Crime and punishment: a history of Bendigo's law and order

Crime and
punishment:
a history of
Bendigo’s law
and order
1

a satellite space of
Bendigo Art Gallery
42 View Street
Bendigo, Victoria 3550
Australia
www.bendigoartgallery.com.au
Published 2014
Copyright © Bendigo Art Gallery 2014
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process
without prior written permission.
Typeset and printed in Australia by Bendigo Modern Press
www.bmp.com.au
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Bloomfield, Simone
Crime and punishment : a history of Bendigo’s law and order
Simone Bloomfield ; introduction by Karen Quinlan; photographer, Ian Hill.
ISBN: 9780949215772 (paperback)
Criminal justice, Administration of--Victoria--Bendigo--History.
Crime--Victoria--Bendigo--History. Punishment--Victoria--Bendigo--History.
Bendigo (Vic.)--Social conditions.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Quinlan, Karen
Hill, Ian
364.99454
Exhibition venue:
Post Office Gallery, 51-67 Pall Mall, Bendigo 3550.
Exhibition dates:
22 August – 30 November 2014
Post Office Gallery and Bendigo Art Gallery are proudly
owned and operated by the City of Greater Bendigo.
Media sponsor
Terry Naughtan
Bendigo Magistrates’ Court
1994
gelatin silver print
Collection Bendigo
Magistrates’ Court
archives
2

Crime and
punishment:
a history of
Bendigo’s law
and order
1

2

Introduction
Augustus Baker
Pierce
active Bendigo
1850s-60s
Benjamin Pierce
Batchelder
Police Barracks,
Camp Reserve,
Sandhurst, from
north-east
1862
Commissioned by
Sandhurst Town
Council for the
1862 London
International
Exhibition.
Reproduced from
An American on
the Goldfields,
M Butcher & Y
Collins, p.87
Crime and punishment: a history
of Bendigo’s law and order is an
exhibition that investigates the social
history surrounding the evolution
of Bendigo’s justice system. The
discovery of gold in the region
resulted in an influx of people which
in turn led to a dramatic increase
in crime. Opium smoking, slygrogging,
high tensions between
races and corrupt troopers meant
legal reform was critical. This
exhibition and catalogue discusses
key Bendigo institutions such as
the court house, police barracks
and lock-ups. Humanity’s darker
side is also examined and the more
notorious crimes of the 1800s and the
subsequent executions are highlighted.
This exhibition will offer residents
and visitors the opportunity to further
understand the evolution of Bendigo’s
legal systems and the precinct and the
significant historical input made by
local gentlemen to help shape order in
the region.
Post Office Gallery is a unique
social history space with an annual
program of changing exhibitions.
Each exhibition provides the
opportunity to work with local and
state organisations and collecting
institutions as well as private
collectors. An exhibition such as
Crime and punishment: a history of
Bendigo’s law and order would not have
been possible without the support of
Barry Phillips, Bendigo Historical
Society, Bendigo Magistrates’ Court,
Bendigo Police Station, Bendigo
Regional Archives Centre (BRAC)
in particular Dr Michele Matthews,
Darren Wright, Dennis O’Hoy,
Dr Peter Wearne, Eaglehawk Heritage
Society, Fiona Maw, Major Projects
Planner, City of Greater Bendigo,
Public Records Office of Victoria
(PROV), Victoria Police Museum
Melbourne, and those individuals
who prefer to remain anonymous. My
sincere thanks go to these institutions
and individuals for their generous
contribution.
Thank you also to the Bendigo
Heritage Representative Group for
their ongoing support of Post Office
Gallery.
Thank you to Simone Bloomfield,
Curator, City History and Collections
for curating this exhibition and for
her ongoing coordination of Post
Office Gallery operations, and the
technical team of Bendigo Art Gallery
for their continued support. A special
acknowledgment must also be made
of the significant contribution of
our wonderful team of Post Office
Gallery volunteers who assist in
bringing the exhibitions at this venue
to life through their interactions with
visitors.
KAREN QUINLAN
DIRECTOR, BENDIGO ART GALLERY
3

Crime and punishment:
a history of Bendigo’s
law and order
4
Alice Panton
1863-1960
Police
Magistrate JA
Panton (detail)
1901
oil on canvas
Collection
Bendigo Art
Gallery
Gift of Mr JA
Panton, 1902
1902.1
Since European settlement, the term
‘law and order’ has been recognised
as a way of life – and ideally society
would be ordered and lawful.
However, in reality, our everyday
existence is regularly infiltrated by
crime and undesirable actions. The
Victorian gold rush of the 1850s was
certainly no exception. In its early
years, Sandhurst, now Bendigo, 1
was a relatively unlegislated society.
The small, undeveloped community
rapidly expanded with a flood of
hopeful diggers seeking to make their
fortunes. The huge influx of settlers
from diverse backgrounds led to
heightened anxieties and a dramatic
increase in crime. Diggers were
required to purchase a license to enter
the goldfields. At 30 shillings each
(which would have been equivalent
to two to three weeks wages for the
average male), the license proved
both infuriating and problematic for
each digger. Diggers were forced
to pay this fee whether they were
successful or not. The Red Ribbon
Rebellion was in direct response to
a colonial government creating a
revenue-generating system by forcing
each digger to buy a license. This
revenue was then used to police the
goldfields, purportedly to reinforce
law and order; however the majority
was spent controlling opium smoking
and sly-grogging. In response to the
self-governing spirit of the goldfields,
there was a strong desire for responsible
government and legal reform. With
urgency, a group of distinguished
Bendigo men with great legal minds
implemented a range of measures to
create order in the region. Among
many others, Lachlan MacLaughlan,
Joseph Anderson Panton, Sir John
Quick and Barkly Hyett were
forerunners in the implementation
and organisation of Bendigo’s legal
development. Bendigo’s recognisable
institutions of law and order included
the police, the court and what was then
the prison. From humble beginnings as
a tent, today the Bendigo Law Court
stands as one of the most architecturally
refined public buildings in Bendigo.
The gaol developed from an appalling
iron box through to ultimately
providing the concept for several other
major goldfields gaols. The gaol itself
was the centre of some of Bendigo’s
most notorious stories.
Drawing on the archives of various
local individual collectors and groups,
Crime and punishment: a history of
Bendigo’s law and order briefly explores
the social history surrounding the
evolution of the legal districts of the
wider Bendigo community.

