Ronald Ryan
| Ronald Ryan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 February 1925 Carlton, Australia |
| Died | 3 February 1967 (aged 41) HM Prison Pentridge, Coburg, Victoria |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Criminal status | Executed by hanging |
| Spouse(s) | Dorothy Janet (née George) |
| Parent(s) | John and Cecilia (née Young) Ryan |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
Ronald Joseph Ryan (21 February 1925 – 3 February 1967) was the last person to be legally executed in Australia. Ryan was found guilty of shooting and killing warder George Hodson during an escape from Pentridge Prison, Victoria, in 1965. Ryan's hanging was met with some of the largest public protests in the history of Australia and led to the end of capital punishment. The death penalty was abolished in 1985.
Ronald Edmond Thompson was born at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne's inner suburb of Carlton, to John Ronald Ryan and Cecilia Thompson (née Young). Cecilia already had a son with her first husband George Harry Thompson and was living with John Ryan. Cecilia and George had separated in 1915 when George left to fight in the Great War. The relationship never resumed. Cecilia met John Ryan while working as a nurse in Woods Point where he was suffering lung disease. They formed a relationship in 1924 and later married in 1929, after Thompson's death in 1927 by falling from a tram and getting hit by a car. Ryan then adopted the name Ronald Edmond Ryan. In 1936 Ryan was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church. He took as his confirmation name Joseph, becoming Ronald Edmond Joseph Ryan. He did not like Edmond and from then on used "Ronald Joseph Ryan".
Following the theft of a watch from a neighbour's house at Mitcham in November 1936, the plight of the Ryan children was brought to the attention of the state welfare authorities. Ronald was sent to Rupertswood, the Salesian Order's school for orphaned, wayward and neglected boys in Sunbury. His three sisters were made wards of the state a year later when authorities declared them to be "neglected". His sisters were sent to the Good Shepherd Convent in Collingwood. Ryan absconded from Rupertswood in September 1939 and, with his half-brother George Thompson, worked in and around Balranald, New South Wales; spare money earned from sleeper cutting and kangaroo shooting was sent to his mother, who was looking after their sick, alcoholic father.
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