Autobiography/Memoir

Walk On: The Remarkable True Story of the Last Person Sentenced to Death in Australia

Brenda Hodge

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Brenda Hodge (b. 1951) is an Australian who is notable as the last person to be sentenced to death in Australia. She was found guilty of murdering her de facto partner in 1984 and was sentenced to death. Her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and she was released in 1995. While she was still a child, Brenda was charged with being a 'neglected child' and placed into a reformatory in Melbourne. After escaping, she was sent between mental hospitals and reformatories, until her biological father contacted her, inviting her to live with him in Brisbane. She later found out he was an alcoholic too and he pressured her into having sex with him. Soon after she ran away and was put into a mental hospital.