Marrying the Ropemaker's Daughter - Australian Executions Volume 1 (1788-1824)

Author: Jeffrey Pfeifer

One month after the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, Thomas Barrett was sentenced to death and executed at Gallows Hill. Over the next 37 years, another 267 men and women were sentenced to hang for a variety of crimes including murder, forgery, highway robbery and bushranging. Marrying the Ropemaker’s Daughter provides a description of each of these cases and presents a brief glimpse into the lives (and deaths) of these individuals within the legal and social contexts surrounding their executions. Each story provides a richly textured tale of the troubling and fascinating events which led these individuals to a date with the noose.