The women history forgot: death row doll tells story

A SMALL handmade doll is offering a rare glimpse into the final days of the last woman executed in Australia.

This week marks 75 years since Jean Lee was hanged at Pentridge Prison on 19 February 1951 for her role in the murder of Carlton SP bookmaker William “Pop” Kent.

In Geelong, a deeply personal object, a hand-crocheted doll Lee made while awaiting execution, has gone on public display for the first time at the National Crime and Justice Museum at the Old Geelong Goal.

Lee is believed to have given the doll to prison officer Keith Yates shortly before her death as a gesture of thanks for his kindness.

Historian and author Deb Robinson said Lee had been “on the straight and narrow for most of the life”, but she was “led into a life of crime” in the 1940s after her marriage fell apart.

Then, in 1946, Lee met Robert David Clayton.

“They immediately hit it off,” Robinson said. “They moved in together pretty much straight away.”

The pair later teamed with another criminal, Norman Andrews, and during the 1949 spring racing period met Kent in a Carlton hotel after noticing he was carrying a roll of cash. When the hotel closed, he invited them back to his nearby home.

Kent’s body was discovered two hours later. He had been bashed, tied to a chair and the hotel room had been ransacked.

Several witnesses had seen the trio with Kent earlier that evening and police arrested them at a Spencer Street hotel before dawn the next morning.

All three were sentenced to death. Appeals briefly overturned the conviction, but it was reinstated by the High Court and the executions proceeded.

Lee was executed at 8am, with her two co-accused put to death two hours later.

Growing discomfort with executions had been building for decades and Lee’s death added fuel to the broader movement that eventually saw the punishment abandoned.

The anniversary coincides with the release of Robinson’s new book In Her Words, which examines the lives of the 25 women executed in Australia.

“I wanted it to be not just about their crimes and their execution, but also about their lives and where they came from and how they ended up in this position,” Robinson said.

Many of the women, Robinson said, had lived under laws that had left them with little independence and were unable to speak in their own defence.

“I wanted to call it In Her Voice because it is trying to give these women a voice back, even if it is hundreds of years later,” she said.

“We know a lot about the men who have been executed, but we don’t necessarily hear about the women.”

“They’ve almost become my family, these women, because they’ve become so important to me.”

Robinson will present talks on the book as part of a series of shows at the Adelaide Fringe Festival this weekend, while the crocheted doll will become a permanent display at the Old Geelong Gaol.