Henry Stark MURROW

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. # 4471

Rank:  Senior Constable

Stations:  Phillip Street Police Station ( No. 4 Division )

Service:  From 9 June 1883  to  5 October 1897 = 14+ years

Awards:  ?

Born:  1861 in England

Event date: 4 October 1897

Event location:  the vicinity of Argyle Street, The Rocks

Died on: 5 October, 1897 around 12.30am

Cause:  Assault – blood clot on the brain

Age:  35

Funeral date:  6 October 1897 @ 3pm

Funeral location:  Waverley Cemetery

Buried at:  Waverley Cemetery

Memorial:  https://police.freom.com/eastern-suburb…olice-memorial/

HENRY IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

On 4 October 1897 Constable Murrow attempted to arrest a man by the name of Daniel Conway in the vicinity of Argyle Street, The Rocks. During the scuffle the constable fell to the ground, heavily striking his head. Taken to the Sydney Hospital and treated for what was thought to be merely a scalp wound, the constable was allowed to return to his home. Later that night he became very ill and died. It was subsequently found that he had suffered a fractured skull. Although Conway was charged with murder he was later convicted of manslaughter and sent to gaol.

The Sydney Morning Herald of 7 October, 1897 described the constable’s inquest and funeral, concluding with the following:

The funeral of the deceased took place yesterday afternoon. The procession, which included 160 members of the police force in uniform and a number of Freemasons, left the deceased’s late residence, at 117 Underwood Street, Paddington, shortly before 3 o’clock, and proceeded to Waverley Cemetery, where the interment took place. The coffin was covered with floral tributes. The Police Band played the Dead March en route. At the grave a special Masonic service was read, as well as the usual burial service. Amongst the officers of the department who were present were Superintendent Head, Inspectors Bremner, Potter and Lawless, and Sub-inspectors Scott and Elliott. In the funeral procession there were also a large number of civilians.

The senior constable was born in 1861 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 9 June, 1883. At the time of his death he was stationed at Phillip Street Police Station, Sydney.

Police death in the course of duty

Senior Constable Henry Murrow (1869–1897) of No 4 Station died from an injury received on duty. Born in England, Murrow had settled with his parents in New Zealand where he joined the New Zealand Police Force before moving to Sydney and joining the NSW Police Force in 1883.

On 4 October 1897, Murrow, while on duty in The Rocks was hailed by Jane Jones, publican of the Orient Hotel who was having trouble with a drunken patron, Daniel Conway. Jones asked Murrow to move Conway along. This he did, requesting that Conway go home. Conway left with another man, walking south along George Street, closely followed by Murrow, as witnessed by George Howlett. Nearing the Port Jackson Hotel (now the Russell Hotel) on the corner of Globe Street, Conway’s companion was swearing, at which point Murrow overtook them and clasped his hand on the man’s shoulder. This resulted in a fight during which Murrow struck his head on the woodblock paving of George Street. Howlett intervened, helping Murrow to his feet. Conway then fled back towards Argyle Street and Howlett assisted Murrow to the nearby No 4 Police Station.

Murrow was escorted to Sydney Hospital where wound was dressed. It appeared to be minor so Murrow was dismissed. Meanwhile Conway was delivered into the custody of water police Constable William Cleugh who took him to the Water Police Station in Phillip Street where he was charged with assaulting Morrow while he was on duty.

At 10.30pm at his home at Paddington, Murrow lost consciousness and died around 12.30am. Doctors were summoned and determined that he had concussion, an autopsy confirmed it. Conway, was charged with murder but convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to six months hard labour at Darlinghurst Gaol.[9]

[9] Daily Telegraph, 7 and 8 October 1897

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Goulburn Evening Penny Post                    Thursday  7 October 1897        page 2 of 4

THE DEATH OF CONSTABLE MURROW.

