The Labor Party and the Abolition of Capital .. Punishment in Queensland 1899-1922

by R N. BARBER,- B.A.

Introduction. Reading speech, Glassey 4 had suggested that the distinction between wilful murder and murder (see para. 2 of Introduction) By the end of the nineteenth century, revenge had ceased to could be reinforced by a corresponding difference in punishment be of major consideration in capital cases and deterrence had for the two offences, and that only the former need carry the become the chief rationale for the infliction of the death penalty. ultimate penalty. The Attorney-General, however, had quickly Even this aspect, however, was no longer considered sufficient rejected any such -relaxation in the application of capital punish­ to warrant the automatic carrying out of the death sentence, for, ment, and had warned Labor members that attempts to )imit in all but the most brutal of murders, some reason could usually capital punishment to a greater extent than the Government be found for urging, often with success, a commutation of the had already proposed "would be stoutly resisted by the Govern­ sentence by the Executive. ment". But he indicated that reform as regards the use of Indeed, in the four years (1896-9) immediately preceding the solitary confinement and corporal punishment would be possible. introduction of the Criminal Code. Bill into Parliament, there It was in these areas of punishment, as well as the use of irons was a complete discontinuance of the exercise of the extreme in prisons, that Labor members as a whole took their stand, penalty in murder cases. The reason for this was almost and with a good deal of success. Perhaps their failure to support certainly the fact that public agitations on behalf of the Lesina in his opposition to capital punishment stemmed from a condemned men had become so prevalent in cases of unpre­ feeling that not only was it a hopeless cause, but it was also meditated murder. Accordingly, Sir Samuel Griffith 1 provided one which would merely have served to "stiffen" Government in his Draft Criminal Code for a distinction to be drawn and conservative opposition to these other seemingly more easily between murder and wilful murder, for which the intention attainable types of penal reform. Another possibility is that, in to kill had to be proven, while the old concept of "malice general, Labor members did not favour abolition for wilful aforethought" was completely abandoned. The definitions of murder. This is reinforced by Glassey's suggestion for different w.ijful murder and murder covered most forms of homicide punishments for murder and wilful murder and the attempts, previously falling within this concept, but several other forms if somewhat half-hearted, which were made with regard to of homicide which had hitherto been regarded as capital offences having capital punishment abolished for piracy and treason. came to be classed as manslaughter only. In the case of a Fitzgerald 5 also suggested that the decision as to whether the conviction for murder, the trial judge was permitted to refrain death sentence should be passed on the criminal should be left from pronouncing the death sentence in open court and to to the jury, the Executive still having the power to exercise have such sentence merely recorded. The significance of this the prerogative of mercy at a later stage if it so desired. action was that it indicated to the Executive that, in the trial The fact still remains that Lesina was given the first speech judge's opinion, the case was one in which the death sentence in reply to the Attorney-General's Second. Reading address. ought to be commuted to a suitable term of imprisonment, Perhaps, then, Labor had intended originally to support Lesina, normally life. No such discretion was given to the judge in but had changed its position in favour of reform in other areas cases of wilful murder. of punishment - corporal punishment in particular. Unfor­ The Criminal Code Bill also proposed to remove rape and tunately, access has not been allowed to the Labor Caucus robbery under arms with wounding from the list of capital minutes even for this far distant period, so any conclusion must offences, but there was no suggestion of the total abolition remain but tentative. Nevertheless, Lesina did deliver his two­ of the death penalty for murder, only of redefining the classes hour attack on "judicial murder" and did move his promised of capital punishment. This is evidenced by Griffith's own amendment during the Committee stages of the Bill. No division words in the letter he sent to the Attorney General in October, was taken however, the amendment being defeated on the voices. 1897: Apart from Rutledge, no other member spoke to the motion. The question whether homicide committed under any circumstances Given, then, that Lesina was a "lone voice" in Parliament (covered by the common law definition of 'malice aforethought') and, seemingly, without much support, of an influential kind should be punished with death is an entirely different one from that of the definition of the offence which is to be visited with anyway, outside it 6, it may now be advantageous to consider that penalty 2. some of his attitudes to crime and punishment, since, in the It was left for Joe Lesina 3 in the Legislative Assembly, on the main, they were to form the foundation for the movement Second Reading of the Criminal Code Bill, to make such a which, led by the socialist elements of the Labor Party, was suggestion. to cause that party to adopt the abolition of capital punishment as part of its "Social Reform Programme" some eleven years later. '.' The Labor Party and Capital Punishment in 1899. Lesina began his address by illustrating the gradual reduction Before dealing with Lesina's attitude to abolition, it will' be in.,the. number of capital offences that had taken place throughout as well, so as not to confuse the one with the other, to the gentury, and which had again been evidenced in the bill ascertain the attitude of the majority of the Parliamentary Labor with which they were dealing at the time. He also pointed to Party (P.L.P.). During Attorney-General Rutledge's Second various European states where total abolition had not caused

