[Lyric] Last Man Hanged (Margaret Bradford with the group Settlers Match)

Last Man Hanged by Margaret Bradford


Outside the gaol they protested their screams for justice deafening
Inside in silence Ryan sat prepared to face his reckoning
His death he knew was threatening. ‘cause the hanging rope was beckoning

The victim of a system that said hanging was OK
To let the struggling worker know that crime doesn’t pay
Corruption still holds sway. The system works that way

From Irish catholic working class Ron took on a dad’s role
When his father died of miner’s sicknеss Ron was in control
And the pressure took its toll. But thеre was courage in his soul

Election eve and Henry Bolte saw a chance for glory
Suppressed the truth and censored pleas for mercy from the jury
The media loved the story of a penalty so gory

While cries of no more hanging rang out from an angry nation
Shocked reporters got their macabre guilt-edged invitations
To see history in the making. A ghastly aberration
But have we learnt from out mistakes? Does hanging deter crime?
When we meet violence with more violence and to justice remain blind
Laws for the rich are fine, but the poor lose out each time

“I wrote this after hearing a documentary in 1993 exposing corruption and injustice in our legal system, which allowed Ronald Ryan to be hanged in 1956. Insufficient evidence was found to prove Ryan had actually shot the prison warder at the time in Melbourne; yet under Henry Bolte, premier of Victoria at the time, strings were pulled and the hanging went ahead.”
Margaret Bradford