The City Coroner, Mr. J. C. Woore, J.P., on Wednesday initiated an inquest into the circumstances touching the death of Senior-constable Henry Murrow. A somewhat painful scene occurred when the witnesses were called in to see the body identified. Mrs. Murrow, widow of the deceased, was present to identify the body, and when Daniel Conway, the young fireman, who attended the inquest in custody, was brought in a fit of uncontrollable indignation took possession of the bereaved woman, and she tried to get at close quarters with Conway. Evidence was then taken.

Caroline Barbara Murrow stated that deceased was her husband, was a native of England, and 32 years of age. He left three children, and no property. At 9.30 a.m. on the 4th instant he left home in his usual health to go on duty. He was home again about half-past 8 on the evening of that day, and when she came in at that time after having been out all day she found him lying on the bed in an unconscious condition and bleeding from a wound in the head. She applied carbolic oil to the wound, and bandaged deceased’s head. Dr. Walton Smith was sent for, and remained with her husband until he died. Dr. Quaife was also present at the time of his death.

Dr. Rennie, who in conjunction with Dr. Jameson had made a post-mortem examination of the body, stated that he found a star-shaped cut about 2in. in length on the back of the head. The cut penetrated to the bone, but the skull was not fractured. On opening the skull he found a large clot of blood compressing the left side of the brain, which was lacerated, and it was to this laceration of the brain that death was due.

Similar evidence was given by Dr. Jameson.

Dr. Smith stated that he was called in to see deceased on the night of the 4th instant, and at once came to the conclusion that he was dying, and suggested a consultation. Dr. Quaife was sent for, and together they saw deceased about 10.45 p.m. The took two stitches out of the scalp wound and found that there had been no fracture of the skull.

Jane Jones, a widow, and licensee of the Orient Hotel, corner of Argyle and George streets, ( The Rocks, Sydney ) stated that on the 4th instant, at about 12.45 p.m., she called deceased’s attention to the fact that Daniel Conway, the man in custody, was causing her annoyance. Murrow told Conway to go home, and the two went away in the same direction, Conway being about 10 yards in advance of Murrow. She did not see what happened subsequently.

George Howlett, a fireman employed on the steamship Echuca, stated that he saw Murrow following Conway and another man, and when deceased put his right hand on the latter’s shoulder Conway struck him twice. Deceased struck the other man and knocked him down. The latter then got up and ran away. Murrow then closed with Conway and tried to handcuff him. Conway struck him in the face and tripped him up. Deceased fell in the roadway, and his head struck the ground. Conway got up and ran away. In answer to Conway witness said that he saw deceased strike Conway after the latter had struck him.

Dr. W. H. Harris stated that he stitched the wound in deceased‘s head, but did not consider it serious enough to justify his detaining the man in the hospital. Murrow told him that he had slipped on an orange peel at Circular Quay. The inquest was then adjourned till 10 o’clock next day.

The funeral of the deceased took place in the afternoon. The procession, included 160 members of the police force in uniform and a number of Freemasons.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/104556039

Evening News ( Sydney )

Wednesday  6 October 1897        page 6 of 8

A Policeman Killed.

INQUEST ON MURROW.

TO-DAY’S PROCEEDINGS.

An inquest was commenced this morning at the United Service Hotel, Oxford-street, Paddington, on the body of Senior-Constable Henry Murrow, who died from injuries received near Circular Quay on Eight-hour Day.

Daniel Conway, who is alleged to have assaulted the constable, was present in custody, charged with having caused the death of Murrow.

Caroline Barbara Murrow stated that deceased was her husband, and resided with her at 117 Underwood-street, Paddington. He was 32 years of age, and left three children.

Dr. Rennie deposed that, in company with Dr. Jamieson, he yesterday afternoon made a post-mortem examination of the body. He found a star-shaped wound at the back of the head, extending about two inches in either direction, down to the bone. There were no other external marks of violence on the body. A large clot of blood beneath this wound was compressing the left side of the brain, and that side of the brain was lacerated. There was no fracture of the skull. The cause of death was laceration of the brain and compression of the brain by the blood-clot described.

Dr. Sydney Jamieson gave corroborative medical testimony.   (Proceeding) .

