Ernest Austin (1890 – 22 September 1913) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

, notable for being the last person

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Murder of Ivy Mitchell

On 8 June 1913, 11-year-old Ivy Mitchell was found

raped Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...

and

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

at Cedar Creek Road near Samford. Mitchell was the daughter of a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

, who had been playing at the home of her friend, 7-year-old Mary Frisch, and at

dusk Dusk occurs at the darkest stage of twilight, or at the very end of astronomical twilight after sunset and just before nightfall.''The Random House College Dictionary'', "dusk". At predusk, during early to intermediate stages of twilight, enou ...

Ivy left to go home. The Mitchell family lived away from the Frisch family, and the homes in the rural farming community around Samford were connected by dirt roads. Austin began to stalk the two girls as Frisch escorted Mitchell to the end of the Frisch's drive and said goodbye, and while Mitchell was walking home alone she disappeared. Mitchell's brother, James Mitchell Junior, became worried when his sister did not return home before sundown. With a hurricane lantern, he walked to the Frisch home where he was told she had already left hours before, and proceeded to rush home to tell his family Mitchell was missing. James Mitchell Senior, their father, headed out with his son to follow the footprints left behind in the dirt road by Mitchell from the end of the Frisch's drive. After a distance, unknown larger footprints joined Mitchell's small footprints, and in lantern light the Mitchell men followed them to the thick

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

behind the local school, Parker State School (now within Yugar), where the grass had been crushed by something being dragged. Here they found Mitchell's

corpse A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stu ...

dumped in the scrub where she had been raped and her throat cut, along with

hoof The hoof (plural: hooves) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits, yet the rumin ...

marks and part of a

riding crop Riding is a homonym of two distinct English words: From the word ride * In equestrianism, riding a horse * Riding animal, animal bred or trained for riding * Riding hall, building designed for indoor horse riding From Old English ''*þriðing'' ...

, indicating the perpetrator had escaped by

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

. The discovery of the body caused policemen to be dispatched by

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

from Samford, who began questioning locals. However, those that had seen Mitchell only saw her alone or with Frisch, but not with anyone else. A labourer, Alexander Gordon, was near the school at 5.30 pm where he had trespassed into a garden to pick a couple of fruits from an

orange tree Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

. Gordon recognised a local farmhand, Ernest Austin, thundering past on his horse as he was emerging from the garden with the oranges in hand. Austin spotted Gordon as he rode by, saying "Good night", and urging his horse along with a small tree branch. Earlier witnesses had seen Austin with a riding crop, however Gordon claimed he did not have one when he rode past. John Lofft, another local labourer, worked on a property with Austin and the pair shared living quarters. The night Mitchell was murdered, Austin had been in their room scraping at the sole of his boot with a

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

, and had asked Lofft "Where are the pincers kept?", to which Lofft replied "In the blacksmith's shop." Austin then used the tool to remove the soles from his boots.

Arrest and conviction

On 10 June, two days after the murder, Austin was arrested by the police. It was discovered that Austin had an established

criminal history A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, starting from as early as 11 years old when he had been caught thieving and sent to the Neglected Children's Department. In late 1909, Austin had been convicted as Ernest Johnson for an

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

with intent to rape, receiving a sentence of three years

imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

, which was served in

Melbourne Gaol The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildin ...

and

Pentridge Prison HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was first established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997. Pentridge was often referred to as the "Bluestone College", " ...

. The crime had been frighteningly similar to the murder of Mitchell, as the victim, a 12-year-old girl, had been dragged into a shed by an

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

-wielding Austin who fled when she had screamed too loudly. The soles Austin had removed from his boots were later found and matched to footprints left near the body, and the same with the

horseshoes Horseshoe is a shoe for horses and by analogy is applied to many things with a similar shape. Horseshoes (game), a tossing game played with a horseshoe Horseshoe(s) or Horse Shoe(s) may also refer to: Places * Horseshoe Valley (disambiguation) ...

from Austin's horse. Police determined that he had killed her before fleeing to the school's

water tank A water tank is a container for storing water. Water tanks are used to provide storage of water for use in many applications, drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemi ...

where he had washed her blood from his hands and body (but also left more telltale footprints).

Execution

Austin was convicted of the rape and murder of Mitchell, and was executed by hanging in September at

Boggo Road Gaol Boggo Road Gaol in Brisbane, Australia, was Queensland’s main jail from the 1880s to the 1980s, by which time it had become notorious for poor conditions and rioting. Located on Annerley Road in Dutton Park, an inner southern suburb of Brisbane ...

Dutton Park Dutton Park is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Dutton Park had a population of 2,024 people. Geography Dutton Park is located about south of the Brisbane CBD. It is bounded to the north-east ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, and buried in unconsecrated ground in

South Brisbane Cemetery South Brisbane Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at 21 Fairfield Road and Annerley Road, Dutton Park, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, adjacent to the Brisbane River. It was built from 1870 to 1990s. It is also known as Dutton Par ...

. Austin became the last convict to be executed at Boggo Road Gaol and the last in Queensland, when in 1922 it became the first state in Australia and the first government in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

to abolish the death penalty. The

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

of Austin is said to haunt the Boggo Road Gaol, particularly at night during storms.Jeff Belanger (2004). ''The World's Most Haunted Places'' (Career Press: Franklin Lakes, NJ) pp. 182–83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Ernest 1913 deaths Australian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Queensland People executed by Queensland People executed for murder Executed Australian people 20th-century executions by Australia Burials in South Brisbane Cemetery People executed by Australia by hanging 1890 births People from Victoria (Australia) 1913 murders in Australia Australian people convicted of rape