal presented to the Suffragette prisoner Lady Constance Lytton, October 1909The following article about a female prisoner recalling her time inside Boggo Road is adapted from...
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Constance Clyde of Dutton Park: Author and Suffragette
Constance Clyde, 1903.In August 1951 a 79-year-old Brisbane woman died and was buried in the Hemmant Cemetery. No headstone marks her grave, no newspaper obituary marked her passing, and her life in...
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