5

‘The troopers’
frustration was
evidenced through
their appalling
treatment of the
diggers’.
6
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
It is not possible to examine the
history of law and order in Bendigo
without mention of the significant
Red Ribbon Rebellion. It was in 1851
that the Bendigo goldrush officially
began when a huge influx of people
‘... camping in hordes, turning over
the land; changing the face of the
landscape forever’ 2 arrived in central
Victoria. The Victorian Government
scrambled to try to control – and
benefit financially – from the
population boom. Proclamations
were written and signed into law
that, among other stipulations, stated
‘… no person will be permitted to
dig, search for, or remove gold, on
or from any land, whether public
or private, without … a license …
the license fee has been fixed at one
pound ten shillings per month’. 3
The authorities were swift to arrest
those who did not have the required
license, chaining the offenders to
‘the logs’. It did not take long before
this hardline approach caused much
opposition and dissatisfaction within
diggers’ ranks. With 5000 to 6000
diggers arriving on the goldfields
every week, the population had
exploded. The licensing issue became
both aggravating for the diggers
and irritating for the troopers. The
troopers’ frustration was evidenced
through their appalling treatment of
the diggers ‘… dragging men up from
their pits … burn[ing] down tents
and rop[ing] men together like dogs’ 4 .
‘Digger hunting’ 5 as it was referred
to, became so unrestrained and brutal
that regardless of their backgrounds,
all diggers joined forces. ‘They had a
common grievance, against which they
cried out in one voice’. 6
After the announcement that the
license fee would increase yet again,
more than 14,000 diggers called
a meeting and collectively made
a stand – they would not pay the
license fee. When the Government
sent in reinforcements by the way
of more troops, the diggers simply
outnumbered them and forced the
Government to give in. When the
authorities tried to impose duty
fees on gold the resulting uproar
caused them to yield once again.
By 1853, two years after the initial
‘great meeting of diggers’ 7 , the stance
initiated by the diggers was gaining
momentum. Intimidation by the police
and unjust licensing fees continued
until eventually a petition was
prepared which included thousands
of signatures collected from across the
goldfields. This 30 metre petition was
taken to Melbourne and presented to
His Excellency, Lieutenant Governor

Charlie Abbold
Life on the diggings
1851-1854
ink on paper
Collection State
Library New
South Wales
DL PX 54
7

8

‘Among its pioneers Bendigo
had a nucleus of men of
extraordinary talent …
Standing tall among the men
of outstanding ability … was
Lachlan McLachlan, the
most famous of the goldfields
magistrates’.
Wake E Cook
1843–1926
Lachlan McLachlan
c1871
oil on canvas
Collection Bendigo
Art Gallery
0000.4
La Trobe. Twelve days later the diggers
were informed that the petition had
failed. Their requests had been denied
and instead more police were posted.
Finally, the Red Ribbon Rebellion
began on 27 August 1853. The diggers
decided to wear a red ribbon on
their hats ‘as a sign that those who
wore it were pledged no longer to
pay the old license-fee’. 8 Refusing
to pay and with numbers on their
side, the diggers claimed victory. After
violence and blood-shed occurred
on the Ballarat goldfields known as
the Eureka Stockade, an inquiry was
finally conducted. Recommendations
were made in favour of the diggers
across all townships. The license fee
was eradicated and mining courts were
introduced so that the Rights of diggers
were upheld. Essentially, the Bendigo
movement was a stepping stone that led
to the development of rights and new
laws to protect the diggers, resulting in
a more democratic community.
LEGAL EAGLES
‘Among its pioneers Bendigo had
a nucleus of men of extraordinary
talent … Standing tall among the men
of outstanding ability … was Lachlan
McLachlan (1810–1885), the most
famous of the goldfields magistrates’. 9
First stationed at Castlemaine, he
became affectionately known as
Bendigo Mac once he arrived in
Bendigo in 1853 to become the third
Police Magistrate on the goldfields. 10
Bendigo Mac is credited to have
removed some of the worst criminals
from the area, and with cleaning up
the police ranks. His fierce reputation
was famous. One noteworthy practice
that helped earn this reputation
involved the popular ‘phrenology’
theory. Whether he believed in the
pseudoscience or not, McLachlan
attempted to adopt this theory to aid
in diagnosing criminal tendencies.
When a defendant was before the
court, he would ask them to turn
around so he could take a look at his
back. Bendigo Mac would survey
him for a moment or two, followed
by an exclamation, ‘now sir, you can’t
deceive me, sir, you are from the
other side sir – you are a Tasmanian
convict’. 11 He would have them
believe he could read their criminal
history from the lumps on the back
of their heads. It became a clever
and powerful ploy, one for which he
became renowned.
McLachlan said himself, he had ‘…
an arduous task in the early years, with
little real help, to keep order in the
infant town.’ 12 He was one of only a
few magistrates willing to pursue the
rampant sly-grog problem. McLachlan
9

