1856: Michael Casey Hanged at Oatlands for a Brutal Assault with Intent to Murder
Michael Casey, an Irish labourer working to clear land at Falmouth, Tasmania, attacked a fellow worker named John Hewitt with a stick and then kicked him in the head, leaving him unable to move. The following morning, Casey returned armed with a gun, stood over the stricken man, and said ‘you are not dead then’ before fleeing when a bystander appeared. A jury found him guilty of wounding with intent to kill, and he was sentenced to death.
While awaiting execution at Oatlands Gaol, Casey attempted suicide by sharpening an iron spoon and opening a vein in his arm, concealing the wound beneath a strip of old blanket. The act was discovered before he died, and he was nursed back to health only to face the gallows. On 5 August 1856, he was hanged in what was reported as the first private execution within the precincts of Oatlands Gaol.
