Old Bundaberg prison now operates as alleged hostel of horrors

Thousands of backpackers and international workers converge on Queensland’s largest ‘food bowl’ each year, chasing dreams of an idyllic working holiday, but for many that dream becomes a nightmare. VIDEO.

Dingo Blue Backpackers, an international working hostel in the heart of Bundaberg which opens as a bar on weekends, boasts on its website that it gives its guests an idyllic and vibrant working holiday experience.

“Dingoblue Backpackers provides safe and clean accommodation, respectful of residents and guests,” the front page of its website says about the Quay Street site.

“Daily transport to work is included in our accommodation rates. We have a range of shared dorm, private and twin room options to suit any budget.”

International travellers are attracted by the amenities listed on its website, including a pool and a “backpacker-only bar with resident DJ” on Thursday through to Sunday.

But the reality for those who choose to make the hostel home is vastly different.

Located on Quay St, Dingo Blue’s BASE hostel was at one point in time a police station.

It is used mostly by backpackers, mostly of European descent.

Some of the old prison cells remain in use as dorm rooms, and the irony of that is not lost on some of the guests, who describe living in the historic building as “oppressive” and prison-like.

The door into one of the original prion cells, which is now used as a dorm room.

The guests, most of whom arrived in Bundaberg with hopes of completing their 88-days of farm work, are sold the convenient offer of complementary daily transport to job sites, in addition to the help of a dedicated agent tasked with liaising with farmers for job offers.

Travellers who intend to stay in Australia for a second year are required to complete specified farm work, which can include fruit picking, construction in regional cities, hospitality work in remote and northern locations; over 88 calendar-days.

One traveller who has been in Bundaberg for a year said working hostels, which often have a more localised relationship with farmers, are marketed as the only reliable way to get farm work.

Without cars or transportation to get to sites, backpackers appear to depend on hostels, which guests say makes them vulnerable to exploitation.

“We’re all backpackers; we came with the Australian dream,” he said.

A gaping hole in the ceiling above one of the toilets at the Dingo Blue hostel.

One guest, who asked to remain anonymous, said she one day woke up with bed bug bites all over her body.

According to others at the hostel, nothing was done to properly manage the infestation.

Mattresses were switched or thrown out, but the bunk structures which they believed to be home for the bed bugs remained in use.

A Dingo Blue hostel statement on the bed bugs said the hostel had a council approved bed bug management plan in place.

“A pest control company services the buildings on a regular basis,” the statement read.

Inside Dingo Blue (left to right): a peeling bathroom wall, with the suggestion of mould underneath; the ceiling in one of the bathroom stalls with wires exposed; the kitchen sink after a a saturday club night which was described in a message as containing a “mix of pasta and vomit”.

Another resident of the hostel claimed the room he had paid $250 a week to stay in was not properly cleaned ahead of his arrival and that he’d had to clean it himself.

He claimed while the shared use areas are regularly cleaned, nobody had come to clean his room since he arrived early this year.

A representative from Dingo Blue denied these allegations saying “dorms are a scheduled clean”

“No resident has to buy cleaning products for their rooms – that is a choice”

“Guests live in shared dorms and management cannot be held responsible if individuals continuously make a mess of the rooms” the statement read.

A walk through of the hostel revealed food remnants on the benches, a rusty microwave frame, and a bug crawling from the small benchtop oven.

Guests must share three small portable stove tops, one of which doesn’t work at all.

Guests have complained of bed bugs, and allege not much has been done to prevent the spread. (Photo supplied by a hostel guest)

They say they are forced to buy their own cooking equipment, as the hostel does not provide it.

Some say their belongings, including kitchen items, have been stolen by members of the public who claim they are free to roam the hostel when it operates as a bar on weekends.

Dingo Blue denied this allegation and said it employed security guards to “monitor this behaviour on the nights the bar is open”.

Guests claim living in the the central hostel is like living in a prison. Walls in one of the he bathrooms appears to be covered in mould.

A Dingo Blue spokesperson said the hostel was “an established budget accommodation provider” and was “compliant to all legal and legislative requirements for budget accommodation”.

Those requirements included “local EHS, Bundaberg Council requirements & QFES & PALM Deed Guidelines,” the statement read.

“Kitchens are cleaned daily, broken utensils and equipment are thrown away or reported and replaced as required.

One of Dingo Blue’s kitchen sinks after a club night; a message attached to the photo describes it as a “mix between pasta and vomit”.

“Guests are responsible for washing their own dishes, cutlery, crockery and cookware,” the response read.

“As well as management living onsite, there are 4 phone numbers that are available to residents 24/7.

“One of these phones sends a message every day to residents regarding work, and guests converse with management daily on this phone.”