‘One of Bendigo’s
greatest legal
minds, that of Sir
John Quick, helped
frame the Australian
constitution’.
was a Police Magistrate for Bendigo
for almost 20 years, working on the
bench at Eaglehawk and Bendigo from
Monday to Saturday. He ‘… did not
write the law, but tried to execute it
under very trying circumstances …
He certainly left his mark on an infant
Colony, and Sandhurst in particular’. 13
Considered ‘the best Magistrate’, 14 he
retired from the bench in 1871 and
died in 1885.
Working simultaneously with
McLachlan, Joseph Anderson Panton
(1831–1913) initially tried his luck
at gold digging, later applying for a
position as a gold escort. Deemed
too big and heavy for the horses,
he was instead appointed Assistant
Commissioner at Kangaroo Gully
(now Kangaroo Flat) in 1852.
Not long after, he took the Senior
Assistant Commissioner role at
Bendigo in 1853. He then became
Senior Commissioner in 1854
and later, Senior Police Magistrate.
During a time when police were
considered unruly and unfair, Panton
was very popular with his officers
and the miners. He understood the
temper of the diggers. ‘Panton in
Bendigo was … an official keen on
moderation and consultation rather
than confrontation … able to keep a
lid on the … hot-headed diggers for
armed revolution’. 15 He is probably
best remembered for his concern on
behalf of the Chinese population. He
investigated the resentment against
the Chinese gold diggers and felt
it ‘… absolutely necessary for the
Government to appoint “Protectors”’ 16
He also suggested that some of
the Chinese men be appointed as
interpreters to accompany the police
to help with any language barriers.
However, no such government body
was created and instead they imposed
‘… special taxes upon [them] …
deriving a splendid revenue of at least
75,000 pounds yearly … under the
pretense of protecting them [but]
merely pocketing the money’. 17
Panton left Bendigo in 1858, returning
to Scotland and then Paris to study
art. Gittins says of Panton and
McLachlan: ‘largely through the tact
and forbearance of these two men,
Bendigo was spared the riots which
enforcement of similar laws in Ballarat
provoked’. 18
‘One of Bendigo’s greatest legal
minds, that of Sir John Quick, helped
frame the Australian constitution’. 19
Sir John Quick (1852–1932) was one
of the ‘key Victorian ‘missionaries’
for Federation, and a ‘Father’ of the
Australian Constitution. He also had
the ‘distinction of being the first
10

WB McInnes
1889–1939
Sir John Quick
(detail)
c1933-34
oil on canvas
Collection Bendigo
Art Gallery
Gift of Public
Subscription, 1934
1934.1
barrister to present a case in the new
Bendigo Law Courts in 1896’. 20
He spent the 1890s promoting and
writing about the necessity for the
Australian colonies to federate – his
speeches highlighting the awareness
for compromise in order to see
Federation achieved. 21 He was a
crucial supporter of Federation,
and a member of the convention
that drafted the Commonwealth
Constitution. To honour this immense
contribution, Quick was knighted in
1901. Beginning as a journalist with
the Bendigo Independent, then later the
Bendigo Advertiser, he graduated from
the University of Melbourne in 1877
with a law degree. After arriving in
Bendigo at the age of two, he left
in 1873 to commerce his studies at
the University of Melbourne, which
he completed in 1877. He returned
to Sandhurst in 1880 to establish
his own law practice. In the same
year he was elected to the Victorian
Legislative Assembly. Quick practiced
as a barrister for 42 years until his
‘elevation to the Federal Conciliation
and Arbitration Court meant he
could no longer undertake private
practice’. 22 Critical contributions
were made by Quick to Australia’s
Federation movement – ‘he was
the author of the 1893 Corowa
Conference motion; he wrote the
necessary Enabling Bill, and much
Federation literature, notably The
Annotated Constitution of the
Australian Commonwealth’. 23 Sir
John Quick played a pivotal role in
Bendigo’s and Australia’s legal and
constitutional history. His longest
professional partnership – with Barkly
Hyett – commenced in 1892 and
spanned 22 years.
Another leading law man,
Barkly Hyett (1859–1935) was
born at White Hills and became
an important Bendigo Solicitor.
Initially in partnership with Mr JP
Motteram (one of the earliest local
solicitors), he later took over the firm
after Motteram’s death. Hyett was
the president of the Bendigo Law
Association and became the solicitor
to Bendigo City Council, a position
he held for 45 years.
TROOPERS, LOCK-UPS AND LAW
COURTS
‘The first semblance of a permanent
law and order force came with the
establishment of a police camp at
Kangaroo Flat’. 24 This was founded in
mid-1852 under the management of
Assistant Commissioner James Clough
to address the increasing crime rate
brought about by the busy goldfields.
11

12
Unknown maker
Trooper’s boots
1880s
leather
Collection
Eaglehawk
Heritage Society
AW Sudweeks
Ballarat
Bobby police helmet
1838
leather, fabric
lined
Victoria Police
Historical
Collection,
Melbourne
VPM 11267
Robert Adams
1809–1880
Revolver–Adams
patent No 4123S
1860s
wood, steel
Victoria Police
Historical
Collection,
Melbourne
VPM 2801
It was not long before Joseph Panton
was sent to take over this role, soon
becoming Resident Commissioner
based at the headquarters in Rosalind
Park.
The Victoria Police Force was
established in 1853. Consisting of
pioneer policemen, they acted within
the laws of their times, dealing with
colonial settlements. The fledging
force was striving to develop public
admiration in a society born from
convict stock. This was a tall order,
especially for Bendigo, given that the
types of men entering the force were
perceived as lazy and immoral, with
no interest ‘in learning their duties …
having the diggings to fall back on’. 25
At this time there was an unregulated
recruitment of these ‘illiterates,
alcoholics and transported felons’. 26
There has been a great deal written
about the struggles between police and
miners.
…Police [were] drawn from the
labouring classes, untrained, poorly
paid and including many former
convicts and drunks, [they] were
presented by the authorities with
an opportunity to zealously and
substantially increase their incomes
by collecting half-shares of fines.
No better example of a community
getting the police it deserves could
be found than the incentive system
that operated in nineteenth-century
Victoria. 27
It is suggested that police were essential
on the goldfields not to protect, but
rather to quash the diggers. Colonel
Valiant, commander of the military
at Bendigo, described the miners as
‘the most orderly and well-disposed
body that I have ever seen in any
part of the world’. 28 A Goldfields
Commission of Enquiry found that
‘twice as many police as necessary were
deployed on the goldfields, and their
“annoying duties” antagonized the
miners, who in turn upset the police’. 29
Eventually the numbers of police on
the goldfields became so excessive
that police duties were reduced to
tax gathering. Overall, the Victorian
goldfields in 1854 portrayed a sorry
picture of the Victoria Police Force.
‘Excessive numbers of heavily armed
and militaristic police, isolated from the
mining community … engaged almost
solely in the collection of universally
unpopular licence fees’. 30 While the
Force did not have a commendable
reputation in the 1850s, with its
‘instances of corruption, brutality,
inefficiency and maladministration’ 31 ,
it did work toward a more unified
force, determined to develop more
effectiveness.

