St Helena Island is an Island in Queensland (Australia), 21 km east of Brisbane in Moreton Bay. Originally used as a prison, it is now a national park. Named Noogoon by the Australian Aborigines, it was renamed St Helena after an aboriginal named Napolean was exiled there in 1826. Napoleon Bonaparte had been exiled to Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. The island park is visible from the mainland, particularly the suburbs of Wynnum, Manly and Lota. It has its own permanent water supply, a spring in the centre of the island. Many migratory birds use it as a watering hole. Capital Brisbane Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Quentin Bryce Premier Peter Beattie (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 28  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $158,506 (3rd)  - Product per capita  $40,170/person (6th) Population (June Quarter Released Statistics 2006)  - Population  4,053,444 (3rd)  - Density  2. ... Brisbane (pronounced ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and is the third largest city in Australia, with a metropolitan population of 1. ... Moreton Bay from space, from a NASA photograph Moreton Bay is a large bay on the eastern coast of Australia 19 km from Brisbane, Queensland. ... Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, UK A national park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. ... Aboriginal Flag Australian Aborigines is a name used to collectively describe most of the indigenous peoples of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... Wynnum is a large suburb located in the south-eastern pocket of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. ... Manly is a suburb of the Brisbane City Council located in Brisbane, Australia. ... Lota is a Hindi and Urdu word for pot. Though it may refer to any pot, the term is most commonly employed for a container filled with water to facilitate the cleaning of ones anal region after defecation. ... A natural spring on Mackinac Island in Michigan. ... Aves redirects here. ...

In the 19th century St Helena Island was a quarantine station which became one of the most profitable prisons in Queensland history. The island was home to prisoners and staff for 65 years. Many of the people involved in the 1891 Australian shearers' strike were imprisoned there along with murderers and bushrangers. Quarantine, a medical term (from Italian: quaranta giorni, forty days) is the act of keeping people or animals separated for a period of time before, for instance, allowing them to enter another country. ... The 1891 Shearers Strike is one of Australias oldest and most important industrial disputes. ... Bushrangers were outlaws who used the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities between committing their robberies, roughly analogous to the British-American highwayman. Their targets often included small-town banks or coach services. ...

St Helena Island Prison

Several kilometres from the mouth of the Brisbane River lies St Helena Island. For more than 60 years from 1867, St Helena was home to many hundreds of society's outcasts, for here was located colonial Queensland's foremost prison for men. The Brisbane River is situated in southeast Queensland, Australia, and flows through the state capital Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. ...

In the early 1860s, as Brisbane's gaol at Petrie Terrace became more and more crowded, about 30 prisoners were transferred to an old hulk, called the Proserpine, anchored near the mouth of the Brisbane River. In 1866, as part of their labours, the prisoners were taken each morning across the waters of Moreton Bay by whaleboat to St Helena Island. Here they were put to work sinking wells, clearing scrub, quarrying stone and building accommodation for a new quarantine station. They were brought back to the hulk each night. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Brisbane central business district. ... A modern copy of a traditional whaleboat on display at Mystic Seaport. ... Cable tool water well drilling rig in Kimball, West Virginia. ... The rocky side of a mountain creek near Orosí, Costa Rica. ... Accommodation is a theological principle linked to divine revelation within the Christian church. ...

Government plans for the quarantine station were scrapped later that year — because the conditions at Petrie Terrace gaol had become so unbearable, the prisoners from the Prosperpine were set to work building a gaol instead. On 14 May 1867, the Governor of Queensland signed a proclamation declaring the island 'a place whereat offenders under order or sentence of hard labour or penal servitude may be detained'. In the years that followed, St Helena was to become Queensland's showpiece prison. May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... Cunt BAg Twat Fuk suck my penis ring 0778851865!!!!!!Year 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... List of Governors of Queensland See Governors of the Australian states for a description and history of the office of Governor. ...

The toughest years on St Helena were undoubtedly the early ones, and the ruins on the island testify to the hard work that the prisoners had to do. These, too, were the years of severe punishment — the lash, the dreaded dark underground cells, the gag, and energy-sapping shot drill. These were the years that gained St Helena its fearful reputation as 'the hell hole of the Pacific' and 'Queensland's Inferno'. But in these days tough measures were called for, because St Helena housed some of the country's worst criminals. In 1891, for example, there were 17 murderers, 27 men convicted of manslaughter, 26 men convicted of stabbings and shootings, and countless individuals responsible for assaults, rapes and similar violent crimes. Rocky landscape with ruins, by Nicolaes Berchem, ca. ...

