Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the execution of Ronald Ryan. Just before 8 o’clock on the morning of February 3, 1967, Ryan declined a sedative but took a sip of whisky and walked calmly to the gallows trapdoor at Pentridge Prison.
Ryan addressed his executioner directly, “God bless you, please make it quick.”
Ryan’s supporters and opponents of the death penalty observed a three-minute silence. Protesters assembled outside Pentridge Prison in vigil.
The circumstances of his death at the hands of the state have led to great myth-making about Ryan. He has been variously painted as a bit of a larrikin, driven to crime by circumstance and little worse than a kite flyer (passer of bad cheques).
The truth is he was a career criminal and his crimes before his penultimate arrest, included what we would call today aggravated burglary and robbery in company.
His arresting officer on that occasion was Bryan Harding. I’ve known Harding for many years. He was an outstanding police officer and at various times headed up the Fraud and Homicide squads in Victoria. Harding is retired and now in his 80s; he remembers Ryan as a hardened criminal who showed little or no remorse for his crimes and gave nothing away under questioning.
Full column here.
Milton, I saw your snide remark to Tracy about my identification. Yes, Macca1373 in the EPL comp is me (registered there a long time ago) but I swear if you asked me, I couldn’t name even one player in the competition. I changed my tip for the Southampton v West Ham 3 times. Southampton were long odds on but I picked them a month ago when they were favourites and they lost – they lost me then.
As far as passports go, mine is way out of date. I don’t even have a favourite team in the EPL. I think I’d like to follow a team that is based in a rugby league stronghold – Manchester maybe?
Never mind about Milton, what can you say about a Chelski fan! just make sure you keep getting those tips in it will be hard to catch you.
Hull mate. They just beat Liverpool, they must be good. Everyone gets on the Manchester bandwagon.
TV, and the fans are blaming the Liverpool owners. Just once I’d like to see them blame the players. I love using the English football league in human resource case studies as an example of how not to run an organization. Mind you I would use the AFL, but I never seem to have Australian students
I think “snide” is a bit harsh mate More sour grapes!
Very good doco on the rise of Trump on SBS. Both sides of the story – and a good insight into what makes him tick.
Finally I agree with something Christopher Pyne said , Mr Insider. When quizzed on the likelihood of the messy Pauline Hanson ever becoming PM I quote: “Mr Pyne burst into laughter when asked during a media conference in Adelaide what he thought about Senator Hanson’s outline for the country if she were to be the country’s leader.
“Leader of what?” Mr Pyne grinned.
“I think it is unlikely that One Nation’s going to form a government in Australia.”
Well, well Mr Pyne agree 100% with you, a Donald Trump she sure is not. In fact what has she ever achieved but silly scatter brained headlines!
http://tinyurl.com/jf9oy9a
Compulsory voting will keep her from forming government on her own but she may be part of a coalition in WA and WILL be part of a coalition government in Qld unless something drastic happens.
She’s also going to casse havoc in the next Federal election Razor. Bill must love her – because she’s probably going to give him government! He doesn’t even have to try
8% nationally and you reckon no nation would form government?? Still less than the greens at 10% but we don’t see News running articles non stop on them do we? oh my. almost as delusional as national party voters on 5%.
A Coalition at best One Nation imho, Dismayed, as may happen in Queensland soon, time will tell. The Greens have been around since 1992 but have never come close to forming Government on their own.
If you are saying that such a coalition is a positive for this Nation you are more delusional than your appear normally.
Tony Abbott provides Milton Bulltrump some good advice on keeping his promise apropos a free vote on SSM.
I note that old lefty favourite, Tony Jones is having a years sabbatical. Nice work if you can get it.
Liverpool! chuckles…
“Milton Bulltrump”, love it Milton. Now the Opposition would be remiss if they didn’t slip some of these names Turnbull is being called into Parliament this week and “Bulltrump” as good as any imho.
Some sound observations by Tom Switzer on Malcom in today’s smh, Henry. My conservative hero, T Abbott also gets a mention! It should go well with your marmalade on toast and tea, old bean.
The whole human-trading thing is quite obscene.
“You take them.”
“No, you take them”
If Turncoat won’t close those prisons and bring those poor souls to Australia, then he should send them all to NZ who have long offered. Even if Turncoat must stamp their foreheads with ‘I CAN’T EVER GO TO OZ’ (to keep the a**eholes happy) he would go up a few notches in those idiotic polls.
This whole entire episode is dehumanising our nation so I’ve decided to vett Trump himself & no surprises, he doesn’t pass muster.
We should simply cancel that (even dumber) deal for Australia lest we get dragged into reconnaissance missions in the SCS for the good ol’ USA & end up sacrificing more military souls in yet another US fight we have nothing to do with starting.
C’mon Turncoat, BE THE MAN!.
$500,000 PER REFUGEE to serve a political end. All this bullbhit about ‘sending a message to the people smugglers’ if the refugees come here is just THAT. Turnbull knows, in fact EVERYBODY knows the boats have stopped because of the Turnbacks. That can continue. At every breath he makes political fodder out of refugees. Especially those who drowned, quickly forgetting that 600 drowned after the Looters banged the Malaysian proposal on the head.They could have voted with Labor but they didn’t. And now? They are begging Malaysia to take asylum seekers.
Many times the Liberals have been caught cheering the boats in and saying ‘the more boats that come the better for us’. The cost of stopping the boats has been calculated at more than $9.6 billion since 2013, and will be another $5.7 billion over the next four years. The Liberals’ alignment of boat people with ‘border protection’ and ‘national security’ is a fear campaign that has worked successfully. It is a cunning political move and nothing more.
Still struggling with an argument long lost B’MAN?
