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'On 29 April 1959, Sandra Willson, a twenty-year-old trainee psychiatric nurse from Paddington, devastated by the break-up of her relationship with her female lover, left her home and hailed a taxi. Asking the driver to take her to a remote location on the coast near Cronulla, she waited until he had stopped to consult a map and then shot him in the back of the head.
'Found not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity and sentenced to detention at the ‘Governor’s Pleasure’, Willson spent the next seventeen years in prison and psychiatric hospitals, becoming the longest-serving woman prisoner in NSW.
'Her memoir, largely written in prison and now published for the first time, describes the events leading up to the shooting, the day itself and the years of incarceration that followed. Raw, compelling, Between Me and Myself is a fascinating insight into life on the social margins of post-war Sydney, an indictment of the justice system’s treatment of gay women, and a tragic story of abuse, mental illness, desire and repression.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Tit for Tat : The Conflicted Life of Sandra Willson
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 447 2022; (p. 33)
— Review of Between Me and Myself : A Memoir of Murder, Desire and the Struggle to Be Free 2021 single work autobiography 'What could compel a woman to murder a complete stranger? This is the obvious question posed by Sandra Willson’s execution-style murder of Sydney taxi driver Rodney Woodgate in 1959 following the traumatic end of her lesbian relationship with a fellow trainee psychiatric nurse. It is something that Willson grapples with in her searing memoir, which she wrote over several decades. Posthumously edited by historian Rebecca Jennings, it joins one of a small group of books that provide a first-hand account of the criminalisation and institutional repression of lesbianism and gender non-conformity in mid-twentieth-century Australia.'(Introduction)
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‘I Did Not Dare Allow Myself to Be Vulnerable’ : Sandra Willson’s Memoir of Incarceration Is a Tale of Working-class Resilience
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 8 July 2022;
— Review of Between Me and Myself : A Memoir of Murder, Desire and the Struggle to Be Free 2021 single work autobiography'Why do authors pen memoirs? What impact can memoirs have? Patti Miller, an expert on writing “true life”, says authors should ask why their memoir should be written.'
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Betterment behind Bars
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4 June 2022; (p. 13)
— Review of Between Me and Myself : A Memoir of Murder, Desire and the Struggle to Be Free 2021 single work autobiography
-
Betterment behind Bars
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4 June 2022; (p. 13)
— Review of Between Me and Myself : A Memoir of Murder, Desire and the Struggle to Be Free 2021 single work autobiography -
‘I Did Not Dare Allow Myself to Be Vulnerable’ : Sandra Willson’s Memoir of Incarceration Is a Tale of Working-class Resilience
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 8 July 2022;
— Review of Between Me and Myself : A Memoir of Murder, Desire and the Struggle to Be Free 2021 single work autobiography'Why do authors pen memoirs? What impact can memoirs have? Patti Miller, an expert on writing “true life”, says authors should ask why their memoir should be written.'
-
Tit for Tat : The Conflicted Life of Sandra Willson
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 447 2022; (p. 33)
— Review of Between Me and Myself : A Memoir of Murder, Desire and the Struggle to Be Free 2021 single work autobiography 'What could compel a woman to murder a complete stranger? This is the obvious question posed by Sandra Willson’s execution-style murder of Sydney taxi driver Rodney Woodgate in 1959 following the traumatic end of her lesbian relationship with a fellow trainee psychiatric nurse. It is something that Willson grapples with in her searing memoir, which she wrote over several decades. Posthumously edited by historian Rebecca Jennings, it joins one of a small group of books that provide a first-hand account of the criminalisation and institutional repression of lesbianism and gender non-conformity in mid-twentieth-century Australia.'(Introduction)
Awards
- 2023 longlisted Davitt Award — Best Debut
- 2023 longlisted Davitt Award — Best True Crime Book
