Riot at Mt Eden
It was heralded at the time as ‘‘the greatest prison riot in the Dominion’s history’’, lasting more than 30 hours. Ruby Macandrew looks back at how the Mt Eden Prison riot of 1965 played out. Auckland Star Auckland Star immediate standby. By mid-morning, the arsonists had destroyed the chapel and central administration block as well as several of the prison wings.
While armed soldiers reinforced a massive police cordon around the facility’s perimeter, firefighters tried to bring the flames under control. But as fast as they were able to quell a fire pocket, rioting prisoners set other fires.
Mt Eden Prison’s superintendent, EG Buckley, said at the time, that all the prisoners except those in the east wing were unlocked from their cells by staff when they saw the fires were going beyond control.
‘‘The prisoners mostly made their way to the main exercise yard of the prison, where they were safe from any fire danger,’’ he said.
From reports, it seemed there was a constant movement of prisoners wandering between the jailyard and the abandoned wings. By midday, the fires had been subdued in all but the roofs of the north and east wings. Several inmates, who allegedly didn’t want any part of the rioting, turned themselves over to police and prison officials as the blaze raged.
According to news reports on the day, it was a lack of food, fuel and shelter which led to the rioters surrendering at 10.45am on July 21 – 33 hours after the incident began. By then, the old, overcrowded jail was a blackened shell. Basements, storerooms, the chapel, kitchen, watch house, and more than 60 cells had been destroyed. While none of the 293 prisoners escaped, ultimately, as a result of the riot, the first maximumsecurity prison at Paremoremo was commissioned.