David Gaunson

Gaunson circa. 1880

David Gaunson was a criminal solicitor who handled the defence of the infamous Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly in the pre-trial stages. He found a loophole in the prosecution case whereby Kelly was not guilty of murder as the police unit attacking him was out to kill him and thus Kelly fired in self-defence. Unfortunately, this argument was not carried by the defence lawyer in the actual trial and Kelly went to hang.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Gaunson became involved with John Wren, a businessman who ran illegal betting houses for Australian rules football in the Irish slum of Collingwood, Melbourne. The police eventually caught up with Wren and Wren went to Gaunson for help. What happened is not clear, but Gaunson managed to get the police off the back of Wren. Gaunson advised Wren on the best ways to cover-up his illegal betting houses and Wren became the patron saint of Collingwood football.

Gaunson remained a prominent figure throughout his life and the Wren affair was not discovered until much later in the 1950s. His role in the Wren machine is famously depicted in the Frank Hardy novel, Power Without Glory.

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Name	Gaunson, David
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