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A History of Capital Punishment in the Australian Colonies, 1788 to 1900

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Steven Anderson

    1. The Department of History, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

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  • Examines how the spectacle of executions changed over time in the Australian colonies
  • Presents the most comprehensive book on capital punishment in Australia
  • Examines how Indigenous and non-Indigenous experiences of the death penalty differed
  • Contributes to the transnational search for a 'General Theory of Punishment’ by presenting a unique conceptual framework

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Thinking About Punishment Over Time

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 1-18

  3. Australia’s Hanging Years

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 19-54

  4. The Ideal and Reality of Execution Procedure

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 55-84

  5. The Criminal at the Gallows

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 85-106

  6. The Scaffold Crowd

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 107-138

  7. The End of Public Executions

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 139-167

  8. Race and the Reprisal of Public Hangings

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 169-187

  9. The Push to Abolish Capital Punishment

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 189-220

  10. Conclusion: Death of a Spectacle

    • Steven Anderson
    Pages 221-226

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 227-267
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Keywords

About this book

This book provides a comprehensive overview of capital punishment in the Australian colonies for the very first time. The author illuminates all aspects of the penalty, from shortcomings in execution technique, to the behaviour of the dying criminal, and the antics of the scaffold crowd. Mercy rates, execution numbers, and capital crimes are explored alongside the transition from public to private executions and the push to abolish the death penalty completely. Notions of culture and communication freely pollinate within a conceptual framework of penal change that explains the many transformations the death penalty underwent. A vast array of sources are assembled into one compelling argument that shows how the ‘lesson’ of the gallows was to be safeguarded, refined, and improved at all costs. This concise and engaging work will be a lasting resource for students, scholars, and general readers who want an in-depth understanding of a long feared punishment.


Dr. Steven Anderson is a Visiting Research Fellow in the History Department at The University of Adelaide, Australia. His academic research explores the role of capital punishment in the Australian colonies by situating developments in these jurisdictions within global contexts and conceptual debates.
 


          

Reviews

“A History of Capital Punishment in the Australian Colonies, 1788 to 1900 is the first full-length monograph to provide the history of capital punishment in Australia, an important and especially relevant subject given Australia’s significance in relation to the punishment of primarily British felons. … Anderson’s well-researched book focuses on the key issues surrounding capital punishment in each of the different Australian colonies during the colonial period … .” (Dorice Williams Elliott, Victorian Studies, Vol. 65 (1), 2022) “In this compelling account Steven Anderson explores the theatrics of execution in the Australian colonies. From often shocking, improvised spectacles of terror, to carefully orchestrated and secluded events, he takes the reader on a tour of Australia’s encounters with the gallows. His insightful analysis of the hanged and those that watched them get ‘turned off’ reveals much about the state, power, race and gender in colonial Australia and the wider trans-imperial world.” (Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, Professor of Social History, University of Tasmania)

“Steven Anderson has made a valuable contribution to the rapidly expanding scholarship on the death penalty. His book examines in detail the nineteenthcentury Australian experience with capital punishment, comparing and contrasting it with what was happening in Britain. This work, theoretically sophisticated and deeply researched, makes a powerful case for the role of contingency in reshaping both ideas about and the practice of execution.” (Randall McGowen, Professor (emeritus), University of Oregon)

Authors and Affiliations

  • The Department of History, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Steven Anderson

About the author

Dr. Steven Anderson is a Visiting Research Fellow in the History Department at The University of Adelaide, Australia. His academic research explores the role of capital punishment in the Australian colonies by situating developments in these jurisdictions within global contexts and conceptual debates

        

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