Queens/and Haitage Page Three any marked increase in crime. Speaking of the work in penal Tahle 1 reform carried on by Victor Hugo, Wilberforce, and Howard (I) (2) (3) he claimed that Period. Total Executions. Kanakas Executed Kanakas Executed as a % of Total [their] work, and that of their followers, has raised the moral tone Executions. of society [to the extent thatl tonight I can appeal for the abolition 1895-1905 15 7 46.7% of the last vestiges of punishment by mutilation - the lash and 1895-1901 11 5 45.5% the gallows. I would like to see them abolished. We have excellent ---_.__... - .... --- precedents from the other countries of the civilized world ... By In 1891 12 Kanakas t.72 % of total population abolishing them, we can take our place among the civilized nations Kanakas 5.52 % of jail population of the world. I am opposed to these punishments because they are ==:.======--".~=-"'-- forms of mutilation and are altogether foreign to civilized ideas of 1886-99 13 Kanakas convicted 1,097 punishment ... Our punishment today is largely punitive instead of Kanakas convicted of being reformative. Instead of hanging criminals we should place Common Assault 341 them in correctional institutions ... The purpose of punishment Murder, Attempted [should be] to cure the offender. The criminal is not a wild beast. Murder and Manslaughter 36 My view of him is that he' is--an erring brother whose feet have Total convictions for wandered from the narrow path which we all weakly strive to Murder, Attempted Murder follow. Undoubtedly he must be punished, but to take his life is and Manslaughter 163 (approximately) not the way to cure him ... Crime is largely a social product - it Kanakas 22.7% of total is the outcome of our present social conditions. Its greatest breeding convicted of these grounds are the highly-centralized cities of modern industrial society offences ... Poverty and ignorance are the chief causes of crime ... The Offences by Kanakas 13 (i.e. includes alteration of our social and industrial conditions are reforming against females offences other than influences which will have the effect of reducing crime ... I say rape) that murder is just as much murder when authorised and directed Total Rape Convictions 15 by the Executive as when it is committed in cold-blood by the ------_.------private individual 7. I can see no difference, [except that] the Even after the Federal Government had legislated to terminate circumstances surrounding judicial murder are more cold-blooded and horrible. You tie your victim up and you have him like a rat the transportation of Kanakas, the tendency continued for the in a cage. Opponents of the abolition of capital punishment must Worker and Labor men generally (with the notable exception assume and prove the following propositions:- of J. S. Collings 14 who in 1906 appealed unsuccessfully in the I. That fear of death is the only fear that is sufficiently intense Courier for commutation of the death sentences passed on a to deter from the commission of murder; Ceylonese and a Kanaka) to ignore the executions of both 2. That juries are never led by their dislike of capital punishment Kanakas and Chinese. The continuance of this practice may, to give false verdicts; however, possibly be partly explained by the fact that it was 3. That innocent men have never been hanged; and merely good political sense to protest publicly against capital 4. That a week or two of professed repentance for a great crime punishment only when the particular victim was one whose fate wilt ensure the offender's pardon in the next world 8. was, or could be made, of general public concern. Thus, the As if aware of his isolated position, however, Lesina concluded sentencing of such brutal murderers as Beckman, Millewski, with the prophesy: Bradshaw, Austin, and Fisby (all Europeans) took place with If I should fail it is only I who have failed [for] somebody else, a minimum of public attention being called to the cases by as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, will take the matter up those advocating abolition, while widespread discontent was where I leave it. I feel perfectly sure that it will not be many years longer before the humanitarian feeling which is now spreading either created or, if it already existed, utilized in the cases of through this colony, and all civilized countries, will demand once the Kenniff Brothers and Arthur Ross. Given that their task and for all the abolition of the death penalty 9. was to convert both public and intra-Labor Party opinion to Part of the reason for the seeming lack of support for abolition, it would have been folly for abolitionists to have abolition in 1899, as exhibited by the members of the P.L.P., pursued any other course. may be traced to the fact that, following the failure of the By the time of the Labor-in-Politics Convention of 1907, great strikes in 1891, the socialist elements within the Party the abolitionists had gained sufficient influence within the Labor had lost much of their influence in the Movement. Crook puts Party to have the abolition of capital punishment listed among the situation thus: the Convention's recommendations to the P.L.P., while by The failure of the great strikes precipitated a return to empIrICism December of that year public opinion had been converted to ... The platform drawn up in 1892 was a practical document the limited extent at least that a non-Labor inspired petition on stressing electoral reform, education ... , and factory legislation ... behalf of the German Millewski could be framed entirely on The dominance of the moderate political wing was evidenced again in 1901 when a bid was made to widen the electoral support of the basis of the opposition to capital punishment. It now the party ... The ascendancy of moderates such as Kidston before becomes opportune to examine the reasons for this somewhat 1905 was facilitated by organizational weaknesses ... a product of limited success. the decline in power of the A.L.F. 10 [Australian Labor Federation]. One reason has already been mentioned - the abolition of Another reason almost certainly lay in the fact that the the Kanaka Trade. Others were the replacement of the moderate Labor Movement stood for a "White Australia". The early Kenna 15 by Boote 16 as Editor of the Worker in 1901, and the members of the Labor Movement were deeply hostile to return of socialists to places of prominence within the extra­ "coloured aliens", Kanakas and Chinese in particular, because parliamentary wing of the Labor Party following the 1905 they represented an economic threat to white labourers and to Labor-in-Politics Convention. Finally, there was the trial of Unionism generally. Given the disproportionate crime rate James and Patrick Kenniff in 1902 and the subsequent execution among, and execution rate of, Kanakas during this period, this of Patrick in January 1903. It was this last mentioned event racial bitterness did much to lessen the effectiveness of the part and the publicity and public involvement caused thereby, which played by early Labor men towards seeking the abolition of did most to secure this support for the abolitionists both within capital punishment 1t. Men .like Lesina appeared to have been and without the Labor movement. torn between the pleasures of pointing to such executions as evidence of the "corrupting influence" of Kanakas on society The Kennif]s' Case, 1902-3. and the sorrow that society should still deem it necessary to The Kenniff brothers - Patrick and James - were suspected inflict such a "barbarous and self-degrading" punishment on even horse-stealers who roamed the ridges and gorges of that section the most vicious or degenerate of criminals. Apart from Lesina's of the Great Dividing Range which forms the watersheds of the contribution the public support for abolition came from Labor upper Warrego, Maranoa, Nogoa, Comet, and Dawson Rivers. men only after the Kanaka Trade had ceased to be a matter In ~ 902 they were sought by Senior Cons~able Doyle, accom­ of great concern to unionists. panted by the manager of Carnarvon Station (Dahlke) and a

