Cairns Prison (historic): prison profile
QLD | Decommissioned | Australian Prison Directory
Source-linked profile checked 2026-11-12. Dates and capacities below describe the stated source period, not necessarily today’s available beds or prisoner population.
About this facility
Historical regional prison in Cairns, officially listed as HM Prison Cairns. Government institution records and the Queensland Historical Atlas give a prison period of 1897–1925. Surviving reception ledgers provide further evidence of custody. This is not Lotus Glen Correctional Centre or a present-day Cairns police watch-house.
Classification: Historical adult gaol/prison; modern security category not assigned retrospectively.
Contact details
Address: Cairns, Queensland 4870; exact historical street address not verified
No current dedicated contact verified.
No operating prison or verified dedicated heritage visitor contact. No contemporary police or school contact is substituted.
Year precision only. Exact first reception and legal discontinuation dates were not established; a commonly reproduced 1926 date is not adopted without its primary authority. Reception-ledger end dates are not closure dates.
Opening, closure and history
Opening: 1897 — Beginning of prison period listed by Australian Government
Closing: 1925 — End of prison period listed by Australian Government and historical atlas
Capacity
Capacity has not yet been independently verified.
Deaths in custody: totals and limitations
No complete facility-level series is established here for suicide, medical or natural causes, homicide, other causes, Aboriginal deaths or combined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths. Missing data does not mean zero deaths. Selected cases below, where available, are not lifetime or reporting-period totals. “Murder” is a legal conclusion and is not substituted for a source’s classification.
Photograph
No verified licensed photograph is installed in this profile. No stock or generated image is presented as a photograph of this prison.
Sources
Using this profile
Confirm visiting arrangements and current contacts with the corrections department or heritage operator. Heritage visitor contacts are not operational prison contacts. General information only, not legal advice.
This directory includes prison complexes and components and is not a complete Australian operational or historical census. Component capacities must not be added to their parent complex a second time.
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