Boggo

In this episode of Boggo Jack and Sue discuss an incredible story published in the Courier Mail newspaper on 24 January 1991. Journalist Madonna King reported on an ongoing Criminal Justice Commission investigation into allegations of a call girl racket being run out of Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre by its matron! Boggo Road’s former Emergency Squad Chief told the public hearing of a convicted female killer and a female prison officer being photographed together scantily clad in lingerie! It just got worse and worse…

Hear from Jack Sim, Director of Historic Australia about the upcoming temporary closure of Boggo Road Gaol with our last day of tours is the 27th March.

In this episode of Boggo Jack and Sue discuss the shocking revelations of the Truth newspaper in 1962. Photographs smuggled out of the prison revealed a fact denied by authorities – the existence of wire cages to hold dangerous and troublesome prisoners – including notorious Slim Halliday. Even women were caged!

In this episode of Boggo Jack interviews Max who was a prisoner in Brisbane Prison in the late 1950s. He recalls his involvement in a mutiny which saw prisoners scale onto rooftops and barrack themselves in their cells. Those involved were punished severely. A fascinating insight into a serious situation here at Boggo Road 65 years ago from someone who lived it!

In today’s episode Gaol Director Jack Sim and Sue Olsen continue the story of John Hobson.  We discover that the time bomb was ready to explode and sadly an officer was to bear the brunt of his rage. 

Psychopath John Hobson should have been in the maximum-security institute for the criminally insane at Sandy Gallop mental asylum near Ipswich, not Brisbane Prison. Officers and Prisoners alike knew thathe was time bomb aggressive and prone to violent episodes. In today’sepisode Gaol Director Jack Sim and Sue Olsentalk about the life of John Hobson and whatbrought him to Brisbane Prison Complex

Jack Sim Gaol Director and Sue Olsen get back behind bars at Boggo Road Gaol. For the first timesince the start of the pandemic we have been able to get back behind bars.   This episode is a welcome back episode and we fill you in on what’s been happening behind the irongates of Boggo Road Gaol.

40 years ago, Dean King left Boggo Road Gaol for the last time. Today, he returns to share his story with Gaol Director Jack Sim and to launch his self-published biography ‘King Hit’. Dean was a prisoner in the tumultuous 1980s and witnessed some of the biggest events in Boggo Road Gaol history. However, time spent locked up in Boggo Road Gaol is only part of his remarkable story. WARNING -  Graphic Content – MA15+ -  Prison life is full of hard hitting and sometimes confronting subject matter.  This episode of BOGGO contains material that may be offensive to some listeners. We strongly recommend that it be listened to by MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY.

Tuesday, The 17th of September 2019 marks 60 years since notorious cat-burglar and jail-breaker Arthur Halliday, better known as Slim, made his last major escape attempt. Halliday, already a house-hold name for two successful escapes in the 1940s, was serving life imprisonment in Boggo Road Jail for the dreadful murder of a taxi-driver at Currumbin in 1952. The victim had been killed by blows to the head from the butt of a Colt .45 calibre handgun. In a struggle when arrested in Sydney, where he had fled after learning police discovered he had been living on the Coast, Halliday was shot in the leg by the same model gun that he had in his possession. Detectives swore he admitted to the murder; Halliday claimed senior police framed him.

Cyril James MacIntosh was perhaps one of the most frequent prisoners in gaols all over the eastern side of Australia. His remarkably habitual career as a celebrated bogus doctor graced Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Known by at least seventeen aliases and with at least forty charges to his name, the question remains: was he simply mischievous, malevolent or completely mad?

Three young men; each of them out of work and down on their luck broached the big lights of Brisbane for a change in their fortunes. Three days and a short voyage later their trip to Brisbane would end in salvation for one and for the other two a twelve month stay in a hell hole. “The Reverse Escape” is a thrilling edge of your seat drama from beginning to end.

“From Boggo Road to Marry & Back to 10 Year Sentence” A story from the Headlines of the Truth Newspaper on the 10th of December 1939, tells the remarkable story of prisoner John Daniel Robertson who was given the extraordinary permission to marry while under sentence of ten years at HM Prison Mens Brisbane (colloquially known as Boggo Road Gaol).

In number 3 yard, in two division Boggo Road Gaol there is a piece of graffiti on the wall of F wing cell block - Gentleman Joe. Written in paint and about 20cm high, it is certainly unmissable. Just who Gentleman Joe was has long been shrouded in mystery. Join Gaol Director Jack Sim and Research Coordinator Sue Olsen as they uncover the identity of Gentleman Joe.

Young women of poor origins quite frequently found themselves falling afoul of the law. Her Majesty’s Prison for Women Brisbane at Boggo Road was where most of these women ended up. Maria O'Rourke was among the poorest of the poor and she did what she had to do to survive - steal. 

Prisoners often cause themselves harm to escape the confines of gaol, if only for a short time. In the 1970s a new era of prisoners were in Boggo Road Gaol, with them came new methods of injuring themselves and others. Gaol Director Jack Sim and Research Coordinator Sue Olsen discuss an important discovery in a 1974 newspaper.

Gaol Director Jack Sim and Sue Olsen discuss the upcoming launch of the Male Division Prison Players from the 1970s era at Boggo Road Gaol; The important steps being taken in obtaining items to represent prisoners and officers of that time as accurately as possible and some recent acquisitions.

Boggo Road Gaol is hardly a place you could imagine that a State School would be. However, in 1948 that’s exactly where there was one was opened. Under the tutaledge of an experienced Brisbane State High School teacher a school for prisoners was opened inside the walls of Boggo Road Gaol. It schooled all kinds of prisoners… from petty thieves and armed robbers to infamous murderers. Come and visit Our Strangest State School.

Gold Coast bodybuilder Nathan Jones, at 207 centimeters and weighing 128 kilograms, was nicknamed “The Colossus of Boggo Road”. Nathan was convicted in the Brisbane Supreme Court in April 1989 on five counts of attempted robbery and three of the unlawful use of a motor vehicle. In prison, an upset Nathan is said to have torn his cell door off; in reality he was a gentle giant. Having served his sentence Nathan was released and turned his life around eventually becoming a WWE wrestler and later a famous Hollywood movie star.

A century ago this month, one of the most violent political protests, indeed probably the first real protest of its kind - marched its way through the streets of Brisbane City. What would ensue over the coming days would change Brisbane forever. It would also see thirteen men locked up in Boggo Road Gaol for long sentences with hard labour.

In the 1950s conditions at Boggo Road Gaol were at fever pitch. The prison was horribly over-crowded, prisoners and officers were unhappy. There were riots, protests and regular violence. Finally, late one night there was an escape attempt by notorious violent offenders. This attempt and one officers firm stance would be the subject of a secret inquiry held within the walls of Boggo Road Gaol.