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/108879317

Evening News ( Sydney )

Wednesday  6 October 1897    page 6 of 8

A Policeman Killed.

INQUEST ON MURROW.

TO-DAY’S PROCEEDINGS.

An inquest was commenced this morning at the United Service Hotel, Oxford-street, Paddington, on the body of Senior-Constable Henry Murrow, who died from injuries received near Circular Quay on Eight-hour Day.

Daniel Conway, who is alleged to have assaulted   the constable, was present in custody, charged   with having caused the death of Murrow.   Caroline Barbara Murrow stated that deceased was her husband, and resided with her at 117 Underwood-street, Paddington. He was 32 years of age, and left three children.

Dr. Rennie deposed that, in company with Dr. Jamieson, he yesterday afternoon made a post-mortem examination of the body. He found a star-shaped wound at the back of the head, extending about two inches in either direction, down to the bone. There were no other external marks of violence on the body. A large clot   of blood beneath this wound was compressing the left side of the brain, and that side of the brain was lacerated. There was no fracture of the skull. The cause of death was laceration of the brain and compression of the brain by the blood-clot described. Dr. Sydney Jamieson gave corroborative medical testimony.   (Proceeding.)

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/108879317

Evening News ( Sydney )

Thursday  7 October 1897     page 6 of 8

THE INQUEST RESUMED.

TO-DAY’S PROCEEDINGS.

The inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Senior-constable Henry Murrow, who died on Monday night from injuries received while endeavoring to arrest a man near Circular Quay on that day, was resumed this morning at the United Service Hotel, Oxford Street, Paddington.

James Codd, grocer, living at 17 Market-street, said that he met deceased at about 11 o’clock on Monday morning, and remained with him until about half-past 12. During that time they had one drink each. He was perfectly sober. After warning two men about whom, he had received a complaint at the Orient Hotel deceased walked towards the station. On the way an altercation took place with Conway ( the man before the court ). Conway struck deceased, who returned the blow. They then closed and fell together, the constable being underneath. His feet seemed to slip from under him. Witness was about ten yards away at the time. Deceased tried to rise, but fell back, and blood came from his mouth. Conway ran towards Argyle Cut. Prior to Conway striking the constable the latter placed his hand on the shoulder of the other.

Charles Nolan, draper, at 247 George-street, deposed to running after Conway when the constable fell. He called to him to stop. Conway did so, and came back towards witness. Two members of the water police were in sight, and witness hailed them, and told them what had occurred. They took Conway to No. 4 Station.

Constable James Finn took deceased to the hospital. Witness described the attention which Murrow received there. After remaining ten or fifteen minutes deceased walked out, gave his address to the cabman, and proceeded home. Witness saw no blood issue from the mouth of deceased.

To Conway: I told the doctor at the hospital what deceased told me as to the cause of the injury. Deceased told me that he went to arrest a man, when another man came up, struck him, and knocked him down on the back of his head on the blocks. During the progress of the inquiry the accused Conway, who is a powerfully built fireman, and who gave his age as 26, cross-examining the various witnesses to show that he received provocation from the deceased. He appears to be deaf, and held his hand to his ear while the evidence was being tendered, apparently only half understanding the proceedings. When the answers to his questions were, not satisfactory, he hinted at the witnesses making false statements.

The taking of evidence was concluded at noon, and the coroner having briefly summed up, the jury retired to consider their verdict.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/108876766

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Thursday  7 October 1897     page 2 of 4

THE DEATH OF CONSTABLE MURROW.

The City Coroner, Mr. J. C. Woore, J.P., on Wednesday initiated an inquest into the circumstances touching the death of Senior-constable Henry Murrow. A somewhat painful scene occurred when the witnesses were called in to see the body identified. Mrs. Murrow, widow of the deceased, was present to identify the body, and when Daniel Conway, the young fireman, who attended the inquest in custody, was brought in a fit of uncontrollable indignation took possession of the bereaved woman, and she tried to get at close quarters with Conway. Evidence was then taken.