I was interested to read that you have very young children. It is said that very young children like things that are colourful, simplistic and repetitive. By that measure you’d have to be the world’s most entertaining dad.
Please address the facts. By the way I read at LEAST 8 books a day to my young son
and play music to the one on the way.
War and Peace? Proust?
Here’s the one and only fact you need to know but to which you seem immune, after all these years of arguing: There is nothing “cunning” about a government doing what the electorate wants it to do.
You can keep repeating yourself over and over and over again but you’re on the wrong side of the argument. Always have been. Give it up.
TBLS, that’s a reasonable point, but I note that you’re not always so sanguine about the government doing what the electorate wants when it comes your pet peeves like “nanny state” public health measures and so on. Nor should you be. If you believe you are right, you don’t have to give up just because you’re outvoted. So please allow those of us who still believe indefinite detention of innocent people is wrong to continue to express that.
John, I don’t have the power to stop anyone here expressing anything. You ascribe to me a power I don’t have.
Still pretending the problem is solved, TBLS?
Securing the borders against unlawful entry is never going to be “solved”. It’s just an on-going process. As far as the global problem of mass migration or the personal problems of individuals who don’t achieve their ultimate migration aims go – those just ain’t our problems to solve.
The global refugee problem is most certainly ours to do our share to solve, both morally and by virtue of international agreements we have voluntarily entered into. We are currently in breach of those agreements, and of several others as a result of the way we have gone about the breach.
“Securing the borders against unlawful entry” is only marginally related to that issue, and is part of the melodramatic political rhetoric Bassman is talking about. That’s the “cunning” part.
More evidence the coalition being the mouthpiece for the coal industry . “Gas-fired generation is much better suited to providing flexibility to the system than coal, and can provide this at a much lower cost.”
http://reneweconomy.com.au/clean-coal-most-expensive-new-power-supply-says-bnef-and-not-all-that-clean-74531/
When the natural world is one big oil field & the sky is black from burning toxins, will that finally be enough to convince governments that all the $$$$ in the ‘fracking’ world won’t buy us a new Earth.
I despise all corrupt politicians who think we don’t know the filfthy depths they will go to back their coal donors against smart investment in the renewables sector.
Heads in the sand, hands on the money, they know it won’t be ‘them’ that will have to suffer the worst of what’s coming to the planet.
I just hope they haven’t reproduced.
Bella, Gas is the best option for a transition to renewables. But I agree with the rest of your sentiment.
Of course it is Dismayed because you get to keep your job.
Gas is the best options because gas has less emissions than dirty coal and is less expensive than subsidised coal. Another swing an miss for you razor. I note you don’t want to continue your ridiculous comments on the obscenely huge cost of subsidising “clean coal” which has been shown time and time again to be considerably more expensive than renewables. So by that we determine you are happy to Subsidise coal but not anything else.
When they write the history of the hydrocarbon industry in Australia, particularly re gas, the period 2005 – 202 and probably beyond will be a wild, woolly and bully tale. No common sense in any direction whatsoever.
Dismayed I have just decided not to comment on much to do with you as many others have on this blog, particularly in recent times. You troll here. You contribute nothing. If you don’t agree with something you abuse. I strongly suspect that you are a Getup operative and this blog is your assigned target. Most of your links are from rentseekers and when proven demonstrably wrong you obfuscate and at best back peddle. I believe what I believe and will continue conversations with the rest. You deride fossil fuels yet work in the industry. You also deride private schooling and health insurance yet take advantage of both. Does that tell you something about yourself? Your all show and no go. Now go away little man.
Razor, while dismayed may not be the best behaved poster he is far from alone in that. You guys have your own line of snide and nasty comments. Its often a case of pot and kettle.
IWBGYWBG say those vested
Can you translate please smoke. I tried but can’t work it out.
“I’ll be gone, you’ll be gone”.
I will be gone, you……….
I will be gone, you……….
I want big girls, yes, whopping big girls
Excellent article. You will hang on every word.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=35275#more-35275
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/world-leaders-receive-crank-calls-from-someone-claiming-to-be-president-of-united-states
Hahaha
Right back at you Tracy…
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-deep-denialism-of-donald-trump
“Denialism is often rooted in fear.” How true.
Regards, Bella
It’s like Frank Costanza is the POTUS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfaO3A-m13Q
Murray Ballstein was his best character but I admit frank wasn’t bad.
My favourite Frank piece, JOH.
Serenity now!
S. Marsh just run himself out. Must have a dodgy hammy again/still. NO surprises.
First of several dopey decisions
Yeah …India are crapping ’emselves eh?
Many of us often hear the speeches on Anzac day on the Japanese invasion of our top end with bombing down as far as Broome and Cairns, death toll and destruction was enormous . Yes Sydney had a visiting sub also, not real friendly.The speeches often credit the Americans in the “Coral Sea” battle and bombing of Japan that eventually America ended the war and our freedom to continue. After qualified men involved in speeches [ ex- servicemen], still some left today ,can verify all those atrocities until the Americans come and saved this country. History like this does not change depite the reverberations , the fact is we would not be here today only for the the Yanks crippling the invading forces . We must always provide adulation to the allies with the precision provided with the realism that American involvement was vital. The Anzacs played a “major role” after the lethal end of WW2 to provide freedom not just for us , but the SE Asian continents . Lets just salute the Anzacs and those who did not return ,those woundered , for us to have freedom today. God bless the world.
It’s probably a bit pointless to try and acquaint you with something other than your simplistic jingoistic understanding of history Rodent, but what the heck……..
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2014/07/07/what_prompted_japan_s_aggression_before_and_during_world_war_ii.html
JB……definitely pointless, but I enjoyed it anyway
Well said Rodent , God bless Australia and the USA.