File(s) under permanent embargo
Judicial murder-suicides in Van Diemen’s Land
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 16:57 authored by Byard, RW, Hamish Maxwell-StewartHamish Maxwell-StewartOn the morning of December 17, 1827, nine convicts were executed by public hanging in Hobart Town, the capital of the British colony of Van Diemen's Land (now the Australian state of Tasmania). Two months previously they had drowned senior Constable George Rex on Small Island, which was part of the penal settlement at Macquarie Harbor, in front of five bound and gagged witnesses. They offered no defence at their trial. Examination of the Tasmanian colonial convict records shows that “suicide by lottery” involved convicts choosing two men, one to die and the other to kill him. The witnesses would earn a respite when taken away for the trial, and the murderer would be executed. “Death by gallows” could be considered a nineteenth‐century version of an orchestrated suicide reminiscent of more modern “death by cop.” This category of “judicial” murder‐suicide expands the range of contemporary classifications of dyadic deaths.
Funding
Australian Research Council
Roar Film Pty Ltd
History
Publication title
Journal of Forensic SciencesVolume
63Issue
4Pagination
1146-1148ISSN
0022-1198Department/School
School of HumanitiesPublisher
American Academy of Forensic SciencesPlace of publication
100 Barr Harbor Dr, W Conshohocken, USA, Pa, 19428-2959Rights statement
Copyright 2017 American Academy of Forensic SciencesRepository Status
- Restricted