The Botany Bay Medallion

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY  – THOMAS BARRETT

 ‘The death penalty was brought to Australia with the First Fleet. Mike Richards, The Hanged Man, The Life and Death of Ronald Ryan, 2002

1788 – 27 February, Sydney Cove: One (1) month after disembarking from the ‘First Fleet’ Thomas Barrett was hanged. His execution was public theatre staged to instil terror into all spectators; be they convict, soldier, sailor or silent, unseen locals – The First Australians.

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‘The arm of a large tree situated between the Tents of the Men and Women was fixt upon as a Gallows…the body hung an hour and was then buried in a grave dug very near the Gallows’. Surgeon Bowes Smyth, Journal 1787-1789, Australian Documents Library, Sydney,1979

1788 – 27 February, Sydney Cove: Thomas Barrrett was the first man hanged in European Australia.

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