New South Wales began its life as a prison, and an 18th century prison at that. How tough it really was depends on where you look – the casual reader might think that Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore and John Hirst’s Sense & Nonsense in Australian History are about different places, but the truth is that New South Wales was at once shockingly brutal and the most successful rehabilitation scheme in the history of penology.
In An Uncommon Hangman Rachel Franks focuses on the pointy end of the business of the law in the person of the noseless Robert Howard who was State hangman from 1876 until 1904. He despatched 62 ‘patients’ during his career, most, but not all, died instantly.
To be honest, Mr Howard is not of much interest in his own right and nor is much known about him outside his work statistics. He was a skilled horseman and cab driver. He probably lost his nose due to syphilis. He lived in Bondi and left all his children blocks of land. But his work is another matter. Social historians have long had recourse to court records in an attempt to get some insight into the lives of ‘ordinary’ people in the past.
By the last quarter of the 19th century the rate of hanging had slowed considerably. The great majority of the 2000 or so souls hanged in Australia were despatched well before this period and so the sample is far from representative. What does emerge, however, is a picture of a diverse society that was beset by violence and alcoholism. Violence against women was depressingly common, as was violence associated with heavy drinking. Numerous Indigenous men were hanged, including Jimmy Governor, and quite a few Chinese. The execution of bushrangers provides evidence of the persistence of rural banditry into the late 19th century.
At the same time, the decreasing frequency of resorting to the noose is evidence of gradually ameliorating social conditions. As the 19th century went on, abolitionist sentiment grew stronger and judges more frequently exercised the prerogative of mercy. The last man to be hanged in NSW died in 1939. The death penalty was abolished in 1985 and its reintroduction is prohibited by Federal law.
An interesting angle on the history of capital punishment in Australia.
Reviewed by Grant Hansen
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