Australia's Sordid Past: 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Three attempts to hang him were all unsuccessful.

He was sentenced to death for the murder of a policeman.
Samuels was dubbed "The Man They Couldn't Hang".
Three attempts were made to hang him.

Attempt one - The rope snapped.
Attempt two - A new rope was attached and as the cart moved off the rope unravelled causing Samuels to fall to the ground.
Attempt three - The noose was remade and attached. Third time lucky, for Samuels, the rope snapped again!

Fearing a riot, the Governor was requested to attend, and Samuels was granted a reprieve as it was thought that there had been some sort of divine intervention.

Answer: Australia's first bank robbery.

The gang of five, led by Charles Dingle, managed to pull off Australia's first bank robbery. They broke into the vault of the Bank of Australia in Sydney via a drain and stole £12,000. Three years later one of the group ended up "dobbing in" the others in a plea bargain. Only three out of the five gang members were charged and found guilty of the crime.
Factoid - "dobbing in" is Aussie slang meaning "to tell on someone".

Answer: Attempted to assassinate a member of the Royal Family.

Henry James O'Farrell attempted to assassinate His Royal Highness Prince Alfred with a pistol. The gunman was tackled to the ground by witnesses. The saving grace for the assassin were the police officers present that saved him from being lynched by the disgusted crowd. A bit of summary justice was dished out by the crowd and the offender was sporting a few bumps and bruises before getting back to the cells.

The end result? Henry James O'Farrell was executed for his efforts. Prince Alfred survived. The public donated enough funds that were used to fund the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. It is now one of the oldest hospitals in NSW.

Answer: Ellison managed to escape to New Zealand with all of the stolen gold and achieved the perfect crime.

The bags of gold were replaced with bags of sawdust and the investigation ended up with no more leads to follow. The entire affair became an unsolved mystery until the sister-in-law of the ships carpenter (Martin Weiberg) attempted to cut through a bar of soap and located a substantial amount of gold bullion hidden inside it. After the police were called a search located more gold bullion hidden in some very ingenuous places.

Weiberg dobbed in Ellison as the mastermind of the crime and cut a deal to take police to the hidden loot. At the "location" of the missing gold Weiberg suddenly made a run for it and escaped. He was caught six months later and did a stint of jail time for the crime. Upon his release from jail Weiberg sailed towards New Zealand. His cap was found floating alongside his battered boat. He was assumed dead. Legend indicates that he did not die, and he in fact ended up managing a hotel in Sweden, after being spotted by an old friend!

Answer: "Such is life"

"Let's do it!" was said by American murderer Gary Gilmore prior to his execution by firing squad, in Utah (17th January 1977)

"Shoot straight, you bastards, and don't make a mess of it!" was said by "Breaker Morant" (Real name: Harry Harbord Morant) prior to his execution by a military firing squad in 1902 during the Boer War. Morant enlisted in the South Australian Mounted Rifles from South Australia and fought during the Boer War.

Answer: The rape of a 16 year old girl.

In a tragic series of events 16 year old orphan, Mary Jane Hicks, accepted a free ride that would end in a horrific pack rape. Mary accepted a free ride from a cabbie called Charles Sweetman but he took her to an area near Mount Rennie and attempted to indecently assault her. During the event Mary was "saved" by a group of youths from a gang known as the Waterloo Push. They led her away from Sweetman and proceeded to attack Mary themselves.

Mary screamed for help and was assisted by a passer-by (Bill Stanley). He was beaten up by other gang members as Mary was dragged away by her attackers. Stanley ran for help but by the time police arrived Mary had been raped by a large number of the gang (estimated between 8-12 boys). Fifteen of the group were arrested for the crime, eleven of them faced trial. Following a 6 day trial only nine were convicted and they were all sentenced to death. In the end only four of the youths wound up at the end of a hangman's noose, the other five had their sentences reduced and ended up with life imprisonment.

Answer: Babies that she was supposed to be looking after.

During the 1890s a practice known as "child minding" was common. Because an unmarried woman with a child was not looked upon favourably, the mothers would pay to have their children "child minded". For a fee, and monthly instalments, their bundles of joy would be cared for on a full time basis by these "child minders". Sadly, the child minders did not always do the right thing and they would sell the babies to childless couples. The unwed mothers would not report the crime to police because they were ashamed of their actions.

Frances Knorr was a child minder, but she took things to the next level. Knorr killed the babies instead. The bodies were buried in the back yard and she moved address. The new tenant located the bodies and police quickly caught up with Knorr. She claimed that the babies died of natural causes but the evidence showed that the babies were strangled. She was sentenced to death by hanging. It is suspected that she could have killed up to 13 babies, but that has never been proven.

Answer: He committed suicide two days before the event.

In a cruel twist to the story of baby killer, Frances Knorr, the executioner that was tasked with the deed found it too much to cope with. He started drinking leading up the big day. Two days before the execution he killed himself in Melbourne Gaol by slashing his throat with a razor blade. His name was William Perrins but he was known publicly as "Jones the Hangman".

Answer: Shoot a racehorse prior to a big race.

Phar Lap is an Australian legendary racehorse. On the Saturday prior to the Melbourne Cup Race, a very big event in Australia, masked gunmen tried to wound (or kill) Phar Lap while he was being led back from training. The unknown men drove past in a car with the car horn blaring and fired a shotgun. It is believed that the attempt was made to get the famous horse removed from the race.

Footballer Bob Pratt, was born in 1912. He played 158 games of Aussie Rules football and scored 681 goals. Aussie Rules Football, is Australia's National Sport and is a great game to watch. Oh, and for those that care - Phar Lap won the 1930 Melbourne Cup! :)

Answer: Killed himself, after the funeral of his wife and baby, by lighting a stick of gelignite in his mouth.

Prior to the murders William Halbert was sacked by Victor McCaskell because he (wait for it), constantly blew his nose in the kitchen! After being sacked Halbert made the statement of, "You'll be sorry for this". Dubbed "The riddle of Bruce Rock" it was shown that Eva and the baby had been killed with an axe and Halbert was found hanging from a rafter in a shed.

Everything slotted into its place. The motive was revenge, Halbert had killed the wife and baby and then committed suicide. The case was closed and the funeral took place. After the funeral Victor took off in his car and was later found in pieces after he lit a stick of gelignite in his mouth. Halberts' body was exhumed and the inquest showed that it would have been impossible for him to hang himself the way he did. Evidence showed that Halbert was strangled and was blamed for the murders. The end result? Victor was deemed to be of unsound mind and it was declared a TRIPLE murder and eventual suicide.