panopticon

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.