Jack Sim will lead tours of Boggo Road Gaol after it re-opens for tourists. PIC: Darren England Source: The Courier-Mail
A TURF war has erupted over access to Dutton Park's historic Boggo Road Gaol. In one corner is the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society , made up of historians and ex-officers.In the other is frustrated ghost tour operator Jack Sim.
The Department of Public Works last year granted Mr Sim a Deed of Licence, allowing him exclusive permission to run tours at the State Government-owned gaol.
Mr Sim was also required to provide fair access to the site by community groups for a fee.
The licence is temporary, for four months, but if a success it could be extended for a further 12 months, a department spokesman said.
The deed was not put out to public tender.
The society says the State Government has effectively locked them out of the site by awarding a commercial entity power over a public asset.
Conditions of entry include a $40-$60 per hour access fee and a time cutoff for tour requests.
BRGHS secretary Chris Dawson said other community groups attached to government-owned heritage buildings should be worried."It could be feasibly affordable (to hold tours) but the conditions of it are such that it is not logistically possible," he says.
"There is a real threat here that this public asset is going to be locked away for private profit. There is basically a middle-man between the money and the site itself.
"If public assets are going to be used for private profit, there should at least be a tender process first."
Mr Sim said the only way to preserve the site was to turn it into a money-making venture.
He said he had invested $50,000 so far and employed six tour guides.
"No heritage site should be left in mothballs," he says.
"I first approached the Beattie government 15 years ago and said that this important heritage site deserved to be developed into a tourist attraction.
"At (2012 major tourism talkfest) Destination Q Premier (Campbell) Newman flagged that he would be very interested in new ideas . . . and so I took the gaol before key ministers and raised our belief that the gaol deserved to be open to the public.
"And then I left it up to the Government. At the end of the day they made a decision. These people (BRGHS) have no sense of commerciality or respect for business."
The war of words began late last year in the rooms of Queensland's public service during the Deed of Licence negotiations between interested parties.
It has since intensified in blogs, websites and in the media.
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection heritage director Fiona Gardiner said there was no standard policy requiring heritage listed buildings to be used for activities that contribute to the economy.
Leighton Properties, the company redeveloping the precinct, said that no decision had yet been made about the future use of the gaol, but that they had been "investigating options for a viable management plan and suitable adaptive reuse options for the gaol that include educational, cultural and commercial purposes that are consistent with its heritage significance".
"Leighton Properties and the Department of Housing and Public Works see significant value in the gaol's architectural and social significance as an important Queensland asset, and any attempts to readapt the gaol will be sympathetic to its cultural heritage and increase public accessibility," a Leighton spokesman said.
The office of Minister for Public Works Tim Mander was contacted for comment, but did not respond.
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