Confessions of a cannibal

MARGIN: Life & Letters in Early Australia, April, 2004 by Craig Cormick

On 20 September 1822 Alexander Pearce and seven comrades escaped from the penal settlement of Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania's remote south west. Over 100 days later, Alexander Pearce was recaptured in the bush land around Hobart. In custody, Pearce told a grisly tale of how he had survived the crossing the 'uncrossable' interior of the colony by eating his comrades until he was the only survivor! The Reverend Robert Knopwood, in his capacity as magistrate, was amongst the officials who listened to his testimony, before deciding it was obviously an elaborate fabrication, designed to protect his comrades who were now living in the bush around the settlement as bushrangers.

Pearce was accordingly, sent back to Macquarie Harbour. Barely was the year out than Pearce had escaped again, this time with a single prisoner to accompany him--Thomas Cox, a young former farm labourer from Shropshire.

The escape attempt was short-lived however, and before ten days had elapsed Pearce lit a fire to attract the attention of a ship searching for him, and gave himself up. His captors were shocked to find that Pearce was carrying some of the mortal remains of Thomas Cox with him, and he told them that he had killed him and fed on him--even though he still had some of the food he had taken on his escape.

This time Pearce was taken back to Hobart Town and hanged. However that was not the end of his story, because in 1875 Marcus Clarke resurrected Pearce as a character--Gabbett--in his novel For The Term of His Natural Life.

Clarke stated openly that most of the incidents in his novel were based on historical fact, and even included a short footnote to the chapter 'The Valley of the Shadow of Death', that stated he would not have introduced so repulsive an incident as this cannibalism of escaped convicts were it not true, as the confession of the convict 'Pierce' had been used as background for the episode. (1)

Alexander Pearce in fact made four recorded confessions, and while Clarke clearly fictionalised his story based on Pearce's narratives, Pearce himself also fictionalised elements of his story, as there are clear differences in the four confessions.

The four confessions, in order they were given are:

1. The Knopwood Confession, made to the Reverend Knopwood, in Hobart, early in 1823 after his first capture. Two transcripts from the missing original manuscript exist, one in the State Library of NSW and the other in the National Library in Canberra, and both are a mix of first person and third person narrative, obviously based on the original confession with added interpretation by the unknown scribe.

2. The Cuthbertson Confession, given to Commandant Cuthbertson on Sarah Island, after his second escape, in 1823. Again the original document is missing, but two slightly different transcripts exist, one in the records of the 1838 Select Committee on Transportation of the House of Commons, and the other in a manuscript in the Mitchell Library in Sydney.

3. The Bisdee Confession, made to his gaoler, Mr. Bisdee, after Pearce's trial in June 1824, which appeared in print in 1825 in a book, Tales of today; or, Modern Facts containing Narratives of the most extraordinary occurrences of recent date.

4. The Conolly Confession, a narrative written by the Catholic Priest, the Reverend Philip Conolly, based on a confession given to him by Pearce the night before he was hanged in Hobart, 18 July 1824.

The confessions all bear the same basic story, but differ from each other in respect of some crucial facts, such as who was the first man killed by the escapees and what was Pearce's role in the killings.

According to the Knopwood confession the man first killed by the escaping convicts was Thomas Bodenham, and it occurred after three other men, Dalton, Brown and Kenelly, had left them to return to the penal settlement. Pearce said that Bodenham "did not appear the least affected" and only asked a few moments to make his peace with his maker before he was slain and eaten.

"Then Greenhill taking the Axe gave the unfortunate Culprit Bodenham a Severe blow on the Head which soon deprived him of his life--then taking his knife began to cut the Body to pieces on the return of the other two who were gathering Wood a fire was immediately kindled & several pieces of the Body placed thereon to Cook which they soon devoured very greedily." (2)

However in the Cuthbertson confession, Pearce stated that Thomas Dalton was the first man killed, and Bodenham was second. He also stated that Robert Greenhill was the one who instigated the killing, and after slaying Dalton, cutting him up and cooking him, "... asked the rest would they have any, but we would not eat any that Night. Next morning the body was Cut up and divided into equal parts which we took and proceeded on our journey a little after Sun rise." (3)

He then told that Kennely and Brown slipped away, after the killing, returning to Macquarie Harbour, where they were to perish soon after from the deprivations of the journey.