John Godliman had already lived one hard sentence before he faced the gallows. Transported to Van Dieman’s Land for life from Middlesex in 1821 aboard the Malabar, he was assigned to a road gang before absconding on 2 January 1825 with a reward of five pounds on his head. He turned to bushranging, one of a loose band of runaways working the island’s interior.
His final days moved with startling speed. Godliman was convicted of sheep stealing on a Saturday and, only two days later on the Monday, convicted again, this time for the murder of a man named Samuel Hart. By Wednesday morning he was dead, hanged at the usual place of execution within Hobart Gaol.
