Brighton Beach (Brighton Beach) is located in Brighton (Brighton), a southern suburb of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, about 12 kilometers from downtown Melbourne. The sea water here is clear, the beach is delicate, very suitable for swimming. But the most distinctive feature on the beach is the world-famous multicolored cabin (Brighton Bathing Boxes), and some people call them colorful house or rainbows house. a rainbow house making this ordinary beach into a popular style!
The most distinctive feature on Brighton Beach is the world-famous multicolored cabins (Brighton Bathing Boxes), which are also called colorful house or rainbow house .(photo: Pixabay)
But who will know the beautiful Brighton Beach, its soft sand under the cover of a mysterious and bloody crime story... Today let's look back at the unknown history.
The history of sand
A story rarely known in this history, a Yorkshireman John Conder, he emigrated from England to Australia in 1859. After arriving in Vizhou, the man committed theft, bank robbery and murder, entering and leaving prison as many as six times.
He was then hanged in 1893 on suspicion of murder an Indian vendor.
John Conder.(Source: Public Records Office Of Victoria)
His photo was taken a few weeks before his execution, and his 54-year-old face looked full of despair and confusion. After Conder death, like most death row inmates, they were hastily buried in open spaces in prison.
There is a bluestone wall in the open space of the prison, engraved with the initials of the prisoners and the date of execution, which are the last traces left by the prisoners.
The tombs were also exhumed as the old Melbourne prison was dismantled in 1929.
The old Melbourne prison, which was in 1929. (Source: Wiki Public Domain)
In fact, prisons in other parts of the state also bury death row prisoners in prisons, but no prison will be engraved for the death penalty.
According to expert speculation, the practice of inscription should start with the Ned Kelly of the death penalty. Also because he set a precedent, Conder and others' coffins were removed and transferred to Pontridge prison. Two years later, the coffins of those condemned to death were transferred and buried in three places.
Ned Kelly.(photo source: Wiki public domain)
Australia went through the economic Great Depression in the 1930s. A seawall was built in Brighton, southeast Melbourne, by local government to protect their beaches from wind and waves and provide jobs for young people who lost their jobs after the Great Depression. The project requires a lot of bluestone, so the demolished bluestone in the abandoned Melbourne prison is assigned to use. The bluestone walls of the condemned were eventually moved to Brighton Beach.
Brighton in southeast Melbourne built a seawall. The project requires a lot of bluestone, so the demolished bluestone in the abandoned Melbourne prison is assigned to use. (Source: www.slv.vic. gov.au)
Today, you can see a lot of tombstones on Brighton Beach. "Instead of damaging the tombstones, the workers at Brighton Beach deliberately preserved them ," said the archaeologists. Many of the tombstones are not defaced or covered up by other things.
When you walk in front of the beach, you can see these names carefully.
One of the tombs was engraved Joseph Victor Pfeffer. he was hanged for murder his sister-in-law.
Also, a tombstone half buried in the sand is notorious Martha Needle owned by one of the only two women executed in the old Melbourne prison. She was convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic. The bodies of her three children were later exhumed and found to contain all arsenic. In 1894, she was sentenced to hang.
At the beginning of the story John Conder, although the initials on his tombstone were indistinguishable, he could still be distinguished by the date of punishment.
Ned Kelly– Australians love and hate him
The Ned Kelly mentioned above is a household name in Australia, with labels: jungle thieves (bushranger), murderers and mafia heads.
Kelly's iconic image is a heavy black iron armor, a slit helmet and a long gun.
Kelly iconic image is a heavy and humble black iron armor. (Source: State Library of Victoria/wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0)
According to the data, Kelly life is full of legend, which is why Australians have very complex feelings for him. Some people think of him as a criminal, while others think of him as a national hero, a green man, and even call him a rich and poor, brave "Robin Hood of Australia ", he let Australians love and hate him!
Kelly was imprisoned in Melbourne prison and sentenced to hanging in November 1880, aged 25 and 6. The last last last word before Kelly death was "Life is like this (Such is life)". Society at that time reacted very strongly to the Kelly's judgment, saying that more than 60,000 people collectively petition, hoping that government would be lenient. Ned was buried in Melbourne prison after his death.
Some of the tombstones of death row prisoners are trapped in the sea, while others are covered with sand. No one thought Brighton Beach was buried in the 1800s.
These stories tell an unknown history that is an important part of Melbourne's history.
Knowing this period of history, we must have a different mood and feeling when we pass Brighton Beach in the future......
