Death is a subject people don't like to talk about and the disposal of the dead is even less discussed but in Brisbane it is a fascinating, even though shocking, story.

The first morgue to service the growing population was built on the grounds of the hospital, next to the river. Refrigeration was not a thing at that time, so there was no way to keep the bodies from decaying. The stench from the building was cited as a reason for the need to move the hospital. Recovering patients didn't like the smell and surely the constant reminder of death didn't help those who were fighting for their lives. Eventually the hospital was moved, using a murderer's money. Not long after that, the morgue was also relocated.

Its new location, still on the old hospital grounds, would have been the location when both And the Witches of Eden river and Murder at German Station are set. The new site wasn't much better, being within a stone's throw of the old one. With the hospital gone though, complaints now came from the new Brisbane Supreme Court. Why the decision to build one of the town's most important buildings within smelling distance of the morgue is a question lost to history.

The morgue moved again, in 1879 but problems still persisted. It was flooded in 1887 and a landslip damaged the building in 1890. In February 1893 it was completely destroyed by flood. Presumably, the building and its contents went downstream either to be lost forever or washed up for an unsuspecting person to find.

None of these morgues had refrigeration and there are reports that at least one wasn't properly secured against vermin. For over forty years, residents had to live the knowledge that their loved ones, and maybe even themselves, would not only be left in a room to decompose but that rats might eat them.

A new location and the dawning of a new century didn't mean the problems were all behind Brisbane's morgue. In 1931 it flooded again.

It wasn't until 1943 that refrigeration came to Brisbane's morgue. This would also have meant the room could finally be near airtight, hopefully restricting access to unwanted pests.

It moved yet again, to a new site from 1962 until 1992. This building still stands and is currently being dwarfed by Brisbane's newest Casino/Hotel complex. I doubt many guests will realise the true purpose of the bunker like building less than one hundred metres away. The one with a strange chimney coming out of it.

And in a typically Brisbane type of way, that's not the only creepy neighbour the casino will have. In a building between the old morgue and the casino, the one known as the Commissariat Store, is a convict's finger. Yes, a real finger from a read convict lays in an old bottle.

Brisbane is just plain weird.

Sources

ABC article about Brisbane's morgues

Queen's Wharf article about Brisbane's morgues

Previous blog post regarding the Mayne family and their impact on Brisbane