Career
He was executed for murder at the age of fifteen. Born in 1829, John Gavin was convicted of an offence while still a juvenile, and was transported to Western Australia as a Parkhurst apprentice, arriving on board the Shepherd in October 1843. On 3 April 1844, he was tried for the murder of his employer"s son, 18-year-old George Pollard.
He confessed to killing the sleeping victim with an adze. but he seemed unaware of a rational motive.
Three days later he was publicly hanged outside the Round House in Fremantle. After a death mask had been taken and his brain studied for "scientific purposes" he was buried in the sand hills to the south without ceremony.
