History

TASSIE’S CANNIBAL CONVICT Words: Bonnie Liston

Tasmania has a rich convict history, partially because it was where all the other states sent their worst convicts. Why? Not only was it colder and more gloomy here, but because the prisons of Tasmania - Port Arthur and Macquarie Harbour - were said to be impossible to escape from. They were offshoots from our tiny island on even tinier islands and isthmuses in a time when few people knew how to swim. Even if you made it past the sea, you were lost in endless bush land with no food, no directions, and not a lot of chance of making your way back to civilisation. Of course any place that dares call itself “inescapable” tends to find itself overrun with people willing to put that label to the test. One such man was Alexander Pearce.

Alexander Pearce was a petty criminal from Ireland, sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land in 1819 for “the theft of six pairs of shoes.” Once in Tasmania he continued committing various crimes until in 1822 he was charged with absconding and forging an order (attempting escape) and transported again to Macquarie Harbour, Sarah Island. That same year, 1822, Pearce escaped alongside seven other men: Alexander Dalton, Thomas Bodenham, William Kennerly, Matthew Travers, Edward Brown, Robert Greenhill and John Mather. They’d been sent to the mainland of Tasmania on a logging expedition and made a break for it. They had nothing on them except one axe which lay firmly in the possession of Robert Greenhill. They wandered lost and hungry through the wilderness for about 15 days before they decided the only solution (THE ONLY SOLUTION!!) was to kill and eat one of their party. They democratically drew lots and Thomas Bodenham came up with the short straw. Greenhill slaughtered

Alexander Pearce’s skull, which is held at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

him with his axe. At this point, three of the men - Alexander Dalton, William Kennerly and Edwards Brown - said something along the lines of “Yikes. Prison wasn’t so fun but it’s probably better than cannibalism, or death by cannibalism, eh boys?” and they made their escape from the escape attempt.

Dalton actually died from exhaustion, but Kennerly and Brown survived and threw themselves back into the arms of the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station. There may have been physical labour and mistreatment, but there was also regular food and no axe wielding cannibals. The four other men, however, continued their journey and grim roulette. The next man to be killed was John Mather. Greenhill kept close possession of the axe at all times and Matthew Travers was his longtime companion and close friend, so it seemed very likely that Pearce would be the next to die. Luckily for him, Travers was bitten by one of Australia’s deadly snakes. Greenhill, being a good friend despite his many other flaws (cannibalism, murder, et al), insisted they carry him for five days before it became clear he would not survive, at which point he did, hopefully very tenderly, kill and eat his friend. Then there was only Pearce and Greenhill left. Imagine the tense environment - two men, one axe, and an established history of cannibalism between them. From this psychologically twisted cat and mouse game, Pearce emerged victorious, managing to wrest the axe away from Greenhill and kill him in his sleep. A great victory for Pearce certainly, but once he had finished Greenhill he had no more food and no more companions to turn into food. But before he could succumb to starvation he broke free of bushland and stumbled into a field of sheep. In classic Hobart fashion, the shepherd of this flock was actually known to Pearce from earlier criminal enterprises and immediately offered him a place in his sheep stealing scheme. Pearce spent 113 days on the run before being caught and rearrested. To his credit, he confessed everything to a priest at Hobart Prison but wasn’t believed. Rev. Knopwood thought the whole thing sounded too macabre and it was more likely Pearce’s story was a cover to prevent further investigation. Charged with only escape, sheep stealing, and being no snitch, Pearce was simply sent back to Macquarie Harbour.

In less than a year he made another attempt at escape. He had squirrelled away supplies, food and water, a map, and a companion, a young man of about 17 named Thomas Cox. He was caught after only 10 days, but he hadn’t run out of food yet, in fact, he had plenty of supplies. He had also already killed and started eating Thomas. They found chunks of Thomas’s flesh in Pearce’s pockets as well as his gnawed shin bone. This time his confession of cannibalism was believed. Pearce was tried and convicted for murder and cannibalism - the first, but not the last, confessed cannibal to pass through the Tasmanian court system. He was hanged at the Hobart Town Gaol at 9am on 19 July, 1824. Just before he was hanged it is reported he said that, “Man’s flesh is delicious. It tastes far better than fish or pork.” Pearce was the main inspiration for Marcus Clarke’s 1874 novel, For The Term of his Natural Life, one of the earliest Australian novels to explore the convict experience. It has also been adapted to film several times, most notably in 2008 and 2009 with the Last Confession of Alexander Pearce and Van Diemen’s Land.