Capital punishment in Australia has been abolished in all jurisdictions since 1985. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.

The last execution in Australia took place in 1967, when Ronald Ryan was hanged in Victoria following his conviction for killing a prison officer while escaping from Pentridge Prison. Between Ryan's execution in 1967 and 1984, several more people were sentenced to death, but had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The last death sentence was given in August 1984, when Brenda Hodge was sentenced to death in Western Australia (and subsequently had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment).

25 women were executed in Australia between 1789 and 1951.

History

+ Execution statistics by state (since Federation in 1901) Western Australia 33 New South Wales 23 Victoria 22 South Australia 20 Queensland 19 Northern Territory 5 Tasmania 3 Total 125 Norfolk Island (see below) 30+

Before the arrival of Europeans, death sentences were carried out under Aboriginal customary law, either directly or through sorcery. In some cases the condemned could be denied mortuary rites.Traditional Aboriginal Law and Punishment – Part V – Aboriginal Customary Law and the Criminal Justice System, Law Reform Commission of Western Australia – Aboriginal Customary Laws Discussion Paper The first executions carried out under European law in Australia took place in Western Australia in 1629, when Dutch authorities hanged the mutineers of the Batavia.

Capital punishment had been part of the legal system of Australia since British settlement. During the 19th century, crimes that could carry a death sentence included burglary, sheep stealing, forgery, sexual assaults, murder and manslaughter, and in Tasmania there were seven men who were executed for "being illegally at large". During the 19th century, these crimes saw about 80 people hanged each year throughout Australia.

Australian states and territories had laws against homosexuality during the colonial era, and nineteenth-century colonial parliaments retained provisions which made homosexual activity a capital offence until 1861. Most jurisdictions removed capital punishment as a sentence for homosexual activity, although in Victoria it remained as such when committed while also inflicting bodily harm or to a person younger than the age of fourteen until 1949.

Tasmania recorded nine executions for sodomy, termed as "unnatural crime". These executions occurred between 1830 and 1863, suggesting that the previously cited figure of seven for all of Australia is a significant undercount. Of the nine Tasmanian cases, eight involved victims who were children or non-consenting parties. The remaining case, that of Joseph Fogg executed in 1830, involved an adult male named William Newport, but available records do not establish whether the act was consensual.

Before Federation, each colony made its own criminal laws and punishments. Since then the States have been responsible for most criminal law. Since Federation in 1901, 114 people have been legally executed in Australia (excluding the historical territories of New Guinea and Papua where executions occurred under Australian law). For lists of people executed in Australia, sorted by state or territory, see the sidebar.

Federal jurisdictions Commonwealth law In 1973 the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 of the Commonwealth abolished the death penalty for federal offences. It provided in Section 3 that the Act applied to any offence against a law of the Commonwealth, the Territories or under an Imperial Act, and in s. 4 that "[a] person is not liable to the punishment of death for any offence".

No executions were ever carried out under Commonwealth criminal laws, and the passage of the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 saw the death penalty replaced with life imprisonment as the maximum punishment. On 11 March 2010, Federal Parliament passed laws that prevent the death penalty from being reintroduced by any state in Australia, by amending the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 to include the states. The Commonwealth will not extradite or deport a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime. A recent case involving this was the case of American Gabe Watson, who was convicted of the manslaughter of his wife in North Queensland, and faced capital murder charges in his home state of Alabama. His deportation was delayed until the government received assurances that he would not be executed if found guilty.

War Crimes Act 1945 Following the conclusion of World War II, the Chifley government passed the War Crimes Act 1945, allowing for the trial of Japanese military personnel and collaborators accused of war crimes in Australian territories. Those trials were separate to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East separately convened by the Allied powers for the trial of Japanese civilian leaders.

A total of 137 people were executed under the War Crimes Act 1945, with the final executions taking place on Manus Island in 1951. Most trials were held in New Guinea, although three took place in Darwin; 300 trials were held for 807 accused, with approximately two-thirds convicted and 226 death sentences imposed. Trials were carried out by the military and were initially not subject to review by civilian authorities. Given the large numbers of executions, there were administrative challenges in finding soldiers willing to make up firing squads and in finding qualified hangmen.

