John Gavin (or John Gaven; 1829 – 6 April 1844) was the first European settler – and child – to be legally executed in colonial Western Australia.[a][1] He was executed for murder at the age of fifteen.[2]
Life
editBorn in 1829, Gavin[3] was convicted of an offence while still a juvenile, and was transported to Western Australia as a Parkhurst apprentice, arriving on board Shepherd in October 1843.
On 3 April 1844, he was tried for the murder of his employer's son, 18-year-old George Pollard. He confessed[4] to killing the sleeping victim with an adze,[5] but he seemed unaware of a rational motive. Three days later he was publicly hanged outside the Round House in Fremantle "on a gallows erected ten yards [9.1 m] north of the Round House entrance."[6]: 2 After a death mask had been taken and his brain studied for "scientific purposes" he was buried in the sand hills to the south without a ceremony.[4]
Notes
edit- ↑ After the Batavia Mutiny in 1629, Jeronimus Cornelisz and six of his men became the first Europeans to be legally executed in Australia, on Seal Island, Western Australia.
References
edit- ↑ "A Very Old Resident - The Late Mr George Pollard". The South-Western Advertiser and Murray Wellington Times. 5 April 1929. p. 8. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- ↑ "Fremantle Prison Timeline". Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- ↑ "The Old Court House Law Museum". The Law Society of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- 1 2 "Confession of the murder of George Pollard". The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal. 6 April 1844. p. 3. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- ↑ "Quarter sessions". The Inquirer. 10 April 1844. p. 2. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- ↑ Heritage Council of Western Australia (19 November 1993). Round House, and Arthur Head Reserve (Report). Register of Heritage Places-Permanent Entry. Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
