1853: "Thank You, My Lord, I Am Very Glad of That Sentence": Bushrangers Hanged in Melbourne
Henry Bradley and Patrick O'Connor absconded from assigned service in northwestern Tasmania and broke into a settler's homestead on the night of 14 September 1853, tying up the household room by room. Read more →
1884: He Swore to Shoot Whoever Bought His Farm, and Kept His Word: Hanged in Melbourne
William O'Brien lost his Lancefield farm when the Commercial Bank foreclosed on his mortgage, and he swore to shoot whoever dared buy it next. Read more →
1892: "The Only Man on the Station That I Liked": Hanged in Brisbane for a Torres Strait Murder
Charles Gleeson was cook at a shelling station on Prince of Wales Island in the Torres Strait, and Patrick McKiernan, by his own later account, was the only man there he actually liked. Read more →
1892: A Mutilated Body in a Trunk: Sailor Hanged in Brisbane for Murder at Sea
Leonardo Moncado was a Chilean sailor aboard the trading schooner Sketty Belle when he killed a young cabin hand known as Bob during a voyage off Thursday Island. Read more →
1895: George Dean, Pardoned for Poisoning His Wife, Convicted of Perjury in Sydney
George Dean, captain of a Sydney harbour ferry celebrated for pulling drowning passengers from the water, was sentenced to death in 1895 for poisoning his wife, Mary, with arsenic and strychnine hidden in lemon syrup and tea. Read more →
1983: Fifty Notebooks of Confession: the Trial of Dennis Nilsen Begins
Dennis Nilsen's trial opened on this day in 1983, more than a year after police finally traced human remains blocking the drains outside his London home. Read more →
