Perth - The final case of gibbetting in a British territory.

Gibbeting 

 
Gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure, from which the dead or dying bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals.

It was the last case of gibbeting in a British colony.

 

 In 1837, Joseph Edward Thomas met a tragic death while travelling from Launceston to Hobart on horseback.

The eldest son of Mrs. Thomas of this town, Mr. Joseph Edward Wilson, rode out on his horse last Saturday afternoon to Hobart Town.

He had come within a mile of Perth when a man suddenly emerged from the bush and fired a piece at him, the contents of which entered and lodged in his body.

The abruptness of the attack startled the horse, causing Mr. Wilson to fall. The thug then hit him with the gun's but end and brutally beat him around the head until he thought he was dead.

Aside from the gunshot wound, his scull was fractured, and he was severely lacerated.To the wisdom of an unerring Providence must be attributed the unusual circumstance, that Mr. Wilson recovered his senses as soon as relieved by the men who discovered him, and retained full possession of them till death finished his misery.

But for this event, the assassin would not have been identified, most likely until his life was forfeited for another crime, forcing him to admit to being the perpetrator of this. The sad victim described his person and his clothes.

John McKay was found guilty of murdering Joseph Wilson. He was hanged, and his body gibbeted near the crime scene. This was the final case of gibbeting in a British territory.

Take a self-guided walking tour past the notable Baptist and Methodist churches, some private homes and historic shopfronts

Perth sits 20 km south of Launceston, on the Midland Highway, and has a population of 2,567 (2011 Census).

 

You can pick up a National Trust brochure from the post office and take a self-guided walking tour past the notable Baptist and Methodist churches, some private homes and historic shopfronts.

Toilet Facilities
Old Bridge Road - access off Midland Highway - Opening hours 7:30am-6pm

Talisker Street - Opening hours Apr-Nov 8:30am-6pm 

 

Doctor/Medical Centre
Norfolk Plains Medical Pty Ltd, 73 Main Rd, Perth, ph.(03) 6398 2295

 

Police Station
96a Main Road, non-emergency Ph: 131 444

 

The area was first explored by Europeans as early as 1806, shortly after the establishment of Launceston, and it was passed through by Governor Macquarie on his first exploration of 1811.

Ten years later, on 30 May 1821 he stood near where the Perth bridge stands today, and declared it as a site for a future town, naming it after Perth in Scotland.

 

Subsequently, a ferry began operating across the South Esk river and a military post and an inn were erected.

 

The first settler in the area was Thomas Massey, the Chief Constable of Launceston, who established a farm in the district in 1814.

 

Famously, the farm was raided and the barn was burnt down by the bushranger Matthew Brady in 1824.

 

The town was laid out in 1833 and a bridge across the South Esk river was constructed by convict labour three years later.

 

The bridge

The bridge was subsequently destroyed by floods in 1880, and again in 1929 and 1971 and has been rebuilt on each occasion.

 

In 1837, five years after the practice ceased in England, the body of John McKay was gibbeted near the spot where he murdered Joseph Wilson near Perth.

 

There was great outcry, but the body was not removed until an acquaintance of Wilson passed the spot and horrified by the sight of McKay’s rotting corpse, pleaded with the authorities to remove it.

 

The place where this occurred was just to the right (when travelling towards Launceston) of the Midlands Highway on the northern side of Perth, and is marked by a sign which reads “Gibbet Hill”.

 

Matthew Brady