Australia - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1850: James Yates Hanged at Adelaide Gaol for the Murder of a Shepherd

James Yates was hanged outside Adelaide Gaol on 5 September 1850 for the murder of a shepherd at Skillagolee Creek. Around 800 spectators gathered in the rain before dawn to witness the execution, the gibbet erected within yards of the gaol’s front door, the coffin placed directly beneath the drop.

Yates ascended the ladder with a firm step, but his hollow eyes, ashen cheeks, and wasted frame betrayed the torment of his final weeks. On the drop he kicked off his boots with restless fury, then knelt reluctantly to prayer. Yates spoke no address to the crowd. His only words, repeated until the drop fell, were: ‘Lord have mercy on me, Christ have mercy on me, Lord, Jesus, have mercy on me.’

The hangman placed the noose under the wrong ear, but the drop was sufficient to break the neck, and death came quickly.

Robber woman in retro clothes praying near gallows for hanging criminals

⬅ See all events from 5 September

Adelaide Australia Execution Murder SA

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1994: NSW Politician John Newman Shot Dead Outside His Cabramatta Home

At 9:30 pm on 5 September 1994, Labor MP John Newman was shot twice and killed instantly in the car park of his Woods Avenue home in Cabramatta, in the western suburbs of Sydney.

His fiancee, Lucy Wang, was present but saw little due to the speed of the attack; she reported a hooded man in an army-style jacket who fired four shots and fled in a waiting car. Newman had represented Cabramatta in the NSW Legislative Assembly since 1986 and had campaigned aggressively against organised crime and drug trafficking in the area. Newman was later given a state funeral. He was 47 years old.

Grey car parked in front of a garage at night

⬅ See all events from 5 September

Assassination Australia Cabramatta Gang Murder NSW Organised Crime Political Crime Sydney

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1873: A Husband Killed by Mercury in Moonta, South Australia

Thomas Woolcock died at 3 am on 4 September 1873 in Moonta, Adelaide having suffered weeks of stomach pains, nausea, and prolonged vomiting. His death was initially attributed to exhaustion, but suspicion quickly fell on his wife Elizabeth Woolcock, a woman whose own life had been marked by hardship, abuse, and desperation.

Elizabeth had endured years of violence at the hands of Woolcock, a heavy-drinking wife-beater who had repeatedly prevented her from leaving. In the weeks before his death, she had made increasingly frantic attempts to obtain morphine and other substances from local chemists, and her behaviour had become talk of the community. Charged with murder by mercury poisoning, Elizabeth was tried, convicted, and hanged at Adelaide Gaol on 30 December 1873. She remains the only woman ever executed in South Australia.

Elizabeth Lillian Woolcock with her husband Thomas and their son Tom, c.1865. State Library of South Australia, B 12311. Public domain.

⬅ See all events from 4 September

Adelaide Australia Domestic Abuse Execution Moonta Murder Poisoning SA Trial

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1857: Two Men Hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the Brutal Murder of a Brothel Madam

On a wet, cloudy night in 1857, Chong Sigh and Hing Tzan entered the brothel of Sophia Lewis on Exhibition Street, in Melbourne, intending to rob and murder her.

Chong Sigh cut the sleeping woman’s throat, but the first wound was not fatal. Hing Tzan held her down while a second, deeper cut was made. When Lewis moved again, Hing Tzan returned to her and, according to the men’s later confession, almost severed her head from her body.

The pair then plundered the room and slipped away into the night, narrowly avoiding a constable on his beat before eventually scattering to Geelong and Ballarat.

Both men were arrested, confessed and were convicted of murder. Their statements confirmed that Chong Sigh had conceived the plot, with robbery as the motive, while Hing Tzan carried out the final fatal attack.

At Melbourne Gaol, the two men presented a striking contrast on the scaffold. Chong Sigh was overcome with emotion and cried loudly, while Hing Tzan remained comparatively composed and appeared to chant a prayer. Hing Tzan briefly resisted when the execution cap was placed over his head, apparently fearing that his hair was about to be cut, but quickly became calm. Both men were hanged on 3 September 1857.

Hooded man holding a glowing lantern in a dark forest

⬅ See all events from 3 September

Australia Execution Melbourne Murder Organised Crime Robbery VIC

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Subscribe to Dark Stories