Because of this, St Helena had to be a secure prison — and it was, through its isolation and iron rule. During its lifetime, there were fewer than 25 serious attempts by prisoners to escape. Most of the 50 or so men involved were recaptured, although three disappeared without trace, two were drowned or taken by sharks in Moreton Bay, and a few were caught several years later. Orders Carcharhiniformes Heterodontiformes Hexanchiformes Lamniformes Orectolobiformes Pristiophoriformes Squaliformes Squatiniformes Symmoriida(extinct) Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton[1] and a streamlined body. ...

By the turn of the century, the St Helena establishment had grown to accommodate over 300 prisoners in a maze of buildings surrounded by a high stockade wall. It operated as a self-sufficient settlement, and even exported some of its produce to the mainland, including bricks for many of Brisbane's buildings, clothes to be sold in Brisbane, and white rope for ships, which was made from a cactus found on the island. In the island workshops the prisoners were taught such trades as bootmaking, tailoring, tinsmithing, saddlemaking]], bread baking and butchery. The island boasted a prize dairy herd which won many awards at the Brisbane Exhibitions(Ekka). The island was extensively farmed. Maize, potatoes, lucerne and other vegetables thrived in the rich volcanic soil and the sugar mill crushed over 75 tons of locally-grown sugar annually by 1880. An old brick wall in English bond laid with alternating courses of headers and Brick is an artificial stone made by forming clay into rectangular blocks which are hardened, either by burning in a kiln or sometimes, in warm countries, by sun-drying. ... Coils of rope used for long-line fishing A rope (IPA: ) is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. ... Genera See Taxonomy of the Cactaceae A cactus (plural cactus, cacti, or cactuses) is any member of the succulent plant family Cactaceae. ... A tailor is a person whose occupation is to sew clothes custom-fit to individuals, and to repair clothes. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... The Ekka is the annual state fair of Queensland, Australia. ... Corn redirects here. ... Binomial name Solanum tuberosum L. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, commonly grown for its starchy tuber. ... Location within Switzerland View of the city from Lake Lucerne Another view across Lake Lucerne The Lion Monument Lucerne (German: (help· info)) is a city in Central Switzerland with a population of 60,274 (December 31, 2003), capital of the Canton of Lucerne. ... Vegetables in a market Venn diagram representing the relationship between (botanical) fruits and vegetables. ... Two sugar beets - the one on the left has been cultivated to be smoother than the traditional beet, so that it traps less soil. ... Magnification of typical sugar showing monoclinic hemihedral crystalline structure. ... Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ...

In many ways, St Helena was regarded as a model prison for the times, and held in high regard by visiting interstate and overseas penologists. Penology (from the Latin poena, punishment) comprises penitentiary science: that concerned with the processes devised and adopted for the punishment, repression, and prevention of crime, and the treatment of prisoners. ...

By the 1920s, the prison had begun to show its age. In its latter years, after the majority of prisoners and the workshops had been removed to the Boggo Road gaol on the mainland, the island became a prison farm for trustees, with a few dozen resident inmates tenaciously dismantling the ageing edifice. Many prison buildings remain. The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ...

The last prisoner left the island on 15 February 1933. The last prison superintendent was Mr Patrick Roche. February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

These days, the island is a tourist destination for school children and visitors to Brisbane alike. The island is visited by Lady Brisbane and Cat O' Nine Tails. Private individuals can visit the island but are restricted to certain parts of the island. There are history tours of the island, including a Ghost tour, where you can experience the stories of those imprisoned there, and then tour the cemetery, at night. There's a repeater station on the island for 4TAB. The olive trees on the island are still producing fruit. One of the Boats operated by Brisbane Cruises, the oldest established family business on the Brisbane river. ... For the Italian political alliance see Olive Tree, and the color, olive (color). ...

Escaping from St Helena Island prison

"It is impossible", wrote the Visiting Justice in 1869,"for prisoners to escape from St Helena. I am convinced of it. They would have three miles to swim." In fact, history was to show that the island was almost escape-proof.

Over six decades, there were more than 50 prisoners desperate enough to try to escape but, despite several super-human efforts, their attempts proved futile.

A few tried to swim. They were doomed to failure due to the vagaries of the tides, offshore winds and choppy seas. And, of course, there were the ever-present man-eating sharks. Some took to crudely-made rafts of driftwood and logs. One man lashed a door to two pine stools. Even a bath tub was tried. One pair planned to swim two horses across the bay with themselves as passengers. They were foiled by an alert warder. Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ...

Then there were those who took to boats. One commandeered a whaleboat after slinging the guard into the water. Others discovered boats which had broken loose from moorings on the mainland and had drifted unseen cross the bay into the mangroves at St Helena. Still others tried to break into the prison boathouse. Above and below water view at the edge of the mangal. ...

Some prisoners perished in their attempt. The aborigine, Burketown Peter, clinging desperately to a wooden target-frame used by the warders during rifle practice, vanished beneath the waters of Moreton Bay as his makeshift raft headed out to sea on an outgoing tide.

