True Stories. Real Women. Their Voices Remembered
Step inside the walls of Adelaide Gaol and discover the haunting, powerful stories of the women once condemned by the colonial justice system.
Remembering the Women History Forgot
In Her Words isn’t just a show — it’s an act of remembrance. Each story is drawn from authentic records, court transcripts, and final letters.
These women were daughters, wives, and mothers whose lives were judged and ended by a harsh colonial justice system.
By revisiting their words, we ensure their stories are not lost to time — and that history speaks with empathy and truth.
Presented and researched by Deb Robinson, historian, author and researcher behind the Locked Up With History podcast and at the National Crime & Justice Museum at the Geelong Gaol.
The Show: In Her Words
In Her Words is a moving presentation that gives voice to the women executed across Australia’s colonial history. Through many hours of research and respectful storytelling, historian Deb Robinson shares the lives and last words of these women — exploring justice, morality, and the power of remembrance.
For the Adelaide season, In Her Words will be presented in the atmospheric Mess Hall at the Adelaide Gaol, where history still whispers from the walls.
Presentation Dates:
📅 6, 7, 8 March 2026
📅 13, 14, 15 March 2026
🕐 1:30 PM
📍 The Mess Hall, Adelaide Gaol
The Tour: In Her Words - Elizabeth’s Story
Join historian Deb Robinson for a special guided tour through Adelaide Gaol, exploring the life and fate of Elizabeth Woolcock, the only woman ever executed in South Australia.
This immersive experience combines history, storytelling, and reflection, bringing Elizabeth’s voice and story to life within the very place she was held and died.
Tour Dates:
6, 7, 8 March 2026 13, 14, 15 March 2026
11:00 AM
Adelaide Gaol
In Her Words: The Book
They were labelled murderers, monsters, madwomen. Their names, if remembered at all, are whispered in footnotes or buried in brittle court transcripts. Yet behind each headline and hanging was a woman—flesh and blood, frightened or furious, often failed by the very systems meant to protect her.
Between 1789 and 1951, twenty-five women were executed in Australia. Their stories are scattered, silenced, or sensationalised. This book gathers them back together—not to pardon, excuse, or rewrite history, but to give them what they were so often denied: their voice.
In In Her Words, we step beyond the gallows and into the lives of these women. We walk with them through dusty courtrooms, crowded prison yards, and the final quiet moments before the noose. We hear their words, read their letters, examine their trials—and we ask not only what they did, but why.
This is not a story of murder. It is a story of justice—and injustice. Of survival, desperation, resilience, and rage. These women were daughters, sisters, wives, mothers. They lived in a world that judged them not just for their actions, but for who they were.
It’s time to listen. It’s time to remember. It’s time to hear them—in their words.
Copies will be available to purchase at the shows along with copies of Roy Maloy’s books that I have written for.