Page Four Queens/and Heritage Counsel may go to the Imperial Authorities if they choose; but black tracker (Johnson) in connection with the theft of a pony the Governor-in-Council is not controlled by any intention on the and also the disappearance of some horses from a neighbouring part of the prisoners to appeal. If the Governor-in-Council con­ station. Located on the northern side of the Range, James was sidered there were just grounds for appeal they might, as a matter captured after a chase, but Patrick escaped. On going to where of favour. hold the case over until leave had been applied for and the police packhorse was tethered to obtain handcuffs, Johnson refused, but there is no legal obligation on the part of the Governor-in-Council to do so 23. heard a shot followed after an interval by further shots. On seeing the two Kenniffs riding at him, the tracker galloped off The appeal by Patrick Kenniff was finally abandoned, for to obtain help. Later charred human remains and some of he would have been dead before a reply could have come from Doyle's and Dahlke's effects were located near the scene of England. The possibility of cabling the petition was considered, although the cost of such was estimated at more than £500, the crime. but Philp refused to delay the execution until even this could An intensive manhunt was organised, and when Patrick was be answered. finally captured, James surrendered to the Police. As the crime This show of "determination" by the Government did much was committed in Central Queensland, the Kenniffs were com­ to aid the cause of the abolition of capital punishment in mitted for trial in Rockhampton; but the defence claiming that Queensland. they were unable to produce a vital witness, the case was Several public meetings were held in Brisbane and Toowoomba, remitted to Brisbane. They were tried not by a common jury at which Lesina spoke against the fact that Kenniff "was being of 12, but by a special jury of four - a jury normally reserved deprived of his rights as a British subject", and claimed that for civil cases. Both were convicted of wilful murder and the "the ends of justice would suffer no risk of being defeated by trial judge, Chief Justice Sir S. W. Griffith, passed the death the postponement of the execution" 24. sentence on them, but respited it pending an appeal to full court. At the meeting held on the Saturday prior to the appointed This appeal was dismissed, but not before Mr Justice Real "execution Monday", despite continued heavy rain, over 4,000 had cast serious doubt on the adequacy of the proof against people stood in Albert Square, to hear him. Deputations waited James Kenniff. In what must be one of the most outspoken on Philp and the Governor and petitions were signed in various statements of all time from an appellate court he said, with parts of the State. But the Government remained immovable regard to the evidence adduced by the Crown against James throughout, and it was firmly supported in its stand by the Kenniff: Courier, which, however, rather unwisely admitted that, were I would consider myself a party to the murder of James Kenniff the Scottish verdict of "not proven" available, such may have if I went on such evidence as that, [Griffith C. J. objected]. The Chief Justice knows perfectly well that I consider what he said to been the better decision - apparently forgetting that guilt, not the jury was said in perfect honesty and propriety ... [The evidence] innocence, had to be proven before a conviction might be had may commend itself to my brother but I have not his cast of mind, under British law. It based its approval for the execution of and if it will justify him it will not me. If you cannot show some Patrick Kenniff on the following proposition: ' act you cannot go on surmise 17. If life in the West is to be at all bearable there must be the clearest The Courier, which, along with other Brisbane newspapers, advertisement of the ability of the law to reach and punish the had branded the Kenniffs as murderers before they were brought insolent law-breaker 25, to trial, attempted to gloss over and expressed confidence that Mr Justice Real's strong dissent the agitation engineered by Mr. Lesina ... [was by] an irresponsible by saying: minority 26. [The Full Court] unanimously, except for one small detail, upheld Nevertheless the hangman seemed to think it prudent to appear the jury's verdict 18. "heavily disguised with a heavy black beard and darkened But this "one small detail" did not pass unnoticed by the spectacles" 27 when performing his task and the Kenniffs became public. Already the change of venue of the trial, the type of heroes and martyrs in the Roma district 28 and elsewhere. jury used 19, and the Brisbane press's verbal conviction of the In the following years, various deputations appealed for James's men prior to their capture had aroused some public protest in release (which was finally achieved 12 years later), and the Roma and Toowoomba and soon the four jurors were to come execution of Patrick was still spoken of as a "blot on the· fair under heavy criticism in Brisbane itself. The fact that Chief name of Queensland" as late as the early 1920s 29. Justice Griffith had sat on the bench to hear the appeal from his own summing-up to the jury also did not pass unnoticed, Developments Within the Labor Movement. and a correspondent writing to the Worker pointed- to the fact It is difficult actually to assess the effect of the case, and such would not have been lawful had it been a civil case, "a Lesina's "engineering", on the Labor Movement itself, but case affecting property instead of the lives of men" 20. Almost certainly the Worker 30, even before the Government had decided immediately after the failure of the appeal the Kenniffs' solicitors, to execute Patrick Kenniff, came out strongly in opposition to O'Neil and McGrath, informed Premier Philp 21 that an appeal capital punishment. The writer of the article may have been on behalf of either both or one of the brothers to the Privy Lesina himself, for much of the phraseology used was identical Council was being considered, and asked that there should be with that used in Lesina's speeches as reported in the Courier, a stay of execution. A concert, attended by some 500 people, and Lesina was a journalist and had in previous years had his was held in the Centennial Hall before Christmas aimed at own column in the Wor!:er. Or it may have been John Fihelly 31 raising money for the appeal; at the conclusion of it, Lesina who worked for that newspaper for a while as a journalist. appealed for donations and, although expressly approving of But, regardless of this speculation, it is almost certain that the death penalty where murder was clearly proven 22, urged the views expressed were acceptable to the editor, Boote 32. It that, as such was not the case with the Kenniffs, they should has been said 33 that Boote exercised considerable influence on not be hanged. Petitions were, at the time, being signed with the Brisbane Workers' Political Organizations [W.P.Os] and on this end in view in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Charters Towers, Dave Bowman 34, who in 1907 replaced Kerr as leader of the Townsville, and Rockhampton. On 24 December;, O'Neil told P.L.P., and there is no doubt this greatly assisted the cause of Philp that it had been decided to petition the King-in-Council abolition within the Movement. Also, much of the agitation on for permission to appeal to the Privy Council on behalf of both behalf of the Kenniffs took place in strong Labor areas such the brothers, but on 31 December the Executive Council as Rockhampton, Roma, and Charters Towers, but the fact announced that the sentence on James Kenniff had been com­ remains that Lesina was the only M.L.A., or prominent Labor muted to life imprisonment, and that Patrick would be hanged man even, to be publicly involved in the matter 35. on 12 January. The Government's attitude to the intended At all events, by 1904, P.L.P. leader Kerr 36 was reported appeal to the Privy Council was put by Attorney-General by the Courier as having said in the Legislative Assembly that Rutledge as follows: "the Labor Party does not believe in capital punishment" 37.

Queensland Heritage Page Fil'e This statement had teen induced by the Opposition's attack on position of Leade~ an~ Deputy Leader. However, a split within the Morgan Government's decision to commute the death the P.L.P. was Immment and, when Parliament resumed in sentences passed on a Mr and Mrs Macdonald, who had 1906, Bowman refused to attend Caucus meetings because of ruthlessly tortured and starved to death the husband's 14-year­ the presence there of Kidston and his followers, while Lesina old daughter. Opposition members and the Courier claimed took up a position on the Opposition cross-bench and joined that the Government's action had been directed by the Labor with Hardacre 43 in touring the State on a speaking tour in Party which was supporting, and indeed preserving, the Govern­ opposition to Kidston. ment in the Legislative Assembly. "The tail wagged and the The victory of the abolitionists within the extra-P.L.P. was, dog followed" 38 was the claim. Possibly this was true up to however, far from won, despite the Trades Hall-Socialist victory a point, but the situation quickly changed and neither the Morgan in 1905, for it was quite clear that not all socialists were Government nor the subsequent Kidston Governments showed abolitionists. This is evidenced by the fact that Collings, who very much less willingness to inflict capital punishment in suitable did much to assist the abolitionist cause by means of discussions cases than the previous Philp Government had. of crime and punishment generally on "Free-Admission" nights Table 2. of the Social Democratic Vanguard (of which he became President Murder Trials. in 1906), in July 1905 received severe criticism by way of a .------letter to the Courier from the Valley W.P.O., for his opposition (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) to capital punishment. As Secretary of the Brisbane Political Period Conl'ictions Acquitals Total Executions Executions Convictions Labor Council, he had managed to have a resolution, calling Tried asa % of as a % of convictions trials for a commutation of Warton's sentence, passed by that body 1901-3 14 12 26 7 50% 53.8% and transmitted to Home Secretary (and ex-Labor member) 1905-10 27 26 53 9 33.3% 50.9% Airey. The Valley W.P.O. claimed that not only had the Council 1911-14 14 9 23 3 21.4% 60.9% "exceeded its. functions" by so doing but that also "upon the question of capital punishment a difference of opinion exists among the various W.P.Os within the State" 44. Collings's reply This could indicate that: was that, if the Valley W.P.O. upheld capital punishment, ( I) the public still approved of capital punishment for vicious the sooner it hauls down the flag of socialism - the flag that the murders; newly adopted objective has nailed to the mast of every W.P.O. (2) The P.L.P., while it supported the Morgan and Kidston in the State - the better for the progressive movement. Labor has no room in its ranks for apologists for such effete and brutal Governments, either (a) did not oppose capital punishment, methods of a barbaric past ... I trust that the action of the Valley or (b) if it did, did not consider the matter important enough W.P.O. will be widely repudiated 45. to attempt to apply pressure to the Government over it, Such repudiation_ did come in an indirect way from the or (c) it did so try; but Worker, which claimed: (3) the Governments did not think it expedient to abolish the execution of Warton [is] indefensible in principle. and the action capital punishment. of the Government, weighed in the scales of the Macdonald precedent [is] an outrage upon public decency 46, At all events, Kidston had never publicly opposed capital punish­ ment in the past and he appeared convinced as to the necessity but no direct attack was made on the Valley W.P.O. of retaining it in 1909. Throughout the period that the P.L.P. 1906 saw the execution of three men - all "coloured aliens". supported the Morgan and Kidston Governments, Kidston exer­ They passed without criticism by the Worker, but once again cised a dominating influence within the P.L.P., and this no doubt Collings, this time as President of the Social Democratic Van­ did much to account for the continued and not infrequent guard, wrote to the Courier saying: exercise of capital punishment. After the final Labor-Kidston On behalf of the hundreds of men and women who are members split in 1907, the Labor Movement no longer had any real of the Vanguard, and of the thousands who, while not being Socialists, chance of influencing the Government. are yet actuated by altruistic motives, as well as myself, Mr. Editor, I ask your kindness in publishing this public protest ... to the hanging The Macdonalds' case proved somewhat embarrassing to on Monday next of two human beings 47. abolitionists because of the hideous nature of their crime, but On the afternoon of 13 March 1907, a list of nine recom­ nevertheless the Worker claimed: mendations to the P.L.P. was adopted by the Labor-in-Politics Tr.e Executive has done right ... Society has no more right to Convention. Fourth on the list was the abolition of capital strangle a man on the gallows than has any member of it to strangle another in bed ... Man as a mass cannot morally do what punishment. No record of any debate on these recommendations is condemnable in man the individual ... Revenge is not justice ... appears in either the Worker, the Courier, or the "Official Report What reason guided the Executive [weI are unaware, but it is not of the Fifth Labor-in-Politics Convention, 1907", but a gauge easy to believe that it could have been any other than a conscientious objection to capital punishment. If that is so, it deserves the of the relative strength of the abolitionists and the P.L.P. may commendation of all ... [But] if the Cabinet is opposed to capital be ascertained from the fact that an attempt by Kerr to effect punishment it ought to say so straight out, and lead the way to a reconciliation with Kidston was defeated 36 - 6, while Lesina abolition. One thing is certain. the present Ministry can never this time tied for eleventh place on the first ballot for the henceforth consent to the hanging of anyone without pronouncing judgement against itself 39. election of the C.P.E. delegates out of a field of 27, and was beaten on the second ballot by only five votes. Any chance The Socialist Revival. the recommendation might have had of influencing the Govern­ The 1905 Labor-in-Politics Convention saw a return to power ment, however, was ruined by the defection of 14 members of within the Labor Movement of the socialist elements, with Trades the P.L.P. to Kidston. Nevertheless, the fact of its adoption Hall men Reid 40, Bowman, and Hinchcliffe 41 being elected to by the Convention, which was largely W.P.O.-dominated, gave the Executive positions of the Central Political Executive evidence of a partial victory for the abolitionists within the (C.P.E.) 42, and the Party's platform amended to include the Labor Movement. "socialist objective". But no mention was made at the Convention of capital punishment. Lesina, as was so often The Execution of Arthur Ross, 1909. the case later, was not meeting with the Party's approval at Mention has already been made of the agitation, with which this time as was evidenced by the fact that he finished last in neither the Vanguard nor prominent Labor men seemed to be the elections of c.P.E. members. The return to power of those publicly associated, on behalf of the German, MilIewski in most favourable to abolition had little or no effect on the December, ]907, and which was based entirely on the oPposition P.L.P. where Kidston supporters Kerr and McDonnell held the to capital punishment. But it was not until the announcement

