CONVICT MURDERS... TROVE TUESDAY 12TH JUNE, 2018

Courtesy of Pixabay

CONVICT MURDERS

Though many of the convicts sent to Australia were sent here for sometimes what we would consider trivial offences, and worked hard to be considered for a pardon, there were quite a number who would never reform.

These are just a small selection of some of those.

McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser (Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), Friday 27 June 1884, page 2

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90147302

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Thursday 31 January 1895, page 5

National Library of Australia

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9343816

       

If you wish to read more on this story, you might like to read this book...

The True Story of the Maryvale Murders by John Henry Ellen

SLNSW c004090010 detail
courtesy of Sydney Dictionary

It wasn't only male convicts who had no intentions of leading a lawful life... take the case of the notorious Helen McDougall also known as Glassford...

Singleton Argus (NSW : 1880 - 1954), Saturday 10 May 1924, page 3

National Library of Australia

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article80952000

Sandstone court complex in Darlinghurst Road opened in 1842 and still in legal use. 

Then there was John Lynch, alias John Dunleavy, born 1813, whose story is one of the vilest you can imagine... Lynch left from  Cavan, Ireland.. transported to Sydney by the Dunvegan Castle.. He was a "mild looking man of two and twenty, short and stocky.." who would have guessed that his story (below) would be so horrific.

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/lynch/john/130960

Daily Standard (Brisbane, Qld. : 1912 - 1936), Saturday 2 June 1934, page 5

National Library of Australia

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186160346

Please click to enlarge







and on a lighter note...

Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 - 1922), Tuesday 27 January 1920, page 2

National Library of Australia

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210548065