Unknown photographer
Sir John Quick and Barkly
Hyett in front of Molesworth
Chambers, Bull Street Bendigo
c1892
albumen silver print
Photograph courtesy Robertson Hyetts
Solicitors Bendigo
Sir John Quick (middle right wearing top hat)
Barkly Hyett (beside Quick with shorter hat)

Augustus
Baker Pierce
active Bendigo
1850s-60s for
Benjamin Pierce
Batchelder
Municipal Lock-up,
Market Square,
Sandhurst
albumen silver
print
1862
Commissioned by
Sandhurst Town
Council for the
1862 London
International
Exhibition.
Reproduced from
An American on
the Goldfields,
M Butcher & Y
Collins, p.31
During the gold rush the troopers
camped in timber-framed tents. Later,
built on Camp Hill (Rosalind Park)
in c1859–60 by the public works
department, a two-storey sandstone
building was constructed. Until 1871,
Magistrate Lachlan MacLachlan used
the barracks as the first law courts and
then the police used this building up
until the 1920s. It is one of the oldest
existing buildings in Bendigo and is
historically important as an example
of an early government administration
building on the goldfields.
Before any form of prison or
lock-up existed, wrong-doers and
convicts were initially chained to trees
at Camp Hill. A small log lock up was
soon erected on Camp Hill and was
used as a little prison. In 1855, a new
gaol was constructed. Nicknamed
the ‘camp oven’ or ‘iron box’, it
proved inhumane. The floor, roof
and walls – including the door were
sheet iron. There were no windows.
Later, holes were drilled into the
structure to try and ventilate it. This
did little to improve the situation so
the next step involved covering the
whole structure with weatherboard.
It was notoriously cold in winter
and hot in summer which led to
extreme suffering to the inmates.
On a few occasions Police Magistrate
Bendigo Mac freed prisoners from
‘the oven’. He recognised the callous
conditions of the camp oven and
with ‘promptitude and humane
consideration immediately released the
majority of inmates’. 32 His input was
acknowledged when he received a ‘…
glowing letter of commendation from
the authorities … for his concerned
humanitarianism’. 33 Eventually the
structure was condemned.
In the early 1860s, a municipal
lock-up was constructed alongside
the Town Hall. Because the Police
Magistrate used to preside in the Town
Hall, an adjacent lock-up was required.
‘The Logs’ at Eaglehawk, was built
in 1857 by brothers Charles, John and
William Fly. A wooden log building
with a bark roof, its design was based
on a Canadian log cabin and weighs
about 35 tons. Up to 78 people could
be tightly packed into the 56 foot
building at one time, leaving no room
for anyone to lie down. It was situated
at the rear of the local police station
until it was moved to its present
position behind the Court in 1971 for
historical display purposes. Classified
by the National Trust in 1968, it was
placed on the Victorian Heritage
register in 1998.
Sandhurst Gaol, (Bendigo Gaol),
sometimes referred to as HM
14

Prison Bendigo, is one of Victoria’s
earliest gaols. Built on the crest of
Rosalind Park in 1861–64, it was
used as a prison until 2006 when
it was decommissioned. The design
and layout by Samuel Wright and
CG Ross of Victoria’s Public Works
Department was such that guards
were able to survey the whole area
from one position. Referred to as the
‘panopticon’ principle, it is an example
of the Pentonville prison model
where radiating ‘wings’ or arms were
projected from a central hall. Bendigo
Gaol was one of nine large gaols built
in Victoria at that time based on the
Pentonville radial concept; Ararat,
Ballarat, Beechworth, Castlemaine,
Geelong, Maryborough, Melbourne
and Pentridge. Ararat was the smallest,
Geelong the largest.
Interestingly, during the Second
World War it was utilised as a military
detention centre. Australian military
personnel who had committed
offences were jailed here. Sadly, the
gaol was also sometimes used as an
asylum. Individuals – especially the
elderly and infirm, or members of the
destitute classes – were placed in the
gaol when the Benevolent Asylum was
too crowded. They were cared for at
the expense of the State but having
committed no crime they were still
detained alongside prisoners and thus
treated in a similar fashion. 34
Throughout its lifetime, the
gaol went through numerous
redevelopments – hospital additions,
kitchen upgrades, laundry, boiler
house, exercise facilities and chapel
wings were added over the years.
Unfortunately, the chapel was
destroyed by fire in 1959. The
overall design was characterised by
high walls, circular watch towers,
radiating double-storey cell block,
good natural light and ventilation.
Lyn and Armstrong suggest that the
gaol’s design was highly successful and
eventually its basic design became the
blueprint for other key gaols in the
area. A dungeon was included as part
of the early construction – initially
used for cooking – it was later used
to incarcerate hostile and aggressive
prisoners. Early on, the cells did not
have sewerage, lights or running water
and prisoners were required to empty
their ‘night buckets’ into troughs.
As Raworth notes: ‘the cells were
cramped, without running water or
water closets, and unheated’, 35 and
‘the poor accommodation reflect[ed]
a harsh attitude amongst the colonial
authorities toward the comfort of
prisoners’. 36 Surprisingly, it was not
until the early 1990s that the cell
Ian Hill
Australia 1962
Eaglehawk
log lock-up
2014
15