One of the island prison's most publicised episodes took place in November 1911, when prisoners Henry Craig and David Mclntyre vanished for nearly two weeks. Most people believed they had escaped to the mainland and, as a result, South East Queensland was turned upside down in the search for the pair. Warders turned out each day to search St Helena from end to end. Police and blacktrackers patrolled hundreds of kilometres of mainland coastline, and residents of Brisbane and nearby settlements thought they saw the two fugitives behind every bush and tree. 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... The South East Queensland region. ...

On the twelfth day the prisoners reappeared. They had been hiding above the ceiling of the tailors' workshop on St Helena, where they had been aided by a prisoner accomplice who supplied them daily with food] and water. After the news of their surrender reached Brisbane, the press had a field day. Commented one newspaper: A tailor attending to a customer in Hong Kong. ... Impact of a drop of water. ...

'The public gripped both its sides with laughter last Thursday morning. It was the anti-climax to the deuce of a hullabaloo and a sensational hue and cry after the two convicts, Craig and Mclntyre, were reported to have escaped from the penal establishment in Moreton Bay to the mainland. For ten whole days the press wove fairy tales and flimsy romances describing in as many different ways how the two desperate fellows had reached the mainland and liberty. Liberty is generally considered a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has immunity from the arbitrary exercise of authority. ...

Then came the news that the lost prisoners had never so much as put a foot outside the island since the day they were sent there. It may be unkind to laugh, but it is impossible to repress a smile.'

Most escapees, however, rarely got any further than the island mangroves and scrub where they were captured by searching warders, supplemented, if necessary, by police from Brisbane, or driven out by hunger, or by intolerable hordes of mosquitoes.

In fact, only one man was not recaptured after escaping from the island prison. Notorious gunman Charles Leslie was whisked from the island early one morning in 1924 by criminal accomplices who were waiting offshore in a motor boat.

Historical timeline

St Helena Island - Aboriginal name: Noogoon

• 720BC to 1840 (Approx) Used by Aboriginal tribe, the Nooghies
• 1799 Island described as one of the 'Green Isles' by Matthew Flinders
• 1826 Named St Helena after Aboriginal exiled on Island
• 1850s Fledgling dugong industry
• 1866 Quarantine Station built
• 1867 (14 May) Declared Penal Establishment
• 1875 Construction started on stone causeway
• 1885 Tramway commences operation (first passenger tramcar in Qld)
• 1890 Warder's families removed from Island
• 1891 Leaders of Great Shearer's Strike imprisoned on Island *
• 1905 Sisal Hemp growing started
• 1907 Lash last used
• 1921 Announcement of intended prison closure
• 1921 (to 1932) Became prison farm for low security prisoners
• 1922 Dismantling of buildings commenced (cont'd to 1932)
• 1925 Electric light installed
• 1932 (Dec) Official Prison closure
• 1933 (1st Dec) Opened to the public (under responsibility of Brisbane City Council) First passenger ferry service established from Wynnum Pier (Closed 1934)
• 1939 BCC handed Island back to State Gov't. Leased as dairy farm to 1973
• 1973 Charles Carroll acquires 2 leases on Island (tourism and pasture)
• 1974 Part of North Point leased to 4IP Radio to build radio station
• 1979 (4th Oct) Gazetted National Park
• 1980 (11th Sept) Gazetted Historic Area (First in Qld)
• 1981 First Park Ranger appointed to Island
• 1983 Coral dredging commenced Eastern side of Island (finished 1988)
• 1984 Carroll's leases requisitioned
• 1985 Education Qld involved in guide training and collating archival material
• 1986 (Oct) New jetty opened. First scripted play, St Helena by Night staged on Island 1987 Horse-drawn wagon transport introduced to Island (until 1996)
• 1996 Diesel powered train commenced operation (until 2002)
• 1997 Dramatised 1st person interpretation introduced to day tours
• 1998 A B Sea Cruises won Qld Tourism Award for St H by Day/by Night Tours
• 2000 Establishment of Museum completed

Fact sheet

• Area: 0.75 km²
• Coordinates: 27°23′36″S, 153°13′54″E
• Date of establishment: 1979
• Managing authorities: Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
• IUCN category: II

See also: Protected areas of Queensland (Australia) This article is about longitude and latitude; see also UTM coordinate system Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (vertically) and longitude (horizontally); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which... The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... Queensland is the second largest mainland state in Australia. ...

References

• True Tales of Old St Helena, More True Tales of Old St Helena, The Wild Men of St Helena, The Escapes from St Helena, The St Helena Island Prison. Jarvis Finger, Boolarong Publications, Brisbane.
• Part of the Glory, Julian Stuart.