Page Six Queensland Heritage by the Government of the intention to execute Ross in 1909 Ross, a young man of 21, had been convicted of the murder that public opinion can really be said to have fallen in behind of a bank attendant, Muir, but the jury had expressly acquitted the abolitionists, or at least to be no longer opposed to their him of wilful murder and had strongly recommended him to efforts. mercy on account of his age. Despite these factors, the Govern- ment decided to ca"iTy out the execution. Once again Collings was the first correspondent to ,', ." / / '/ protest on the matter in the " . Courier, but on this .occasion he was joined by five others, only one of whom approved of the Government's decision, and the ~Worker was also quick to take up the cry that "if Ross is killed in the name of the people, there will be blood on the hands of us all. And our offence will be greater than his for it will be a deliberate killing" 48. The idea that, in a democracy, all are in some way responsible for Government acts such as execu­ tions was clearly implicit.

On the Saturday preceding the execution, the Albert Hall was completely filled, and an overflow crowd of some 400 assembled in Albert Square. The Hon. H. Jensen, M.L.A. (a Brisbane soli­ citor) acted as Chairman of the _me~ting, at which the Mayor (-WIlson), Mr Williams (Christian Temperance Union-[C.T.U.]), 11 Labor Ms.L.A. 49, five ministers of religion, and Messrs Boote and Seymour 50 (among others) were present on the platform. A resolution calling for a commu­ tation of the death sentence was passed and a petition containing some 3,000 signatures was pre­ sented to Lieutenant-Governor Morgan, who had come down fro~ W.arwick that evening to receIve It. A petition was also sent from Ipswich, a notable feature of which was that it had been initiated there by the C.T.D., not the Labor Party, as w~s one from Maryborough (the tnal town) which it was said ?ad received 3,000 signatures m 12 hours 5 I.

In Premier Kidston's own elec­ t?rat~: Rockha~pton, a deputa­ tIon representmg all classes of the community" 52 waited on him ur.ging him to alter his decision. In the COU1'st of his replY t,o Il ~1ock~ampton dcpu(l\(ioll: C:1)!1si~ting (If repl"e~t'lltati"fS of all clll,tiloleS of ~be community, that HIS reply, that the gallows "were Ilppt'Kled to him. In Yuill ,lor a ('(JlUmllt~tlOIJ of the dea.th sentence on the boy Ros:, , Pl'emicr l(ll!StOIl slid. ,. tl.e· bulwark~ of society must not b~ weakened.'1 a .bu"',:,ark of society", was met wIth bItter scorn and disappoint­ ment by the Worker, bv way "A BULWARK OF SOCIETY." of cartoon, editorial and feature 'A bulwark of society', taken from The Worker 12 June 1909. article 53.

