<Tr> <Th> Parent (s) </Th> <Td> John and Cecilia (née Young) Ryan </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Conviction (s) </Th> <Td> Murder </Td> </Tr> <P> Ronald Joseph Ryan (21 February 1925--3 February 1967) was the last person to be legally executed in Australia . Ryan was found guilty of shooting and killing warder George Hodson during an escape from Pentridge Prison, Victoria, in 1965 . Ryan's hanging was met with some of the largest public protests in the history of Australia and led to the end of capital punishment . The death penalty was abolished in 1985 . </P> <P> Ronald Edmond Thompson was born at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne's inner suburb of Carlton, to John Ronald Ryan and Cecilia Thompson (née Young). Cecilia already had a son with her first husband George Harry Thompson and was living with John Ryan . Cecilia and George had separated in 1915 when George left to fight in the Great War . The relationship never resumed . Cecilia met John Ryan while working as a nurse in Woods Point where he was suffering lung disease . They formed a relationship in 1924 and later married in 1929, after Thompson's death in 1927 by falling from a tram and getting hit by a car . Ryan then adopted the name Ronald Edmond Ryan . In 1936 Ryan was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church . He took as his confirmation name Joseph, becoming Ronald Edmond Joseph Ryan . He did not like Edmond and from then on used "Ronald Joseph Ryan". </P>

Who was the last man hung in australia