16
Unknown maker
Leg irons with ball
and chain
1800s
cast iron
Collection
Eaglehawk
Heritage Society
Victorian
Government
Regulations, etc
relating to the penal
establishments and
gaols
1931
bound book
Private collection
blocks were upgraded to include
heating, sewerage and improved
lighting.
The gallows, which were erected in
1876, witnessed three executions in
the late 19th century. Edward Hunter
was hanged in 1885 for the murder of
James Power at East Charlton, William
Harrison in 1889 for the murder of
John Duggan at Elmore and Charles
John Hall in 1897 for the murder of
Minnie Hall in Eaglehawk. All three
were subsequently buried in the
grounds which was standard practice
at the time.
At its peak, up to 100 male and
female prisoners were confined in
the gaol at any one time but by the
time it closed it accommodated
only 22 prisoners. From 1896 all
female prisoners were transferred to
Melbourne to serve time in Pentridge.
The life of a prisoner was not one
of idleness and boredom – detainees
were required to work. Female inmates
were put to task doing needlework,
washing and kitchen duties while
the male prisoners worked in the
vegetable gardens, broke stone for
town works and performed hard
labour working on the roads. Each
criminal was required to wake and
rise on the first bell at 6am, make the
bed and begin work. At 5pm work
ceased and by 6pm all prisoners were
locked into their cells. According
to the regulation book of 1931, the
daily rations for a prisoner at hard
labour included 24 ounces (680 g) of
bread for men, 16 ounces (453 g) for
women. The men received 16 ounces
of meat and the women were given 12
ounces (340 g). Soap was also rationed
at half an ounce (14 g) a day and tea
at a quarter of an ounce (7 g). If the
prisoner happened to be in solitary
confinement, their rations were halved.
Inmates were supplied with a kit of
Government clothing which included,
among other items, a hat, jacket, vest,
trousers, shirts, socks, braces and a
necktie (for winter use). The females
were to wear a ‘one piece wincey
dress in winter and a Scotch twill
dress in summer, with a white apron,
and a washing hat or bonnet … all
underclothing and nightdresses … of
unbleached calico’. 37 The regulations
differed slightly for those prisoners
under sentence of death. If an
execution was pending, the prisoner
was never left without a warder or
attendant – sometimes they were
condemned to irons if the Inspector
General felt it was required. Their
meals were better than the average
prison diet and were often allowed
indulgences such as tea and tobacco.

Currently the historical prison is
undergoing a major refurbishment. A
state-of-the-art, 1000 seat community
theatre is underway. The new
Ullumbarra Theatre will retain parts
of the existing gaol building, and will
integrate parts of the gaol’s social
history into the new facility to retain
its important historical significance.
The new theatre is scheduled to open
in 2015.
Another crucial component of
Bendigo’s law history is the courts.
Initially the courts were relatively
crude – the magistrate sat in a ‘tent
lined with green baize … on a tengallon
whisky keg [and] his clerk with
a box for a desk’. 38 The majority of
these early proceedings dealt with
theft and ‘sly grogging’ (the illegal
consumption of alcohol). The tent was
soon replaced by a wooden framed
building covered with canvas and it
was in 1853 that Lachlan McLachlan
took over as magistrate. Opened
in 1859, according to Horsfall, this
structure ‘… proved to be such poor
construction that six years later the
resident judge refused to sit there’. 39 At
the same time the canvas building was
in operation, construction of a court
house and lock-up was in progress. It
replaced the canvas structure on the
same site and opened in 1866. The
cream building is still in existence
and stands as part of Bendigo Senior
Secondary College.
In 1855 the Goldfields Act allowed
Warden and Local Courts to be
established. These courts dealt solely
with mining disputes – an area that
occupied an extraordinary amount of
the justice system at the time. The first
Local Court was primarily formed
to hear appeals resulting from the
decision of the Warden. In 1865 an
Appellate Court – commonly called
an appeals court – was established but
then closed down in 1883 when
mining declined to a point that it
was no longer needed. A Municipal
Police Court was formed in 1856
(a small weather-board building at
Charing Cross) and later, a new Court
of Petty Sessions was built for the
Police Magistrate in View Street (on
the site of the present Trades Hall). In
1859 a new Court of Petty Sessions
was also opened in Eaglehawk. It
was soon agreed that with multiple
courts running at the same time,
there were not enough magistrates
to go around, and the various courts
and tribunals operating around
Bendigo and surrounds needed to
be amalgamated. It was in 1896 that
the current magnificent law court on
Pall Mall was opened. A condition
Benjamin Pierce
Batchelder
1826-1891
BendigoGaol
1861
albumen
silver print
Collection State
Library of Victoria
H1966
17

18
Ian Hill
Australia 1962
Bendigo Magistrates’
Court – Court One
2014
of design required the building to
be equally imposing from all sides.
Designed by Major George William
Watson (1840–1915), the building
combined the Warden’s Court (for
dealing with mining matters), an
ordinary Police Court (known today
as a Magistrate’s Court) and also the
Supreme Court – including rooms to
accommodate the associated officials.
It effectively centralised all the courts
of the city. One of the most impressive
law courts in Australia, it is designed in
the Second Empire Style and is one of
the most architecturally refined public
buildings in Bendigo. Sculptors Scurry
and Wardrop of Melbourne were
responsible for the rich architectural
detail. One of the most fascinating
features of the building is its symmetry.
Fake doors were installed throughout
the building to create the illusion of
perfect regularity. However, one of the
mosaic tiles on the ground floor was
deliberately laid off kilter. It has been
suggested this was done to recognise
the beliefs of the Chinese community
that perfection would offend the gods.
In 1862 Eaglehawk was first
recognised as a separate municipality
and it became a Borough in 1863
with the Eaglehawk Borough Council
in control until 1994 when it was
amalgamated into the City of Greater
Bendigo. To cope with the increasing
crime associated with the goldfields,
there became a need for Eaglehawk to
have its own court house. The original
court house was an old slab building
constructed in 1858. In 1866 residents
sought a more suitable court house,
but it was not until 1869 that the
second court house was completed.
Designed by Henry Williams with
decorative features by Peter Kerr, the
imposing red brick Romanesque
building was placed on the Victorian
Heritage register in 1998. It ceased
operating as a court house in 1989 but
the building still stands as an important
historical structure in the township of
Eaglehawk.
I COMMIT MY SOUL TO GOD
One of the three executions that
occurred at Bendigo Gaol was of
Charles John Hall in 1897. Capital
punishment was a well-established
system in the British law system –
which was ultimately imported to
Australia. A well-known footballer of
the Bendigo area, he was committed
to trial for the murder of his wife
at Eaglehawk. It was reported his
marriage was one of obligation and
instead, he associated with a local
barmaid named Eva Scott. Together
they devised a plan to be together. The
story goes that Minnie Hall was found

