Hang On:

Pentridge,
Justice and
the Death
Penalty

By Gemma Traill
 L ooming over the bustling traffic of Sydney

Road, adjacent to an effervescent lake, the

bluestone walls of Her Majestys Prison Pentridge stand strong
and tall. A decommissioned maximum-security prison, the horrific
history of Pentridge still resonates with the local community today.
It serves as a representation of the Australian Justice System and
the moral debate on capital punishment. Capital punishment is an
ineffective method of sentencing, and this is evidenced by the
circumstances surrounding Ronald Ryan. Pentridges reputation
remains as being one of the most brutal prison systems in
Australian history, and in correlation with this, the location of the
last execution seen by Australian law. When Ronald Ryan escaped
in 1965 with accomplice Peter Walker, there was much debate
surrounding the innocence of Ryan, who was accused of shooting
dead prion guard George Hodson. The unorthodox proceedings of
the authorities and Premier Henry Bolte further the notions that life
in Pentridge was brutal, and the death penalty is an ineffective
method of punishment.

Figure 1

Figure 1
Front view of H.M. Prison Pentridge
D for Disaster?
Her Majestys Prison Pentridge was
officiated in 1855 as a maximum-
security remand prison that was
intended to replace the Old
Melbourne Gaol. In the late 1850s
and early 1860s, Pentridge was
built from the ground up by prison
labour. Exercising Inspector
General William Champs model
prison complex, based on British
and American precedents,
Pentridge Gaol was to be used as
a means of deterring the population
from crime. During its commission,
Pentridge was described as being
the archetypal Australian prison in
the post-convict era.i H Division
was originally established as high
security, discipline and protection,
whilst D Division served a long time
for remand prisonersii. Infamous
crook Chopper Read spent his
days at Pentridge in both divisions.
Bushranger Ned Kelly also spent
time there before being executed at
Melbourne Gaol and interred back
at Pentridge. In fact, most of the
prisoners buried at Pentridge had
been executed on site and left in
unmarked graves. By request of
Premier John Brumby in 2007,
Ronald Ryans remains were
eventually transferred to his family.
During Pentridges 142-year
commission, numerous
3
Figure 2
D Division
outbreaks of violence would occur.
Cells inside the division were
crampediiiand usually held no more
than two people at a time. Even
then, it was often claustrophobic.
When cellmates did not get along,
they were transferred to solitary
confinement. The eerie corridors of
these once walls of terror show that
the way D Division has been
designed is so that those who were
imprisoned there were in close
proximity to the condemned man
being executediv. This relates to the
psychological impacts of capital
punishment. Threatening another
human being with an irreversible
and brutal consequence was the
nature of Pentridge Prison.
Professor Richard Broome argues
that some warders within Pentridge
were very harsh men who should
never have been placed in authority
over others.v History is an active
process of construction,
emphasised through its material.
The lengthy debate over capital
punishment and how justice is
served in Australia is ongoing, and
the haunting remains of Pentridge
Prison remind us of this.
The Beginning of the End
The 1965 escape of Ronald Ryan
and his accomplice Peter Walker
was arguably the most momentous
escape in the entirety of
Pentridges history.vi The great
escape from one of Australias
most secure prisons sent a wave of
mass hysteria amongst the
surrounding public. Yet the
question remains: what could have
possibly influenced Ryan to
concoct a lengthy escape plan?
Was it the fear staying locked up,
where fellow inmates and even
guards subjected prisoners to daily
torment? Or was it a moment of
sheer madness? The two escapees
only know their true motives. Both
Ryan and Walker, serving
sentences for armed robbery,
climbed into a sentry box before
disarming a prison officer whom
they forced to open the gates at
gunpoint. Sprinting to Sydney Road
and attempting to commandeer a
car, unarmed prison officer George
Hodson was shot dead after trying
to stop the escapeesvii. It was this
death that ensured Ryan would
hang, despite no forensic evidence
ever being found to prove that he
was the one who fired the fatal
shot. There is a theory that two
prison guards who were attempting
to shoot Ryan as he escaped
accidentally shot Hodson.
Tragically, both officers committed
suicide, perhaps out of guilt for
shooting the wrong man.viii Then
Premier of Victoria, Sir Henry Bolte,
and the majority of his cabinet,
believed in the death penalty
especially in circumstances such
as this, where a respected authority
figure was slain.ix Despite the fears
of the public from the news of the
escape, the number of protesters
against the idea of enforcing the
still technically legal death penalty
on Ryan was overwhelmingly
large.x
Ryan and Walker were on
the run for 19 days until their
recapture in New South Wales.
Assuming they had a better chance
staying on an obvious path, the
two had travelled along the Hume
Highway. A man named Arthur
Henderson had recognised them
and informed police of their
whereabouts, before he was found
dead.xi As aforementioned, upon
the capture of Ryan, then-Premier
Henry Bolte saw this as an
opportunity to discourage
widespread crime and advocate
enforcing the death penalty as
appropriate punishment.
Notwithstanding the large public
outpouring of protest, the cabinet
remained believing that:
Hanging is a deterrent to
further murders of this type,
[regretting] that the sentence was
not carried out in public, or better
still televised so that maximum
effect could be achieved. xii
Therefore, we can say that the motivations for the
death penalty in the case of Ryan and Walker were to
make an example out of the situation, regardless of
35 people escaping the noose since two men and a
woman were dropped from the scaffold in 1951.xiii