Queensland Heritage Page Se~'en In spite of Premier Kidston and his brother Minis~ers, with t.heir The First Attempt at Abolition _ 1916. talk about bulwarks of society being weakened, the ~Ime h~s arnved for the enlightened modern spirit to repudiate the gnsley [SIC] gospel Although, as has been said the Labor Movement was on of the gallows 54. a p~blic level anyway, far less'vocal in its opposition to c;pital its editorial concluded and Rev. Rowe's sermon in the Albert pUnIshment after the 1910 Convention much interest continued Street Methodist Chur~h in favour of abolition of capital punish­ to b~ exhi~ited in pe~al reform generally by some Labor Ms.L.A. ment was praised as "a manly and enlightened deliverance". The TheIr maIO emphaSIS was placed on the necessity to make large crowd that gathered to hear him was deemed to have shown punishment reformative; speeches with this aim in view were "conclusively that public sentiment is ripe for the removal of delivered in the Legislative Assembly in 1910 by Winstanley this relic of savagery from the Criminal Code" 55. For perhaps and in 1912 by Adamson, Bertram, Payne, and Kirwan. At the first time in Queensland such a claim appeared to be not the 1913 Convention, the abolition of capital punishment had without justification. Indeed an Anti-Capital Punishment League become second on the list headed "Social Reform" in the General was formed in Brisbane, but interest in it seemed to have been Programme on the motion of Samford (Murrumba) and Mrs but transitory 56. Miller (Townsville). However, this elevation was due to the The Intra-Party Battle is won. fact that reforms previously ahead of it in this section of the La~or-in­ platform had been legislated on by the Denham Government. Less than a year after Ross's execution the Sixth Despite the fact that a certain reform measure might be in Politics Convention was held. Item No. 16 on the !lst of a Government party's platform, it is in the hands of the motions was that abolition of capital punishment should become parliamentarians to decide when, and perhaps even if, the part of the Party's General Programme under the heading of matter is to be legislated upon, especially when they are led Social Reform. Maughan's 57 motion for its adoption was accepted by a man of such influence throughout the entire party as without debate. T. J. Ryan. Ryan's was the first effective Labor Government From this time onward until 1916, the matter became almost in Queensland and it was scarcely surprising that, especially a "dead issue" with the Labor Party and the Worker, and the given the currency of the Great War, reforms other than four subsequent executions before Labor's victory at the polls abolition were given priority during the 1915 parliamentary in 1915, passed without criticism by Collings, the Worker, or session. However, the Deputy Minister for Justice, John Fiheny, the Daily Standard, which had begun publication after the strike was an idealistic young man and in 1916 he was given the of 1912. Part of the reason for this must have been the honour of introducing into the Assembly ;l bill to abolish capital fact that, having won the battle within the Party, abolitionists punishment. He had apparently long ~een oprose.d to capital then felt content to await the Party's victory at the polls so that punishment and was "pardonably proud 61 of hIS bIll. Needless the reform might be implemented. Another reason might be to say, there had been no executions since the corning to office that the chief concern of the socialist and unionist elements of the Ryan Government (although no official announcement within the Party during this time was the strike of 1912, while would seem to have been made to this effect), nor was there another was that Seymour had taken over from Boote as editor of the Worker in 1911. to be any execution during the seven years of Labor Government The year 1912 had also seen the removal of Lesina from prior to the abolition of capital punishment in 1922. the Queensland political scene, although his influence within the First mention of the 1916 bill appeared in the Governor's Labor Movement had been almost negligible for some time Address where it had been fourteenth in the list of intended prior to that, and, with the failure of the strike a return of bills fo; the session 62. Perhaps because of its simplicity, or "moderates", led by T. J. Ryan, to control of the Movement's because of a belief (given the Denham Government's general Political wing, and eventually, after the 1913 Convention, of the attitude to punishment) that it would meet little opposition and C.P.E. - the unionists' influence having suffered greatly due to be quickly passed, or perhaps because of pressure from the the failure of the strike. Again, the attitude of the Denham P.L.P. or from the c.P.E., the bill was rapidly promoted in the Government to punishment was not greatly different from that list and was introduced during an adjournment in the Address held by the P.L.P. in Reply on 5 August. The Second Reading was taken on the 8th and the Third Reading on the 15th, after which it was The Denham Government. transmitted to the Legislative Council, where it was read for It may prove of interest to notice briefly the attitude of the the first time on the 19th. On 3 October, however, in the Denham Government to both capital and non-capital punishment. Upper House, the Second Reading was defeated on the voices As Table 2 showed, the execution rate under this Government and the bill passed from the business paper. was lower than it had been under Kidston and Morgan since The passage of the bill through the Legislative Assembly was 1904. Despite the fact that its decision to commute the death characterized by an apparent lack of interest in it by the more sentence passed on the one-time asylum inmate, Frisby, in 1912, senior members of the Government (one might also say the met with hostile criticism from both the Courier and Stevens more practical-minded members) for the only ones to speak on (M.L.A. Rosewood), the Government stood firmly by its decison. the bill for the Government were Fihelly, Pollock 63, Larcombe 64, The Secretary for Railways, Paget, told Stevens that it was the and McPhail 65 - all representative of the idealists within the Government's "duty to take all the circumstances of the case P.L.P. Their speeches too, not surprisingly perhaps, lacked any into consideration" 58 when dealing with a death sentence, and real appeal to practicalities and dealt with the topic almost not to act in quest of vengeance. exclusively from an emotional, and sometimes scarcely realistic, Speaking on a different matter, Home Secretary Appel gave aspect. Fihelly gave a precis of the case for abolition as it a further indication of his Government's attitude to punishment appeared in the current edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, generally when he claimed: a fact which he made no attempt to conceal, while Pollock's Criminologists are unanimous that where it is possible to reform speech, although much the better of the two, was merely a a criminal, it is the duty of the State to undertake that reform­ slightly less emotional, and a good deal shorter, version of the State must do everything possible to uplift the fallen man and restore him to the self-respect he has lost ... If we could succeed Lesina's of 1899. Hinchcliffe, who had the task of attempting in reforming 1% of our criminals we should do work that would to pilot the bill through the Upper Chamber, gave signs of commend itself to every member of the community'i9. complete lack of interest in his handling of it. But this may The contrast with Stevens's remark that have been due to a recognition of the fact that the chances of it was a cruel thing that the parents of the poor child [whom its meeting with the approval of his fellow members were Frisby had killed] should be taxed for the maintenance of her practically negligible, and need not necessarily be a reflection of murderer 60 his own attitude towards capital punishment. Even the support is rather obvious. from the Worker was unimaginative, although unqualified support