‘The sentence of the
Court is that you shall
be taken to the place
from whence you came,
and remain there
for such time as His
Excellency the Governor
may decide, and then
be hanged by the neck
until you are dead’.
Adolphus Verey
1862–1933
Poster relating to
‘The Eaglehawk
Tragedy’
1897
albumen silver
print
Collection State
Library of Victoria
H96.160/535
by her husband lying over the edge of
a tub, a coroner’s inquest deciding it
was death by drowning. However, after
much agitation from neighbours and
relatives, the body was exhumed and it
was discovered she had been choked.
Conversely, in the accused’s own
words, it was ‘… altogether wrong
… that she was suffocated by violent
pressure over the mouth and nose’. 40
Instead, he gave her a ‘ducking’ in the
tub to put a stop to their argument
and to cool her temper. In doing
this, her head struck against the edge
of the tub and after discovering she
was not moving and suspecting she
had died, he placed her in the tub to
make it appear she had been bathing.
He maintained that while his wife
might have met her death through
his actions, she was not murdered in a
cold blooded manner. On 16 March
1897 Charles Hall appeared in the
Supreme Court of Bendigo charged
with the murder of his wife Minnie
Hall on 11 February 1897. Hall was
represented by Dr John Quick and
Mr Barkly Hyett of Bendigo. The
closing statement from the trial by His
Honour, Mr Justice Hood declared:
‘The sentence of the Court is that
you shall be taken to the place from
whence you came, and remain there
for such time as His Excellency the
Governor may decide, and then be
hanged by the neck until you are
dead. May the Lord have mercy on
your soul’. 41 As female relatives burst
into tears, Hall was driven away to
Castlemaine Gaol and locked in
the condemned cell. The jury was
unable to agree – especially given Eva
Scott gave numerous contradictory
statements – so consequently a second
trial was scheduled. On 28 July
1897, Hall appeared at Castlemaine
Assizes. Eventually it was found that
‘Hall’s conduct was inconsistent with
innocence, his stories were untruthful,
and the deceased received injuries
before her death struggle which could
not have been caused by herself,
even if she had purposed committing
suicide’. 42 He was found guilty and
was sentenced to death. Upon his
sentence, Hall wrote a letter, ‘… a
true and correct account’ 43 of the
incident in his own words. A copy
of this letter was sent to the Premier,
the Attorney-General, and the Chief
Secretary who were in Sydney, for
their consideration. They eventually
came to the conclusion that the
statement threw no fresh light on the
murder and therefore supported the
decision of the Executive Council
that Hall should be executed. After
full consideration to the statement, it
19

20

Penal and Gaols
Branch, Chief
Secretary’s
Department
established 1871
Prisoner record book
- Charles John Hall
(page 208)
1897
Collection PROV
VPRS 515/P0,
Unit 51,
No. 27965
Anthony Webster
for Imagine
Pictures, Bendigo
Chiselled name into
sandstone wall of
Bendigo Gaol
2013
colour print
Photograph
courtesy City of
Greater Bendigo,
Major Projects
team
was decided that the law should be
allowed to take its course. On Monday
13 September 1897 Hall was hanged
at Bendigo Gaol. Reports indicate that
there were very few spectators. His
parents and three year old son came
to the Gaol to say their farewells – his
mother needing to be carried away
she was so grief stricken. ‘I commit my
soul to God’ 44 were Hall’s final words.
The bolt was then drawn, and death
was instantaneous.
A MYSTERY NEVER SOLVED
‘… In loving memory of Thomas
Ryan of White Hills Police Station,
mysteriously disappeared on the 6th
of January 1886, aged 62 years’. 45 This
is how Thomas Ryan’s tombstone
inscription reads in White Hills
cemetery. While not a burial site for
Constable Ryan’s body given he was
never found, it is a grave site for his
wife Johanna Ryan who was added
to the headstone on her death three
years later. Even to this day there has
been no trace of Constable Ryan.
Reputedly he was an admired and
well-respected officer; however, it
seemed he was not popular with the
Chinese community. Newspaper
articles describe him ‘… on horseback
driving [the] Chinese chained together
to the lock-up in the Commissioner’s
camp (now Rosalind Park). Their
only crime was not possessing special
Chinese resident permits’. 46 Constable
Ryan was appointed to supervise the
Chinese camps – a special protectorate
for the Chinese on the goldfields.
He was last seen on the evening of
6 January 1886, walking through a
Chinese Camp at Emu Point (north of
Bendigo) on a wet night. There were
unfounded reports he was drunk after
attending a sporting match earlier in
the day. At the time it was suspected
he had met with foul play through
members of the Chinese community.
One of the theories claimed it was
‘… a long-delayed revenge-killing by
members of the secret Triad Society’ 47
but such suspicions were never
proven. Thorough investigations were
conducted, detectives were called in
from Melbourne and trackers were
engaged in the search. Dams were
dragged and old mines were searched
– even two clairvoyants were utilised.
No evidence of Ryan or clues to his
disappearance was ever uncovered.
Given he went missing on a wet, rainy
night on the diggings, it is possible he
fell down a mine shaft or as Holsworth
suggests, was ‘… carried away by flood
waters in Bendigo Creek’. 48 Money
may also have been a factor since after
his disappearance, it became apparent
that Thomas Ryan had acquired a
21

