1859: The First White Man Hanged in Perth for Killing an Aboriginal Man
Richard Bibby was a hutkeeper at a station in the Victoria district when he decided to kill Billamarra, an Aboriginal man camped near his own hut, so near that he was said to be under Bibby’s protection. He announced his intention the night before, loaded his pistol, and before dawn woke his sleeping victim only to shoot him dead. Bibby claimed Billamarra had stolen lambs, but witnesses showed the missing lambs had simply been mauled by native dogs; another man watching in secret saw the whole killing.
Tried and condemned at the Quarter Sessions, Bibby became the first white man executed in Perth, and in the colony, for murdering an Aboriginal person. Strong appeals were made for mercy, but his cold, premeditated planning and a past conviction for robbery with violence counted against him. The hanging itself was botched, the rope poorly adjusted, and he struggled visibly on the rope before dying.
Bibby privately confessed his guilt to the prison chaplain, yet on the scaffold, asked if his sentence was just, he answered that if the truth had been told he would not have been there.