Page Eight QueeTlsland Heritage was of course given. Only the Daily Standard made any real At the Labor-in-Politics Convention of 1920, abolition became attempt to deal with the reform in a rational. a~d convincing the leading plank in the Party's Social Reform Programme, but way, for which it received a letter of appreclatlon from ~he once again the elevation was due to legislative recognition having "Melbourne Criminology Society for the Study and PromotIOn been given to the reform previously ahead of it. Nevertheless, of the Best Means of Prevention and Cure of Crime" 66. the fact that abolition maintained its position in relation to the Some excuse may, however, be offered for this failure to other desired social reforms (such as hospital nationalization, attempt to give statistical or other practical forms of support which in 1920 became second on the list) would indicate that to the abolitionists' argument, for it may be argued (but was it was still considered a reform of no mean importance by the not) that, given that the taking of human life is wrong, the Labor Party. onus of proof that capital punishment is necessary is thrown on those advocating retention because of its alleged deterrent The Second Attempt-1922. value. If the abolitionists' case is difficult if not impossible to In 1921, sufficient supporters were nominated to the Legislative prove factuaIly, the retentionists' is equally so. Council to allow for the passage through that Chamber of a Both the Courier and the Opposition dealt fairly rationally self-abolishing bill, and 1922 saw the opening of the first with the bill, but rejected it as either a dangerous experiment unicameral Parliament in Queensland. A further indication of or as unnecessary, since Labor obviously would not hang anyone, both the importance placed on abolition by Labor and the and insufficient reasons had been given as to why the hands absence of strong public opposition to it is seen in the fact of subsequent Governments should be tied by such a bill. Appel that, although only existing in Parliament on a slim majority, gave consideration to the various European states which had the Government immediately introduced a bill to abolish capital abolished capital punishment and decided (rightly or wrongly punishment when the 1922 Parliamentary Session opened. it is not here argued) that only in Italy had there been a The Daily Standard, although warning that subsequent decline in the murder rate. The reason for this, he with only a bare majority over its combined opponents, with a concluded, lay in the fact that life in solitary confinement had difficult financial position to face consequent of the war's aftermath been made the alternative punishment there. Since he believed and bad times, and knowing the fickleness of an electorate that is that such would be as powerful a deterrent as hanging, he influenced by the Capitalist Press more than by anything else, the Queensland Labor Party h::s undoubtedly to consider each of its agreed to support the bill if the appropriate amendment was moves carefully 72, made by the Government 67. This was completely unacceptable to the Labor penal reformers in the House who were strongly nevertheless warmly approved of the reintroduction of the bill 73. opposed to solitary confinement. The other speakers from the Opposition, Tolmie, Barnes, Vowles, C. E. Roberts and Macarthy, It would seem, however, that some doubts may have been Ms.L.A., and Leahy, Fowles, Parnell, and Fahey, Ms.L.C., felt by the Government earlier in the year as to the general offered no such compromise. Support for the measure did reaction of the people towards the bill 74, for, when the child come in the Legislative Council from Dr Taylor, who argued murderer Ross was hanged in Melbourne in April of that year, that killing the body merely freed the evil mind from its earthly the Worker carried a feature article advocating the abolition of containment and allowed it to move at will on a higher level, where it was better able to exercise an evil influence on the minds of others. Less harm, he argued, would be caused if the mind were kept captive in the body of the prisoner, who could be locked away out of contact with other people. He concluded rather disappointedly by saying: "I do not think I have altered Hon. members' views on the matter" 68. At all events he seems to have been correct in that. The public generally did not seem to have been greatly interested in the bill or in its defeat, for the conscription issue was stealing most of the political lime-light at the time. No doubt the fact that there had been no execution since September 1913, and none which had created great publicity since 1909, also had something to do with this general apathy. The Great War, too, would have tended to make death less novel and, consequently, less unacceptable than had been the case in Queensland previously. An important feature of the reaction to the bill was the fact that no opposition to the proposed reform came from the judiciary, although the Supreme Court judges had not previously (in 1915) been slow to give vent to public criticism of any Government action affecting the law, nor were they to be so in subsequent years 69. It would seem reasonable to conclude then, that no great opposition to abolition existed in the members of the Bench. However a knowledge that the Legislative Council would reject the bill might well have done something towards suppressing moderate opposition if such existed 70. Despite this lack of opposition, the fact that the bill had been rejected by the Legislative Council was never used by the Government in its campaign against that body prior to the referendum seeking the public's support for abolition of the Upper House but this does no more than show that abolition was not of much public

! ... -- .. concern. In any case, the bill's defeat, unlike the defeat in __~G.'''l'''dl- the Council of other bills, caused no alteration of Government administrative policy, as all death sentences continued to be CIVILISATION. commuted by the Executive Council as previously 71. 'Civilisation', taken from The Worker 27 Apr 1922.

Queensland Heritage Page Nine capital punishment and displayed a cartoon depicting the horror REFERENCES. of executions on its front page 75. The ground, so far as 1. Griffith, Sir Samuel Walker (1845-1920), first entered the Queensland Unionists and Labor supporters generally were concerned, was Legislative Assembly in 18~2 as member fOF East Moreton, and thus prepared for the bill. remained in Parliament untIl 1893, representlllg the electorates of On 20 July, the bill passed the Second Reading debate by East Moreton, Oxley and North Brisbane, during w~ich time he was Premier and Chief Secretary, and held the portf~hos of Attorney­ a vote of 33 to 30, and the Governor's assent was received on General, Public Instruction, Public Works, Col~nlal Secretary and 1 August. Once again little public interest was shown in the Postmaster-General. Griffith became ~remier III Nov 1883 af~er matter, although two hostile letters were received and published defeating Sir Thomas McIlwraith and III 1886 also became Chief by the Courier from H. B. Challinor, who mayor may not Secretary. He remained Premier until 1888 when ~e became Lead~r of the Opposition after being def,:a~ed by. McIl~ralth. How~ver, III have been a relation of H. B. M. Challinor, Secretary to the 1890 Griffith formed a new ministry III which McIlwralth was Police Commissioner and son of the famous Dr Henry Challinor Colonial Treasurer their differences apparently having been resolved. a former M.L.A. He received no support from other corre­ This situation last~d until 1893 when Griffith was appoi~ted Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland and McIlwralth formed spondents at the time 76, however, and claimed: his own ministry. Griffith was Lieutenant-Governor of Queensland It amazes me that proper public feeling has not vindicated itself by from 1899 until 1903 when he relinquished both this post and that challenging this Abolition Bill ~ a repudiation of Griffith's Code 77 of Chief Justice to become the first Chief Justice of the High Court Strong and bitter criticism did, however, come from the of Australia, a position he held until 1919. A man .of. extensive legal background, Griffith drafted the Queenslan~ Cnmmal. Code Courier and the Opposition, especially its more junior members. which became law in 1899, and he was a major force III the The Courier ran two hostile editorials, the first of which claimed: drafting of what was later to be the Federal Constitution. For his Obviously the reason why the Government is in such a desperate services to the State and to the evolving Commonwealth, he was hurry to abolish the death penalty is because the Socialist Conference, created a K.C.M.G. in 1886, a G.C.M.G. in 1895, and a Privy controlled by extremists, has demanded it. The people who utter Councillor in 1901. treason against their country ... naturally want the extreme penalty 2. Griffith to Attorney-General, 29 Oct 1897. [Justice Department removed. There seems to be more in this than is seen on the in-letter 4544/1898. JUS/A116] surface 78. 3. Lesina, Vincent Bernard Joseph (1870-1955). Lesina was born at It later concluded that Araluen, in the N.S.W. goldfields, and was employed in his youth the Government has pandered to extremism on the one hand, and successively at a sawmill, as a bill poster, as a tailor's assistant, as maudlin sentimentality on the other 79. a seaman, as a newsboy and as an apprentice signwriter. He later entered journalism, and worked for the Sydney Worker, the Orange The importance of revenge as an element of capital punishment Leader, the Gloucester Gazette and the Weekly News. In 1896 he was also argued by the Courier which warned that, if ruthless came to Queensland where he edited the Charters Towers Eagle. murderers were not executed, lynch law, so common in the He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Clermont on 11 Mar 1899, and served until 27 Apr 1912. He was a Labor member U.S.A., might become prevalent in Queensland. Such a fear until the 1900s, when he fell out with the party. He retired to would seem to have been groundless as lynchings had been Sydney where he died on 14 Jul 1955, practically unheard of in Queensland hitherto and were to 4. Glassey, Thomas (1844-1936), was the first Labor representative in remain so. the Queensland Parliament after being elected to the seat of Bundanba in 1888. He was not re-elected in 1893, but he returned to The change in attitude of the Courier from its reasoned Parliament in 1894 after a by-el~tion in the electorate of Burke. opposition in 1916 may have been due to the facts that in Glassey stood for the seat of Bundaberg in 1896, and represented 1922 there was no Upper Chamber which could be relied on that electorate until 1901 when he was elected to the Federal Senate to defeat the measure, and that there had been a change in as one of the original six Queensland Senators. Although he was the first Queensland Labor M.L.A., he had broken his relationship its editorship. Again, hatred of the Labor Government by its with official Labor by 1900. opponents after "seven years of caucusism" was greater than 5. Fitzgerald, Charles Borromeo, represented Mitchell in the Legislative had been the case after the Ryan Government had been only Assembly from 1896 until 1903. He was the son of the former a year in office. In view too of the Theodore Government's member for Kennedy, T. Henry Fitzgerald. Charles Fitzgerald, one slim majority in Parliament, it was not unreasonable to expect of the few legal men in the Labor Party at the time, was Attorney­ General in the Dawson ministry, the first Labor Government of that any opportunity for criticising Government legislation would Queensland, which lasted only seven days. be eagerly seized. 6. An indication of the fact that Lesina's was a hopeless cause in 1899 Of the Opposition members in the Assembly, only Appel, is given by the fact that the Courier made no attempt to rebut his whose mind was still "fairly evenly balanced on the question" 80, arguments favouring abolition, presumably on the basis that it was inconceivable that anyone would be seriously influenced by them. made any real attempt to deal rationally with the bill. The It contented itself with commenting that "it had been rumored he leaders of the two Opposition Groups (Vowles for the Country was good for four hours ~ the surprise is that he finished in half Party and Taylor for the Nationalists) set the tone of debate the time". Courier 28 Sept 1899. and, like those of most abolitionists, their arguments for retention 7. Jt is interesting to note that Lesina and later socialist reformers in were similarly based on emotion rather than reason. Taylor this field never at any stage allowed that the State should have the right to do what the individual should not do~kill another man. No considered that "the death penalty is quite good enough for all-powerful monolithic state for them, it would seem. ruffianly scoundrels" 81, while Vowles declared that 8. Q.P.D. (1899), Vol. LXXXII pp. 152-160, inter alia. the object of imposing penalties is to deter, and the punishment must fit the crime ... Murderers are a cancer on society and there 9. Q.P.D. (1899). Vol. LXXXII p. 160. is only one thing to do ~ that is to get them out of the road. 10. D. P. Crook, "Queensland Politics: 1910-1915" unpublished 3rd year Such a man should be made an example of to the people in History Thesis, University of Queensland, 1953. general 82. 11. For i~stance, the Worker (1 June .1901), when commenting on the Similarly, McGregor, although admitting that fear of capital executiOn of a Kanaka, contented Itself with the following sarcasm: punishment did not always deter murderers, asked: "The Queensland Cabinet helped ruin the sugar Industry by 'hanging a Kanaka on Monday and the Courier did not protest. If the Are [they] not worthy of capital punishment anyway? 83 Government go on hanging Kanakas like this, there is grave danger Both the Worker and the Daily Standard welcomed the of Queensland becoming a white man's land." reform, however, with the Worker, now edited by "Jack" 12. W. R. Johnston, "A Study in the Relationship between the Law. Hanlon 84. showing a marked improvement on its 1916 efforts. the State, and the Community in Colonial Queensland" unpublished At the Labor-in-Politics Convention in 1923, the reform was M.A. Thesis, University of Queensland, 1965, p. 182. ' specifically mentioned in both President Demaine's Address 13. Courier, 6 Nov 1901, is the basis for most of this. and the Report of the Queensland Central Executive, in which 14. Collings, Joseph Silver (1865-1955), was first elected to the Central it was ranked as the second most important legislative enactment Political Executi-:e (C ..~.E.) of the. Labor Party in Queensland at ~he 1905 Labor-Ill-Pohtl~s ConventiOn and gained similar selection since the 1920 Convention 85. "Others" had indeed come to III 1913 .and 1918. Dunng the 1900s Collings was active in several carry on from where Joe Lesina left off. metropolitan Workers' Political Organizations (W.P.Os) and in 1906

