Plan of the island of St Helena, HM Penal Establishment, Queensland, 1887

St Helena Island, QLD
Australia
27° 23' 26.088" S, 153° 14' 8.2428" E
See map: Google Maps
1 January 1887
1 September 2010
1 September 2010

Location

St Helena Island, QLD
Australia
27° 23' 26.088" S, 153° 14' 8.2428" E
See map: Google Maps
1 September 2010
Brisbane
Government Printer
Collection of the National Library of Australia
Stone walls do a prison make: law on the landscape

A few surviving examples of Queensland colonial prisons have been heritage-listed and are now used for cultural tourism. St Helena Island, 1887. Collection of the National Library of Australia.

Separate prison cell design, 1868

The separate-cell design of one of the two cellblocks in Brisbane prison, Petrie Terrace, c1868. Some female prisoners were still housed in an associated ward here, and it was 1903 before a purpose-built separate-cell prison was constructed specifically for women in Queensland. From Report on Prison Discipline, 1868. Collection of Christopher Dawson.

Collection of Christopher Dawson

Radial prison design, 1880s

The American-inspired ‘radial’ design was widely used in late nineteenth century Queensland prisons. A variation on Jeremy Bentham’s ‘panopticon’, this design created a central focus of control and sense of architectural and social order. The second prison at Rockhampton, built in 1884 and Townsville prison, 1887, from Inquiry into Gaols, 1887. Collection of Christopher Dawson.

Collection of Christopher Dawson

Plan of communal wards, Queens Street gaol, Brisbane, 1850s

Queen Street prison, 1850s. Collection of Christopher Dawson. One of the major shifts in nineteenth century penological thinking was in the area of prisoner classification, a shift that was neatly reflected in the changing design of Queensland prisons constructed throughout that century.

Collection of Christopher Dawson

Palen Creek prison farm, 1939

Palen Creek prison farm, 1939. State farms, or ‘honour prisons’, are low-security facilities used to house low-risk inmates.

Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland image 189041

Stone walls do a prison make: law on the landscape

The imposition of a new and dominant system of law was an important part of the European settlement of Queensland.

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