The decision of the Bolte government to hang Ryan

despite instances of leniency in past cases was
apparently not reached with our eyes closed and
that the Premier did not derive any pleasure out of
the decisionxiv Naturally any human being with a
sense of morality would see that punishing someone
by method of their crime is hypocritical, and in the
case of Ryan, we dont even know if he was ever truly
guilty of his convictionsxv. Forensic studies of Ryans Figure 3
ballistic rifle were never scientifically analysed .xvi
Ronald Joseph Ryan
Proceeding with capital punishment in this case is
blatant political opportunism with the forthcoming April state election,xvii and
a scapegoat for Bolte to appear as a leader who follows through with his
choices. Perhaps the verdict to send Ronald Ryan to the gallows was truly an
act of political statement of fear in having the power to exercise a still
technically legal act until it was officially abolished in 1975. An increased
concern about violent crime has raised the possibility that capital punishment
may be reconsidered, despite overwhelming public opinion of its cruelty.xviii

A Question of controversy surrounding Ryans

Morals
The United Nations Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon remarked,
the death penalty has no place in
the 21st century, reflecting on
present global trends away from
capital punishment.xix These views
were long expressed since the
Ryan case. If anything, the
execution would have been a key, if
not central factor to abolishing the
death penalty Australia-widexx.
Lack of substantial evidence
highlights the fact that by instilling
capital punishment, one never truly
knows if they are condemning an
innocent individual. Wrongful
execution is a miscarriage of justice
that still occurs in countries with
active death penalty laws today. In
light of this, a large public outcry
detesting this barbaric method of
punishment ensued after the
sentencing. Petitions were made
directly to Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II to pardon Ryan from
the gallows. She had refused to
intervene in the case. Premier
Henry Bolte refused to commute
the sentence as the courts had for
Peter Walker, who was convicted
of manslaughter for the death of
Arthur Henderson, which saw a
consequence of 19 years
imprisonment. Bolte resisted the
prolonged and strenuous efforts of
many eminent people led by the
Mayor of Coburg, Arthur Sanger,
and large crowds of protestors
outside Pentridge.xxi The amount
of community concern and
protestors rose so much that the
anti-hanging campaign became
nationwide, and even beyondxxii.
The protestors even included
Hodsons daughter.xxiii In local
Figure 4
A large crowd of protestors march to Pentridge
6
places such as the Coburg Hotel,
verbal and physical fights would
break out as a result of the bitter
feelings towards the situation.
Common belief associated with the
low morale at Pentridge, along
with dissatisfaction of conditions
known to exist amongst warders
during the Ryan case.xxiv On
January 5th, 1967, the Victorian
government met to consider a
possible stay of execution in
response to Ryans non-guilty plea
to the conviction of the murder of
George Hodson.xxv Ryans solicitor,
Mr Ralph Freadman, had submitted
a petition for mercy. The struggle to
save Ryan had waged all day and
tonightxxvi before the set day of the
execution. However, this was
dismissed, and the execution was
to go ahead as planned.xxvii
And so it goes
When a person was sentenced to die at Pentridge
Prison, they were taken to a spacious unit in D
Division known as the Condemned Mans Cell, to
spend their final hours and pray with an allocated
minister of choice. This cell is located adjacent to
the gallows. Ryan wrote letters, which he neatly
folded, to his wife, Dorothy, and daughters, to be
sent away to them.
On the 3nd of February 1967, Ronald Joseph Ryan
exited the Condemned Mans Cell, calmly walking
to the scaffold as told by many eyewitness
accounts. At exactly 8:00am, he was hanged at the Figure 5
gallows in D Division. All of Australia stood still. In his The Canberra Times
final moments, he turned to his hangman, saying,
God Bless you. Whatever you do, do it quickly.xxviii The executioner could not
watch as he pulled the lever. The trapdoor, thumping open with a sickening
bang, sent a flock of pigeons fleeing the prison, signifying to the gathered
public that the sentence had been carried out. Mere hours following Ryans
execution Premier Henry Bolte announced, the State government would
continue to review each death sentence on its own merits.xxix Immediately
following Ryans death, a public meeting was called for at Coburg Town Hall
to demonstrate public opposition to capital punishment.xxx

Capital punishment is ineffective and

morally wrong, as evidenced by the
inconsistencies and unanswered questions
surrounding the case of Ronald Ryan. As the
last man to be executed in Australia at Her
Majestys Prison Pentridge, the daring story of
Ronald Ryan continues to capture public
imagination. Today, Pentridge Prison serves
as a reflection of the flawed justice system
during the mid 19th to late 20th century in
Australia reminding us all of the
ruthlessness of humanity.