Page Ten Queensland Heritage became president of the Social Democratic Vanguard, a b~dy was apparently defeated, but returned to Parlia~ent in 1904. as established to promote the Workers' knowledge and understandmg M.L.A. for Fortitude Valley, a seat he held until 1916. DUrIng of the principles of socialism. He was State Organizer of the AL.P. the term of Kidston government he wa~ leader of the Labor in Queensland, 1917-31, and stood, unsuccessfully, for election to the opposition and was later Home Secretary m the Ryan government Legislative Assembly three times before being nominated in 1920, of 1915. to the Legislative Council where he remained until its abolition in 35. According to Lesina, there was a number of Ms.L.A (probably 1922. In 1931 he was elected to the federal Senate, and in 1935 Labor members, but he did not specifically say s.o) who ~trongly became Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. He held the post objected to the Executive's decision to hang PatrIck Kenmff, ?ut of Minister for the Interior in the Curtin Government. 1941-45, and they were reluctant to take a public stand on the matter. Lesm.a retired from politics in 1950. was particularly harsh in his criticism of them because of thiS 15. Kenna, Francis, represented Bowen in the Legislative Assembly, reluctance. 1902-1909, as a Labor member of Parliament. 36. Kerr, George, represented Barcoo from 1893 to 1909. H~ began 16. Boote, H. E., edited the Worker from Jan 1902 to April 1911. He his political career as a member of the Labor Party, but m 1~07 had previously been editor of the Bundaberg Guardian in 1894, and he became Secretary for Railways in the Kidsto.n gover!1~ent .w~lch in 1896 he helped to found the Gympie Truth. After leaving the lasted for five months until Philp became PremIer. PhIlp s m~mstry Brisbane Worker he joined the staff of the Sydney Worker which lasted only three months and Kerr became Secretary fo!' RaIlways he edited after 1914. and Public Works when Kidston again became PremIer. Kerr, 17. Worker, 6 Dec 1902. along with five other Minister&, resigned when Kidston united with 18. Courier, 11 Dec 1902. Philp at the end of 1908 and lost his seat in the election of 1909. 19. It was called a "class" jury by the Worker (2 Dec 1902) because 37. Courier, 26 May 1904. only property owners or business men could be empanelled for a 38. Forsyth, M.L.A quoted in the Courier, 9 June 1904. special jury, while others pointed to the fact that only two of the 39. Worker, 28 May 1904. 72 on the jury list were Catholics - the religion of the Kenniffs. ~n 20. Worker, 27 Dec 1902. 40. Reid, Matthew, became the Labor M.L.A for Toowong 1893 and was defeated in 1896. He returned to Parliament 10 1899 21. Philp, Sir Robert (1851-1922), became the M.L.A for Musgrave in after by-election in the seat of Enoggera, but was not returned 1886 although in 1888 he was elected to the seat of Townsville in the 1902 elections. He later became a Commonwealth Senator. which he held until his defeat in 1915. In 1893 he achieved ministerial rank in the McIlwraith government with the portfolios 41. Hinchcliffe, Albert, was a prominent trade unionist who was of Mines and Public Works and was a member of the Nelson, appointed to the Legislative Council for life by the Morgan govern­ Byrnes and Dickson ministries as Secretary for Public Instruction, ment in 1904. He represented Labor interests in that House until Mines, Public Works, Railways, and as Treasurer. After defeating its dissolution in 1922. the short-lived Labor government of Dawson, Philp formed his own 42. J. S. Collings was another of the eleven men elected to the C.P.E. ministry, becoming Premier in Dec 1899. Until his defeat in 1903, by the Convention. Philp, in addition to being Premier, was at various stages Treasurer, 43. Hardacre, Herbert Freemont (?-1938), was elected the Labor member Secretary for Mines, Chief Secretary and Home Secretary. He for Leichhardt in 1893 and remained in that seat until 1919. He returned to the Premiership in 1907 but this lasted only three was Secretary for Public Lands and for Agriculture in the Dawson months and he remained in the Legislative Assembly until 1915 Labor government and was also a minister in the Ryan government when he was defeated. He was also leader of the Constitution from 1915 to 1919. Subsequently, he became a member of the Defence Committee set up in 1917 to oppose Labor Party plans Land Court of Queensland until he reached the age limit. for the abolition of the Legislative Council. 44. Courier. 13 Jul 1905. 22. A lie, but no doubt good politics. 45. Courier, 15 Jul 1906. 23. Courier, 3 Jan 1903. 46. Courier, 22 Jul 1906. 24. Courier, 6 Jan 1903. 47. Courier, 15 Jul 1906. 25. Courier, 12 Jan 1903. 48. Worker, 5 June 1909. 26. Courier, 12 Jan 1903. 49. Including some who had been in Parliament earlier. 27. Courier, 13 Jan 1903. 50. Seymour, Charles, who had been sub-editor of the Worker under 28. M. O'Sullivan, Cameos of Crime, Jackson & O'Sullivan, Brisbane, Boote was its editor from April 1911 to July 1915. He had been 2nd. ed., 1947, pp. 155-6. Secretary of the Queensland branch of the Federated Seamen's 29. Indeed, "old timers" may still be found who profess a belief in Union of Australasia. the innocence of both brothers, although the evidence against Patrick, 51. Courier, 7 June 1909. given a better Government handling of the situation, would almost certainly have been sufficient to have soon removed any lasting 52. Worker, 12 June 1909. doubts as to his guilt. 53. Worker, 12 June 1909. 30'. Worker, 20 Jul 1902. 54. Worker, 12 June, 1909. 31. Fihelly, John Arthur, represented Paddington in the Legislative 55. Worker, 12 June 1909. Assembly from 1915 to 1922 during which time he was a Minister 56. No information has been found as to the composItion or function without portfolio in Ryan's Labor Government and achieved Cabinet of this League. It was apparently formed in Brisbane either during rank in 1918. He was Attorney-General for a short time in 1920 the campaign on behalf of Ross or soon after his execution. The and resigned from Parliament in 1922 to become Queensland's press at the ,time appears to have made no mention of its formation Agent-General. He resigned as Agent-General in 1924 and dropped and the only reference the present writer has found to it was in out of public life. a letter to the Courier in 1912, complaining that the League had 32. This change in attitude by the Worker since 1901 is not really too been so inactive. surprising, for, not only had the fear of Kanaka competition been 57. Maughan, William John Ryott, was the Labor M.L.A. for Burnett, greatly reduced by December 1902, but also Boote, the new editor, 1896-1899, and re-entered the Assembly in 1904 representing Ipswich. was, like most early Labor socialists, and indeed most of the In 1908 he became Chairman of Committees in the Legislative Members of the Movement, of strong pacifist tendencies, being Assembly. He left the House in 1912 and was elected a federal opposed to war and killing in general. It was likely, then, that Senator in 1913. opposition to capital punishment would soon be forthcoming from 58. (1912) Vol. CXII, p. 1946. such a man. Indications of this pacifist tendency and the obvious Q.P.D. application of it to capital punishment are seen clearly in the 59. Q.P.D. (1912) Vol. CXII, p. 1946. The Secretary for Public following two extracts from the Worker, both before and after Instruction (Blair) gave similar views in 1914 when dealing with Boote became editor: the Criminal Code Amendment Bill of that year. He had been By and by we will not enter in the list of heroes and give titles the Attorney-General when the case of the Macdonalds had been to the man who needlessly kills another man. (27 Apr 1901) consi~ered, but had been dr?pped from the Kidston Cabinet by The Labor Movement [stands for] a kingdom based on social the time of the Ross case In 1909. He was appointed to the and economic iustice, in which 'Thou shalt not kill' means that Supreme Court in 1922 by the Theodore Government and was not only individuals, but governments shall not shed human blood. later Chief Justice. (14 Dec 1901). 60. Q.P.D. (1912) Vol. CXII, p. 1946. 33. T. O'Sullivan. "Reminiscences of the Queensland Parliament (1903­ 61. J. Larcombe, Notes on the Political History of the Labor MOI'emellt 1915)", p. 41 (unpublished, held in Oxley Library). in Qld, Worker Press, Brisbane, 1934, p. 78. 34. Bowman. David, entered the Assembly as the Labor member for 62. The Courier offered no particular hostility to the measure at this Warrego in 1899 and remained its member until 1902 when he stage, but reference was made to it by way of a general criticism