WH Robinson
Bendigo active
1890s–1920
Police raid on the
Chinese quarters of
Bridge Street
1914
albumen silver
print
Photograph
courtesy Darren
Wright
great deal of real estate and personal
property. He was a well-off man and
rumours started suggesting that his
disappearance could be linked to
his seeming prosperity and perhaps
this wealth came about by ‘fruitful
contacts’. 49 He had served close to 20
years at the White Hills Police Station
and at the time of his disappearance he
was the oldest officer in the Victorian
Police Force.
ENJOYABLE AND SLY INTOXICATION
The lure of gold attracted throngs
of hopefuls from around the world,
including the United States, Africa,
New Zealand, Malaysia and China.
The biggest influx of Chinese to the
goldfields occurred in the mid-1850s
– in 1854 it was reported that 4000
Chinese diggers occupied the Bendigo
goldfields 50 – but they had been on
the goldfields since 1851. Finding gold
was becoming increasingly rare, and
with this new wave of diggers, tensions
were heightened. The rising hostility
resulted in the Chinese digger being
labelled ‘… an incorrigible thief …
a gambler and an opium-addict’. 51 A
forcible expulsion of all Chinese was
called for but a strong police presence
helped calm the attitudes and settled
the strained relationships for a time.
Inevitably, the migration of Chinese
to Bendigo ensured their customs
arrived as well – one of the most
notorious being opium smoking. By
1868 reports indicated that there were
approximately ten opium shops in the
Bendigo area. However according to
Cusack: ‘… accounts of gambling and
opium-smoking in the Chinese camps
were often grossly exaggerated…’ 52
While opium was viewed as a
criminal activity largely undertaken
within the Chinese community, it
was nevertheless a popular pastime
amongst the wider Bendigo
population. At the time ‘opium was
one of the worlds most used and
abused substances … consumed as
widely as caffeine and nicotine’. 53
Opium dens, ‘establishments open to
the general public in which opium
could be smoked’ 54 , were scattered
throughout the goldfields.
In Victoria, opium sales were
prohibited to the general population
in 1905 with the Smoking Opium
Prohibition Act brought into force.This
of course meant the police could now
impose the new law with earnest.
Police raids were common and one
such documented raid occurred on
Bridge Street in April 1914. According
to The Bendigonian and The Advertiser
newspapers, the raid secured £200
worth of opium, £50 worth of opium
22

Collection
of opium
paraphernalia
Late 19th -early
20th century
Collection Denis
D’Hoy
23

smokers’ outfit and some tickets
consistent with Chinese gambling
games. The men were each fined £10.
Addiction was certainly not limited
to the Chinese population. European
diggers also succumbed to intoxication
generally in the form of alcohol. ‘Sly
grogging’ was a huge problem on the
diggings and it was therefore declared
illegal for any alcohol at all to be taken
into the camps. Any grog found was
confiscated and taken by the police.
According to court records, in 1852
‘… in one month alone, 106 men and
women were fined £50 each for sly
grogging … not only were they fined
but their grog confiscated, their tents
destroyed and carts, drays and teams of
animals confiscated as well’. 55 Often
the police turned a blind eye to the
selling of sly grog on the condition
that they received payoffs. But as JA
Panton stated, grog ‘… stores were
firstly sealed under lock and sentry
until the day appointed for their
destruction … and the liquor poured
over the face of the hill … it all was
spilt on the ground’. 56 Illegal liquor
was sold from shanties by dubious
characters; women would strap tin
flasks to their body under clothing;
milk cans camouflaged alcohol.
Sometimes tobacco was soaked in
spirits causing a very potent mix. The
drunks were moved on and dragged
away from the shanty to detract
attention. Alcoholic mixtures in
various forms were prevalent, although
they all were considered much like
‘rank poison’. 57 ‘Refreshment tents’
were eventually introduced and
licensed, adding to the already long list
of drunk and disorderly fronting up in
court. It was not until 1860 that public
houses (pubs) opened on Sundays
under supervision of hours to try and
ease the situation.
ABANDONED AND COMMITTED
In December of 1865, The Bendigo
Advertiser published a letter to the
editor notifying the public that ‘At
present time there are no fewer than
twelve deserted children, varying in
ages from two to ten years, in the
Sandhurst Gaol’. 58 In the 1800s there
were no social service resources.
Children who were orphaned, or
simply abandoned, were committed
to the State and became embedded
in the legal system of the day. One
particular example appears in the
collection of Cause Lists’ series. Listed
in the criminal case volumes – in
amongst cases of murder, assault and
rape – were instances of deserted or
abandoned children. The full name
and age of each child was given, as
Samuel Thomas
Gill
1818–1880
Sly grog shanty on
road to Bendigo
1872
watercolour and
pencil on paper
Collection State
Library of Victoria
H25975
24

‘the children who
were neglected were
dragged through the
criminal system’.
well as the Magistrate’s ruling, which
usually stated which industrial school
these children were to be sent to, and
for how many years they had to live
there. One such example was the
case of the Murphy boys. Aged 3 to
8 years old, the Magistrate ordered
that Thomas (8), Edward (6), John
(5) and James (3) be ‘committed to
the Industrial School until attaining
the age of 15 years’. 59 Upon further
reading, it becomes apparent that the
boys were not orphans. Five months
earlier their father, John Murphy,
had a warrant issued for his arrest for
the maintenance of four children. 60
Civil cases dealt with parents leaving
children with no support, alongside
mining complaints and residents found
in gambling houses; however, the
children who were neglected were
dragged through the criminal system.
The legal system in central Victoria
has changed significantly since colonial
settlement. Law and order was drawn
directly from England and with the
discovery of gold in Bendigo, systems
needed to be implemented and
legal reform urgently required. The
Red Ribbon Rebellion led to the
development of new laws to protect
diggers, while the troopers dealt with
an infant force and attempted to
gain respect from the colony. Lachlan
McLachlan and Joseph Panton stood
out as fair and reliable gentlemen
along with Sir John Quick and Barkly
Hyett significantly contributing to the
growth of decree in Bendigo.
The primitive and humble
beginnings of the lock-ups and
law courts were a starting point to
an established and respected legal
precinct.
Simone bloomfield
curator, city history
and collections

