Lesson plan

Thomas Bushell

Thomas Bushell ( 12 September 1865) was a convict transported to colonial Western Australia. He was hanged in 1865 after attacking a warder. __NOTOC__ Thomas Bushell was born in Ireland around 1834; nothing is known of his early life. At the age of twenty-two he was an unmarried, semi-literate soldier serving at Malta, with a bad army record, when he struck a superior officer and was sentenced to life imprisonment and transportation. Assuming normal procedure, he would have spent the first two years of his sentence in England, the first nine months of which would be spent in solitary confinement.

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Article summary

Thomas Bushell ( 12 September 1865) was a convict transported to colonial Western Australia. He was hanged in 1865 after attacking a warder. __NOTOC__ Thomas Bushell was born in Ireland around 1834; nothing is known of his early life. At the age of twenty-two he was an unmarried, semi-literate soldier serving at Malta, with a bad army record, when he struck a superior officer and was sentenced to life imprisonment and transportation. Assuming normal procedure, he would have spent the first two years of his sentence in England, the first nine months of which would be spent in solitary confinement.

Key claims

  1. date of birth: 1834 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of birth is "1834". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1247786853

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.