John Gavin (convict)
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John Gavin (or John Gaven) (1829 – 6 April 1844) was the first European settler to be legally executed in Western Australia.[1] He was executed for murder at the age of fifteen.[2]
Life
Born in 1829, John Gavin[3] was convicted of an offence while still a juvenile, and was transported to Western Australia as a Parkhurst apprentice, arriving on board the Shepherd in October 1843.
On 3 April 1844, he was tried for the murder of his employer's son, 18-year-old George Pollard. He confessed[4] to killing the sleeping victim with an adze.[5] but he seemed unaware of a rational motive. Three days later he was publicly hanged outside the Round House in Fremantle. After a death mask had been taken and his brain studied for "scientific purposes" he was buried in the sand hills to the south without ceremony.[4]
References
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- 1829 births
- 1844 deaths
- Convicts transported to Western Australia
- Australian people executed by hanging
- People executed for murder
- History of Western Australia
- People executed by Western Australia
- Australian people convicted of murder
- Australian murderers of children
- People convicted of murder by Western Australia
- People executed by Australian Colonies by hanging