7
 Endnotes

i
Wilson, Jacqueline C, Representing Pentridge, The loss of narrative diversity in the populist
interpretation of a former total institution, (2013), pp. 113
ii
See Figure 1
iii
See Figure 2
iv
Wilson, Jacqueline C, Representing Pentridge, The loss of narrative diversity in the populist
interpretation of a former total institution, (2013), pp. 113
v
Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 279
vi
Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 291
vii
Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 291
viii
Fitzgerald, Ross, Last Words Review: Barry Dickins account of the hanging of Ronald Ryan, Sydney
Morning Herald, February 4, 2017
ix
Richards, M, The Hanged Man, The Life and Death of Ronald Ryan, (2002), pp. 6
x
Richards, M, The Hanged Man, The Life and Death of Ronald Ryan, (2002), pp. 7
xi
Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 291
xii rd
Swinging Henry The Canberra Times, published Friday, 3 February 1967, pp. 2, in Trove
[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106960335?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc], accessed 9-28 September 2017
xiii
Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 291
xiv rd
Swinging Henry The Canberra Times, published Friday, 3 February 1967, pp. 2, in Trove
[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106960335?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc], accessed 9-28 September 2017
xv
See Figure 3
xvi
Richards, M, The Hanged Man, The Life and Death of Ronald Ryan, (2002), pp. 5
xvii
Fitzgerald, Ross, Last Words Review: Barry Dickins account of the hanging of Ronald Ryan,
Sydney Morning Herald, February 4, 2017
xviii
Forsterlee, Lynne, Horowitz, Irwin A et al, Australian Psychologist, Death Penalty Attitudes and
Juror Decisions in Australia, (2007) pp.530
xix
Kelley, Jonathan & Braithwaite, John, Justice Quarterly, Public Opinion and the Death Penalty in
Australia, (2006), pp. 540
xx
Finnane, Mark, Journal of South Pacific Law, Punishment in Australian Society, (1997), pp. 186 plus
xiii Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 291
xxi
Broome, Richard, Coburg: Between Two Creeks, (Pascoe Vale South, Victoria: Coburg Historical
Society, 2001) pp. 291
xxii
See Figure 4
xxiii
Fitzgerald, Ross, Last Words Review: Barry Dickins account of the hanging of Ronald Ryan,
Sydney Morning Herald, February 4, 2017
xxiv th
Hanging of Ryan political issue? The Canberra Times, published Tuesday, 20 December 1966,
pp.2, in Trove,
[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106953127?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc] accessed 9-28 September 2017
xxv rd
Ryan Decision: Bolte Cabinet Meets Today The Canberra Times, published Friday, 3 February
1967, pp. 3 in Trove
[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106955392?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc] accessed 9-28 September 2017
xxvi rd
Victoria Rejects Last Minute Mercy Plea The Canberra Times, published 3 February 1967, pp. 1, in
Trove,
[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106960277?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc#] accessed 9-28 September 2017
xxvii
See Figure 5
xxviii
Fitzgerald, Ross, Last Words Review: Barry Dickins account of the hanging of Ronald Ryan,
Sydney Morning Herald, February 4, 2017
xxix th
Death Penalty reviews On Merits The Canberra Times, published Saturday, 4 February 1967,
pp.3, in Trove,

8

[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106960600?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc] accessed 9-28 September 2017
xxx st
Anti-Hanging Meeting Plan, Sydney Tribune, published Wednesday, 1 March, 1967, pp.3 in Trove,
[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/237359113?searchTerm=Pentridge&searchLimits=sortby=dat
eDesc], accessed 9-28 September 2017

Images
Figure 1: Courtesy of Melbournian, Wikimedia Commons. Permission is
granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of
GNU Free Documentation License
Figure 2: Copyright Gemma Traill 2017
Figure 3: Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald, Trove 1967
Figure 4: Courtesy of the Herald Sun, 2017
Figure 5: Courtesy of The Canberra Times, Trove 1967

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Kelley, Jonathan & Braithwaite, John, Justice Quarterly, Public
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10