notes
1 In 1852 the town was first officially
named ‘Castleton’ after a mining town in
England. However, this name only lasted
six weeks. In 1853 the name was changed
to ‘Sandhurst’ and then later again, in 1891,
the city was renamed to Bendigo. For
reasons of clarity, it will be referred to as
Bendigo throughout the essay.
2 Hocking, G, 2001, The Red Ribbon
Rebellion!, New Chum Press, p6
3 Ibid, p7
4 Ibid, p13
5 Ibid, p14
6 Ibid p15 in Serle, G, 1963, The
Golden Age. A History of the Colony of
Victoria, 1851 – 1861, University Press,
Melbourne, p109
7 Hocking, G, p17
8 Ibid, p25 in The Bendigo Advertiser, 29
August 1854
9 Horsfall, D, 1996, Bendigo’s Law Courts,
Bendigo Modern Press, p81
10 Magistrates have not always been referred
to as magistrates – prior to 1950, the title
was Police Magistrate
11 Mackay, G, 2000, History of Bendigo, Lerk
and McClure Bendigo, p20
12 Petterson, M, 1986, The Sovereign of
Sandhurst, Castlemaine Mail, p142
13 Ibid, p149
14 Ibid, p144
15 Hocking, G, p20
16 Petterson, M, p58
17 Ibid, p67
18 Gittins, Jean, McLachlan, Lachlan (1810 –
1885) Australian Dictionary of Biography,
http://abd.anu.edu.au/biography/
mclachlan-lachlan-4118, accessed June
2014
19 Horsfall, D, p72
20 Matthews, M, 2003, A forgotten ‘Father’
of Federation: Sir John Quick (1852 –
1911), Masters Thesis, La Trobe Bendigo,
2003, p64
21 Maslunka, M, 1988, Australian Dictionary
of Biography Sir John Quick, http://
adb.anu.edu.au/biography/quick-sirjohn-8140,
accessed June 2014
22 Matthews, M, p53
23 Ibid, thesis summary unpaginated
24 Horsfall, D, p3
25 Haldane, R, 1986, The people’s force: A
history of the Victoria Police, Melbourne
University Press, p22
26 Ibid, p31
27 Ibid, p22
28 Ibid, p43
29 Ibid
30 Ibid, p44
31 Ibid, p29
26

Unknown maker
Sandhurst jury
box
c1800s
wood, steel
Collection
Bendigo
Magistrates’
Court
32 Raworth, B, 1996, Bendigo Prison Complex,
conservation analysis and management plan,
prepared for The Office of Building
Department of Infrastructure, p4
33 Petterson, M, p90
34 Unknown author, 24 April 1895, The
Bendigo Advertiser, p2
35 Raworth, B, p13
36 Ibid, p15
37 Ibid, p25
38 Horsfall, D, p4
39 Ibid, p5
40 PROV, Charles John Hall, plea letter,
Capital Case File VPRS 264/P0000/24
41 Trove, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic 1848
- 1957), Saturday 31 July 1897. Digitised
newspaper accessed June 2014. http://
trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/915
8715?searchTerm=&searchLimits=lpublictag=Charles+John+Hall
42 Trove, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic
1848 - 1957), Wednesday 28 July 1897.
Digitised newspaper accessed June 2014.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/
9180332?searchTerm=&searchLimits=lpublictag=Charles+John+Hall
43 PROV, Charles John Hall, plea letter,
Capital Case File VPRS 264/P0000/24
44 Trove, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW :
1888 - 1954), Monday 13 September 1897.
Digitised newspaper accessed June 2014.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/
44196607?searchTerm=&searchLimits=
l-publictag=Charles+John+Hall
45 Holsworth, C, 2013, Policeman Ryan’s
Disappearance, Friends of the Bendigo
Cemetries Inc, p4
46 Ibid, p7
47 Cusack, F, 2002, Bendigo a history (revised
edition), Bendigo Modern Press, p108
48 Holsworth, C, p34
49 Ibid, p53
50 Mackay, G, p32
51 Cusack, F, p105
52 Ibid
53 Martin, S, 2007, The Art of Opium
Antiques, Silkworm Books, p10
54 Ibid, p16
55 Horsfall, D, p4
56 Petterson, M, p70/71
57 Ibid, p75
58 Humanitas, 5 December 1865, The Bendigo
Advertiser, p7
59 BRAC, Criminal, VPRS 16736, vol. 11, 4
November 1875
60 BRAC, Civil, VPRS 16735, vol. 13, 10
June 1875
27

Further Reading
28
Unknown maker
Police badge –
Victorian
Constabulary
c1880
pressed metal
Victorian Police
Historical
Collection
Melbourne
VPM 11775
Bendigo Historical Society Inc,
Historic guide to Bendigo, Bendigo
Historical Society Inc, Bendigo, 2009
Mike Butcher and Gill Flanders,
Bendigo Historic Buildings, National
Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1987
Mike Butcher and Yolande MJ
Collins, An American on the Goldfields,
Holland House, Victoria, 2001
Eaglehawk Heritage Society, Sent to
the Logs, in-house publication, 1999
Martin Fido and Keith Skinner, The
official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard,
Virgin Publishing Ltd, London, 2000
Robert Haldane, The people’s force: A
history of the Victoria Police, Melbourne
University Press, 1986
Geoff Hocking, The Red Ribbon
Rebellion!, New Chum Press,
Castlemaine Australia, 2001
Carol Holsworth, Policeman Ryan’s
Disappearance White Hills, Bendigo,
Friends of the Bendigo Cemeteries
Inc, 2013
David Horsfall, Bendigo’s Law Courts,
Bendigo Modern Press, 1996
Brian Lane, The Encyclopedia of Forensic
Science, Headline Book Publishing,
London, 1993
George Mackay, Annals of Bendigo
1851 – 1867, The Cambridge Press,
Bendigo, Australia, 1938
George Mackay, History of Bendigo,
Lerk and McClure, Bendigo,
Australia, 1891 (published again
December 2000)
Michele Matthews, A forgotten
‘Father’ of Federation: Sir John Quick
(1852–1911), Masters Thesis, La Trobe
Bendigo, 2003
Annette O’Donohue, Eaglehawk Court
House 1869 – 1989, AM O’Donohue/
Print Creations Bendigo, 1997
Marjorie Petterson, The Sovereign of
Sandhurst, Castlemaine Mail, 1986
Bryce Raworth, Bendigo Prison
Complex, conservation analysis and
management plan, prepared for The
Office of Building Department of
Infrastructure, 1996
Victoria Police Management Services
Bureau, Police in Victoria 1836 – 1980,
FD Atkinson, Government Printer,
Melbourne, 1980

1

2
51–67 pall mall
Bendigo VICTORIA 3550
T 03 5434 6179
postofficegallery
@bendigo.vic.gov.au