Elizabeth Woolcock had a difficult life. Born Elizabeth Lillian Oliver at Burra in 1848, her parents travelled to the gold fields of Ballarat when she was a small child. Her mother left with another man, abandoning her in the care of her father. Elizabeth witnessed bloody scenes during the Eureka Stockade, and was raped by a tramp at the age of seven. Two years later her father died and she was sent to work in the household of a chemist in Creswick. In 1863 she moved to Ballarat, working as a housemaid, but became involved in prostitution. While here she heard that her mother was re-married and living at Moonta, and went there to join her there.

Unhappy with her step-father, Elizabeth married a widowed miner named Thomas Woolcock in 1867. Woolcock mistreated her, and to give him a 'fright' she supposedly put mercury into his food. When her husband died on 4 September 1873, Elizabeth was tried at the Supreme Court and found guilty of murder, despite conflicting medical evidence. While awaiting death in Adelaide Gaol, she wrote a confession to the Rev James Bickford, who visited her before her death, and had known her as a small child on the gold fields. She was hung on 30 December 1873. The area where the Woolcocks lived at Yelta, near Moonta, was locally dubbed 'Poison Flat' as a result of the sad episode.

'Execution of Elizabeth Woolcock,' Wallaroo times, 3 January 1874, p. 3

Harris, Samela. 'Haunted : one man's fight to lay a ghost to rest,' Advertiser, saweekend, pp. 17-19

Peters, Allan L. Dead woman walking: was an innocent woman hanged? Seaford, Vic.: Bas Publishing, 2008