Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) prison.

[1887		Melbourne Punch 13 Jan. 6/3: We have all spent a merry Christmas and a happy new year, even to those boarding and lodging in Pentridge [Jail]].
1905		Queensland Times (Brisbane) 14 Oct. 13/1: Free Government Lodgings desired [...] He eame before the Police Magistrate, saying he wanted to ‘take the 14 days out.’ The Police Magistrate asked if lhe really wanted to go to prison [...] to which Hughes replied that hie did.
1939		Mudgee Guardian 24 Apr. 7/6: Free lodgings not So Popular Nowadays [...] no pronounced increase in the prison population can be anticipated in the immediate future.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 44: LODGINGS: Prison.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 235/2: lodgings – jail.