When will Boggo Road reopen? (redux)

Back in April I posted my first blog, which asked the question 'when will Boggo Road reopen?' The answer, it seemed back then, was probably around March 2011, or even late in 2010. Of course, I was so much younger and more naive in those long-ago days. All these months later it would appear that we are even further away from knowing when those big green gates will open to the public again.

Last week BRGHS president Tracey Olivieri and I met with Public Works officials, who informed us that the state government is negotiating a deal that will require the developer of some of the surrounding sections of the ‘Boggo Road Urban Village’ to put together a plan for using the prison site.

As the word 'developer' can often lead us historians to start unlocking the rifle and ammo cabinet, it should be pointed out that the planning process will involve consultation with groups like the BRGHS and heritage bodies, as well as the updated conservation plan, and the educational and historical values of the site will need to be respected in any plan. Any draft plan will then be submitted to the Brisbane City Council.

All-in-all, there is every chance that this could be a very good development, and the BRGHS will certainly approach this with a positive attitude and work to ensure the best outcome. 

However, a very rough estimate for reopening would now be around 2013.

So there it is. A site that quite frankly should have been up and running in 2009 is still years away from opening.  I am disappointed by the reluctance of the state government to invest in this unique part of Queensland heritage. Melbourne, Fremantle and Port Arthur all operate major prison/convict sites with great success, and places like Maitland Gaol and Dubbo do a great job on a slightly smaller scale. All these sites have government investment and offer great returns in educational and tourism terms.

The excuse is a lack of money, but how much is wasted by the state government on other things (I'm thinking of the Commonwealth Games here)?

This raises an old question that we used to ask ourselves at the museum: 'Is the government ashamed of what Boggo Road represents?' The history of the place, especially in later decades, is not one any government would be pround of, and we always wondered if the government would rather see it vanish from the landscape than act as a reminder of the bad old days.

For now, I'll save this question for a future blog.