Pardon / Billy Kipper

89270

Pardons.

Single-page pardon signed and sealed by the His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC with the Public Seal of the State of Queensland, dated 20 September 2018. Text reads: 'Queensland / Constitution of Queensland 2001 / Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth / Pardon / Application by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to His Excellency the Governor for the exercise of the power conferred by law on the Governor to grant an unconditional, full and free pardon to Kipper Billy (deceased) for his conviction of 4February 1862 in the Ipswich Circuit Court of the offence of adding and abetting Billy Horton in the rape of Jane Rae on 11 December 1861 / I, Paul de Jersey AC, Governor, acting under section 36(2)(a) of the Constitution of Queensland 2001, having received the advice of Ministers in the matter of this Application, hereby exercise the power conferred upon me by law to grant the pardon to which the Application relates'.

Donated by the Governor of Queensland, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, 26 October 2018.

In 1862 Aboriginal man Kipper Billy was wrongly convicted of aiding and abetting the rape of a white woman at a camp near Ipswich. He and co-accused Billy Horton were sentenced to death by hanging and were incarcerated at Brisbane Gaol, later known as Boggo Road. Knowing himself an innocent man awaiting execution, Kipper Billy made a bid for freedom. He wore away at his leg irons for days by rubbing them on the stone floor. One afternoon when his cell was opened for yard exercise, Kipper Billy made a dash for the jail fence. He was shot while scaling the wall and fell. It is uncertain whether a bullet or a later blow to the head from prison guards killed him. Sadly, Kipper Billy was unaware that the Supreme Court had been instructed to open an inquiry into his case. Shortly after the trial, the local mailman had come forward with an unassailable alibi for Billy Horton, and, by extension for his accused accomplice Kipper Billy. Within a month following Kipper Billy's death, Justice Alfred Lutwyche would rule that neither Billy Horton nor Kipper Billy were at the site of the assault. Billy Horton received a pardon, but Kipper Billy's conviction was never expunged. Former journalist Ken Blanch spent over 30 years fighting for a posthumous pardon for Kipper Billy after coming across his story and identifying the grave injustice. In September 2018 the Governor of Queensland His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC signed Kipper Billy's Royal Pardon, which was handed over to Indigenous representatives and Ken Blanch in a special ceremony at Government House in Brisbane. His Excellency donated this original duplicate of the pardon to the Supreme Court Library Legal Heritage Collection.

Supreme Court Library Queensland. Legal heritage collection.

Supreme Court Library Queensland. Donation from the Governor of Queensland, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC.

17 x 22 cm