The execution platform loomed atop 13 heavy, wooden steps. Elizabeth Lillian Woolcock – barely 25 and shivering in a flimsy, white government-issue gown – waited below.
Then came the order to climb the steps. Woolcock complied and, at exactly 8am on December 30, 1873, a masked executioner slipped a dense, black hood over her head, and a noose around her neck. Before she could finish a prayer, the floor beneath her suddenly snapped open.
Woolcock – sentenced to death for the wilful murder of her husband, Thomas – hung by the rope convulsing violently for several minutes until she finally died. As custom required, authorities left her dead body suspended for one hour. She was the only woman ever hanged in the Adelaide Gaol.
Debate has raged over Woolcock’s sentence for 131 years. For her conviction - which arose out of circumstantial evidence - did she deserve to hang?
From her very beginnings, Elizabeth Lillian Woolcock (née Oliver), lived a harsh life. She and her family fell victims to a flash-flood, which left them with nothing.
