Roseanna Nicholls

Rosanna was tried in the Beechworth Court on 8^th April 1857 for wilfully and feloniously murdering her infant son. In charge of the proceedings was Justice Edward Eyre Williams. Three of the witnesses who testified at the trial were particularly critical of Rosanna’s dissolute way of life.

At the conclusion of the case, Justice Williams directed the jury to consider whether the evidence presented to the court could allow them to conclude that William Nicholls had died from natural causes and if that was the case, the prisoner should be acquitted. He also said that in order to find the prisoner guilty they must know that she either had the means of providing sustenance or had breast milk available.

The jury retired to consider their verdict but after about fifteen minutes returned a guilty verdict based on their opinion that William Nicholls’ death had been caused by neglect. Justice Williams refused to accept their decision and sent them out again. After deliberating for a further twenty minutes, the jury returned the same verdict. This caused uproar in the court because with a guilty verdict came the ultimate penalty, the death sentence.

Once order was restored in the court, Justice Williams addressed Rosanna and told her that she was a depraved woman who, through her penchant for alcohol had neglected her maternal duty. He then bestowed on Rosanna the dubious honour of not only being the first person to be sentenced to death at the Beechworth court but, if the execution was carried out, then she would be the first woman to be executed in Victoria.