The last person to be legally executed in Australia 50 years ago today spent most of his teenage years in Balranald. But while life had proved difficult for him, he didn’t turn to crime until a relatively mature age.
Ronald Ryan was hanged at HM Prison Pentridge, Coburg, at 8am on Friday, February 3, 1967, aged 41.
He was found guilty of shooting and killing warder George Hodson, 41, during an escape from Pentridge Prison on December 19, 1965.
About 1000 people chanted anti-hanging slogans at the gates of the bluestone prison. Through people power, the death penalty was subsequently abolished in the country.
Historical documents noted that Ryan was a hardworker, overcoming a poor family life in Melbourne and spent several years in an institution before his first recorded conviction when he was 31.
In 1936, aged 11, Ryan was made a ward of the state and sent to the Salesian Brothers home for wayward boys in Rupertswood, near Sunbury.
After several failed attempts to run away, he finally escaped at the age of 14 to Balranald, where he joined his half-brother.
Longtime Balranald resident Bert Lansdown, 90, said he attended Balranald Public School with Ryan, who he described as a gentleman who engaged with the mature crowd.
“He would never harm anyone but what happened in Melbourne should never have happened,” Mr Lansdown said.
To read more about this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (February 3).
