50 years on: Ronald Ryan was the last man executed in Australia

Ronald Ryan, the last person hanged in Australia, was executed 50 years ago on February 3, 1967.

His death sentence was handed down after he was found guilty of shooting and killing warder George Hodson during an escape from Melbourne's Pentridge Prison in 1965.

First published in the Sydney Morning Herald on February 3, 1967

A last-minute bid to save Ronald Ryan from the gallows failed in Melbourne late last night.

He is due to hang in Pentridge Gaol at 8 o'clock this morning for the murder of warder George Henry Hodson at the time of his escape from the gaol on December 19, 1965.

A special sitting of the Executive Council rejected Ryan's final plea for mercy at 10 p.m.

In a dramatic late move the Governor, Sir Rohan Delacombe, interrupted a holiday at Sorrento to drive 60 miles to the council meeting at Government House.

RELATED | Ronald Ryan: Did Australia Hang an Innocent Man?

The petition for mercy was submitted by Ryan's solicitor, Mr Ralph Freadman.

Asked if he had any further avenues of appeal, Mr Freadman said: "Not really, but if anything more turns up we would act on it."

The struggle to save Ryan was waged all day yesterday through an amazing series of incidents which saw:

• Cabinet meet at 8.30 a.m. and decide after 45 minutes that Ryan should hang.

• A 20-minute Executive Council meeting follow immediately and approve Cabinet's decision.

• Former Pentridge inmate Allan John Cane fly to Melbourne from Brisbane late last night in a vain attempt to see the Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, or the Attorney-General, Mr A. G. Rylah.

'Hopeless'

Less than three hours after returning from London yesterday, Mr Philip Opas, Q.C., went before Mr Justice Starke in the Supreme Court to ask for a stay of execution to allow examination of new evidence.

However, Mr Justice Starke, the trial Judge, in refusing the application, said it seemed "entirely hopeless and misconceived."

On hearing the Council's final decision, Mr Opas said: "There is no hope now ... no other avenue open.

"I can't understand it. Here is a man (Cane) coming to Melbourne this very night with what I feel is vital information and no one waits to see what he is going to say.

Not drugged

"It is beyond my comprehension that when there is relevant evidence available it can't be considered.

"I am emotionally drained, but at the same time I now call for an unhurried, calm appraisal of capital punishment."

Ryan's 75-year-old mother, Mrs Cecilia Ryan, spent an hour with him yesterday.

He also spoke to two of his sisters and his step-brother.

Ryan was due to attend Mass in Pentridge' s death cell two hours before his execution.

He will be moved to the special cell early, as soon as he wakes.

He has not asked for any special meals and will not be given any.

He will not be drugged and will be allowed to make a final statement in the condemned cell, a few minutes before his execution, if he wishes.

He will be given Extreme Unction, the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church, under the scaffold seconds after he is pronounced dead.

His hands, handcuffed behind his back, will be freed so that they can be anointed.

'Realist'

After a post-mortem examination, his body will be buried in quicklime in a grave in the Pentridge grounds about 5 p.m.

Late last night the gaol chaplain, Father John Brosnan, said: "Ronald Ryan will be all right.

"He will go out on his feet. He is determined to die well."

Father Brosnan said after spending two hours with Ryan in his cell: "He is in excellent spirits. He is joking continually with the warders with whom he is spending his last night. "Ryan is too much a realist to let his spirits fall."

RELATED | Remembering the trauma of Australia's last execution

First published in the Sydney Morning Herald on February 3, 1967

Source: smh.com.au, Staff, February2, 2019

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