Queensland Heritage Page Eleven of the Government's intended policy, viz. 'Trivial matters, like the 70. No c~iticism of abolition appears in Deputy Police Commissioner abolition of the death penalty, are not going to help the Empire O'SullIvan's book Cameos of Crime either although he is quite in its struggle". Courier, 23 J ul 1916. scathing in his criticism of juries (especially when lenient towards 63. Pollock, George (?-1939), entered Parliament in 1915 after a prisoners), politicians, police training methods, and sympathy with by-election in Gregory. A Labor representative, he retained the criminals generally. seat until his death in 1939. In the Legislative Assembly, he held 71. The Judiciary made no protest against this practice either. the positions of Chairman of Committees (1924-29) and Speaker 72. Daily Standard, 4 Jul 1922. (1932-39). 73. It was the first bill rejected previously by the Legislative Council 64. Larcombe, James, became the Labor M.L.A. for Keppel in 1912 to be reintroduced into the unicameral parliament. and held that seat until 1929. In 1932, he was re-elected to 74. Capital punishment had not been a public issue for some seven the Assembly in the Rockhampton electorate and remained there years. until his retirement in 1956. During his time in Parliament he 75. Worker, 27 Apr 1922. held numerous portfolios. 76. A correspondent, whose letters appeared in the Courier, 12 Aug 65. McPhail, H. G., represented Windsor for the Labor party from 1922, gave passing criticism to the fact of abolition. 1915 to 1918 when he was defeated in the election by Charles Taylor. He was subsequently nominated to the Legislative Council 77. Courier, 27 Jul 1922. in 1920. 78. Courier, 13 Jul 1922. 66. Daily Standard, 27 Sep 1916. 79. Courier, 24 Jul 1922. 67. Under the bill the punishment for the former capital offences was 80. Q.P.D. (1922) Vol. CXXXIX, p. 402. He had said the same in 1916. to be life imprisonment, a sentence which the judge was to have 81. Ibid, p. 466. n:> power to mitigate. That, of course, would not have affected the Government's power to exercise the prerogative of mercy. 82. Ibid, p. 398. The law today in Queensland is as was envisaged in this bill. 83, Ibid, p. 409. 68. Q.P,D. (1916-1917), Vol. CXXIII, p. 1035. 84. Hanlon, E. 1. ("Jack"J. entered the Legislative Assembly in 1924 69. E.g. the release of certain criminals contrary to, and on one as the Labor member for Ithaca, and was at some stage editor occasion without seeking, the advice of the trial judge, the jury of the Worker. system, the Crown Defenders Department, and the administration 85. I.e. next to the abolition of the Legislative Council and ahead of of the Police Department all came under criticism from various the Brisbane Tramways Trust Act which was placed third in members of the Supreme Court Bench during the 1915-20 period. imporlance.

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