Areas of Interest Guide: Executed Prisoners

This is portion 6B. These ‘areas of interest’ are marked on the entry signs in the cemetery.

Executed Prisoners
Prisoners' plaque in section 6B.

This is section 6B, a rare segregated area within the South Brisbane Cemetery. It was set aside for the burials of people hanged at H.M. Brisbane Prison, off Boggo Road, during 1883-1913. A segregated section was required simply because the public did not want executed prisoners to be interred next to the graves of their loved ones. This area had not been used before 1883 as it was quite swampy. 

A total of 42 people were buried here, with many of them receiving graveside burial services, meaning that much of the ground here is considered to be consecrated. The prisoners were usually hanged and interred on a Monday morning, and placed in a grave owned by the Queensland government.

The prison in which the prisoners were hanged was demolished back in 1978, but the sandstone block here is from the site of the old prison. The plaque here gives further details about all the people who were hanged.
Executed Prisoners
Sketch of a hanging at Boggo Road in 1905. ('The Truth')

Read more: ‘Hanging in Queensland’ website

Nearby ‘Areas of Interest’

Eleanor Bourne (first female medical student in Queensland) – Portion 8B
Shiskoffs (Russian graves) – Portion 5C
James Chard (‘Pearl’ disaster captain) – Portion 5C
Grace Yorston (‘Pearl’ disaster victim) – Portion 5A
Patrick Kenniff (hanged for murder) – Portion 6B
Gregory Brown (train disaster victim) – Portion T
Arthur Cripps (boxing champion) – Portion M
Carl Oscar Fristrom (artist) – Portion 6