Military jurisdiction The Defence Act 1903 provided that courts-martial could sentence Australian military personnel to death for mutiny, desertion to the enemy, traitorous surrender to the enemy, or traitorous correspondence with the enemy, but that "no sentence of death passed by any court-martial shall be carried into effect until confirmed by the Governor-General". It has been suggested that the latter provision derived from the case of Breaker Morant, an Australian soldier who was executed while serving under British authority during the Second Boer War despite the opposition of the Australian government.

During World War I, over 120 Australian soldiers were sentenced to death by courts-martial, but the Fisher and Hughes governments commuted all death sentences. This contrasted with the over 300 executions of soldiers for desertion and other offences carried out by other British Empire militaries.

While capital punishment in the military was abolished by the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973, the provisions for the death penalty in the Defence Act 1903 were not formally removed until the passage of the Defence Force Re-organization Act 1975.

Federal territories Australian Capital Territory No executions were carried out in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) between its creation in 1911 and the abolition of capital punishment. The criminal laws of New South Wales initially continued in the territory under the Seat of Government (Administration) Act 1910. However, all death sentences imposed in the territory were commuted to life imprisonment.

The Crimes Ordinance 1968 removed the death penalty for all offences in the ACT except for murder and treason. The federal Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 abolished capital punishment in the ACT, although it was not removed from the local statute book until the passage of the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1983.

Norfolk Island

Between 1800 and 1846, over 30 people were executed on Norfolk Island, which was a penal colony at the time. On one day in 1846, William Westwood and 11 other convicts were hanged for their involvement in the Cooking Pot Uprising.

Northern Territory

There were nine executions between 1893 and 1952. Seven of them took place at Fannie Bay Gaol, the other two at regional locations close to where the crime took place. The last execution in the Northern Territory was a double hanging at Fannie Bay Gaol on 8 August 1952.

The death penalty was abolished in the Northern Territory via an ordinance passed by the Northern Territory Legislative Council, which came into effect on 5 April 1973. It was introduced as a private member's bill by Richard Ward, which passed by twelve votes to three. While the ordinance abolished all existing capital offences, the federal Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 which passed several months later removed any further possibility for capital punishment in federal territories.

State jurisdictions New South Wales

The last execution in New South Wales was carried out on 24 August 1939, when John Trevor Kelly was hanged at Sydney's Long Bay Correctional Centre for the murder of Marjorie Constance Sommarlad. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, but retained it as a potential penalty for treason, piracy, and arson in naval dockyards until 1985. New South Wales was the last Australian state to formally abolish the death penalty for all crimes.

Queensland

A total of 94 people were hanged in the Moreton Bay/Queensland region from 1830 until 1913."Queensland Executions". . Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society. The last person hanged was Ernest Austin on 22 September 1913 for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Ivy Mitchell.

The only woman to be hanged was Ellen Thompson (born 1846–1847?) on 13 June 1887; she was hanged alongside her lover, John Harrison, for murdering her husband William. The likelihood of a miscarriage of justice in the conviction and sentence is explored by Vashti Farrer who concluded: "the scales were weighted her as the stereotypical "loose woman" capable of murder".

In 1922, Queensland became the first part of the British Commonwealth to abolish the death penalty.Dawson, Christopher, "A Pit of Shame: The Executed Prisoners of Boggo Road". Inside History, Brisbane, 2005. The Legislative Assembly of Queensland voted 33 to 30 to abolish the death penalty.

South Australia

The Adelaide Gaol was the site of forty-four hangings, from Joseph Stagg on 18 November 1840 to Glen Sabre Valance, murderer and rapist, on 24 November 1964. Three executions also occurred at Mount Gambier Gaol, five at country locations out of Port Lincoln, three at Franklin Harbor, one at Streaky Bay and two at Fowler's Bay.The Hempen Collar David J Towler and Trevor J porter, The Wednesday Press, 1999

Two Ngarrindjeri men were controversially executed by hanging along the Coorong on 22 August 1840, after a drumhead court-martial conducted by Police Commissioner O'Halloran on the orders of Governor George Gawler. The men were found to be guilty of murdering the twenty-five survivors of the shipwreck Maria a few months before.

Elizabeth Woolcock, the only woman ever to have been executed under South Australian law, was hanged on 30 December 1873. Her body was not released to the family and was buried between the inner and outer walls of the prison, identified by a number and the date of the execution.

In the late 1950s, Don Dunstan became well known for his campaign against the death penalty being imposed on Max Stuart, who was convicted of rape and murder of a young girl, opposing then-Premier Thomas Playford IV over the matter.