Parramatta - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1826: The Informer Who Refused to Kill: Two Bushrangers Hanged Near Sydney

Patrick Sullivan and James Moran led a gang of bushrangers who terrorised the Bathurst district through 1826, raiding stations and homes for firearms, horses and supplies. When Sullivan ordered a gang member to murder a stockman in cold blood, the man balked, slipped away in the dark and turned himself in, giving evidence that broke the gang apart.

Tried before the Sydney Criminal Court, Sullivan and Moran pleaded guilty to burglary and horse theft and were sentenced to death. They were hanged at Irish Town on the Liverpool Road, near present-day Bankstown, on 18 October 1826, two days after their accomplices were. Their bodies were left suspended for the rest of the day as a warning to others.

Bushrangers flight scene from 1856 illustration

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Australia Bathurst Bushranging Execution Gang NSW Parramatta Robbery Sydney Trial

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1794: The First Free Settler Murdered in the Colony: Hanged at Sydney for a Parramatta Stabbing

John Hill, a butcher, had spent the day drinking with Simon Burn at Parramatta on 5 October 1794 when he turned on the woman he lived with, beating her until Burn stepped in to stop him. Hill stabbed Burn through the heart; dying within the hour, Burn had just enough strength left to name his killer before witnesses, declaring that the butcher had done it. Burn, a First Fleet convict who had earned his freedom and settled his own farm, was reportedly the first free man in the colony to be murdered by another colonist.

Hill tried to set up an alibi at his trial, but the wound and Burn’s own dying words undid him. He was hanged at Sydney on 16 October 1794, his body handed over for dissection as his sentence required.

Bloody Halloween killer dressed as butcher on dark blue background

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Australia Colonial Crime Execution Murder NSW Parramatta Sydney Trial

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1826: Sullivan Gang Bushrangers Hanged Near Parramatta, One Sobbing to the Last

Matthew Craven and Thomas Cavanagh rode with a bushranging gang led by Patrick Sullivan that terrorised stations around Bathurst for half a year, robbing homesteads, stealing horses and holding settlers at gunpoint. Captured after a shootout at a bark hut, the pair pleaded guilty at trial to burglary and theft and were sentenced to hang.

On 16 October 1826 they left Sydney Gaol with three other condemned men bound for Burwood, where they were hanged before a large crowd that morning. Straight afterwards, the two men, Craven and Cavanagh travelled further on on to the Western Road near Parramatta, arriving about noon to face their own gallows.

Witnesses said their contrition was conspicuous; Craven, described as barely twenty, reportedly hung his head and sobbed bitterly as the ropes were fitted.

Bushrangers in action: Water colour drawing created by George Lacy 1867

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Australia Bathurst Burwood Bushranging Execution Gang NSW Parramatta Robbery Sydney Trial

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1806: Hanged for Ten Shillings: a Sydney Robber Who Stabbed an Old Man with a Broken Hinge

George Holland broke into the Parramatta home of Laughlane Galligheoghan in broad daylight, prising open a chest for just ten shillings. When the elderly, frail occupant tried to stop him, Holland turned the fractured door hinge in his hand into a weapon, stabbing him in the side. The court later heard he had plainly meant to kill, and was only stopped by the arrival of help.

Tried in Sydney, Holland was condemned to death, the Judge Advocate delivering a lengthy admonition on the heinous nature of the crime before the man was led back to gaol. The sentence was carried out the following morning at eight o’clock; the ten shillings and the hinge were the only measure of a life taken for a life.

Human skull with treasure chest and gold jewelry still life

⬅ See all events from 11 October

Australia Execution Murder NSW Parramatta Robbery Sydney Trial

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