Caroline Barbara Murrow stated that deceased was her husband, was a native of England, and 32 years of age. He left three children, and no property. At 9.30 a.m. on the 4th instant he left home in his usual health to go on duty. He was home again about half-past 8 on the evening of that day, and when she came in at that time after having been out all day she found him lying on the bed in an unconscious condition and bleeding from a wound in the head. She applied carbolic oil to the wound, and bandaged deceased’s head. Dr. Walton Smith was sent for, and remained with her husband until he died. Dr. Quaife was also present at the time of his death.

Dr. Rennie, who in conjunction with Dr. Jameson had made a post-mortem examination of the body, stated that he found a star-shaped cut about 2in. in length on the back of the head. The cut penetrated to the bone, but the skull was not fractured. On opening the skull he found a large clot of blood compressing the left side of the brain, which was lacerated, and it was to this laceration of the brain that death was due.

Similar evidence was given by Dr. Jameson.

Dr. Smith stated that he was called in to see deceased on the night of the 4th instant, and at once came to the conclusion that he was dying, and suggested a consultation. Dr. Quaife was sent for, and together they saw deceased about 10.45 p.m. The took two stitches out of the scalp wound and found that there had been no fracture of the skull.

Jane Jones, a widow, and licensee of the Orient Hotel, corner of Argyle and George streets, stated that on the 4th instant, at about 12.45 p.m., she called deceased’s attention to the fact that Daniel Conway, the man in custody, was causing her annoyance. Murrow told Conway to go home, and the two went away in the same direction, Conway being about 10 yards in advance of Murrow. She did not see what happened subsequently.

George Howlett, a fireman employed on the steamship Echuca, stated that he saw Murrow following Conway and another man, and when   deceased put his right hand on the latter’s shoulder Conway struck him twice. Deceased struck the other man and knocked him down. The latter then got up and ran away. Murrow then closed with Conway and tried to handcuff him. Conway struck him in the face and tripped him up. Deceased fell in the roadway, and his head struck the ground. Conway got up and ran away. In answer to Conway witness said that he saw deceased strike Conway after the latter had struck him.

Dr. W. H. Harris stated that he stitched the wound in deceased’s head, but did not consider it serious enough to justify his detaining the man in the hospital. Murrow told him that he had slipped on an orange peel at Circular Quay. The inquest was then adjourned till 10 o’clock next day.

The funeral of the deceased took place in the afternoon. The procession, included 160 members of the police force in uniform and a number of Freemasons.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/104556039

The Maitland Daily Mercury

Thursday  7 October 1897    page 2 of 4

Benefits of Life Insurance.— One of the last acts performed by Constable Murrow before meeting with the injuries which caused his violent death at Circular Quay on Monday evening was the payment by him on Saturday last of the premium, then overdue, upon his life policy for £200 with the Mutual Life Association of Australasia.   Strangely enough the policy had lapsed through non-payment of premium on the 1st of August but, thanks to the practice of the Mutual Life Office, a special letter was written to Murrow on the 14th ultimo, strongly urging him not to allow so valuable a provision for his family to be lost.

On 2nd instant, as above stated, the conditions necessary for reinstating the policy were complied with by the deceased, with the result that the general manager ( Mr. J. C. Remington ) has caused a notification to be sent to the widow that the amount of her late husband’s assurance is available immediately the necessary legal documents are forthcoming.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/122734090

The Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday  19 October 1897      page 1 of 8

Return Thanks.

Mrs. C. R. MURROW, Paddington, desires to express her sincere THANKS to her late husband’s comrades and her many friends for their kind sympathy, floral wreaths, letters of condolence, &c., kindly sent her in her late sudden bereavement.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14092346

Evening News ( Sydney )

Thursday  25 November 1897     page 5 of 8

John MITCHELL

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  Q 3302 

( For the purposes of this website ‘Q’ represents those Police joining between 1 March 1862 ( commencement of NSWPF ) – 23 February 1915 ( Commencement of NSWPF current numbering system )

Rank: Constable – appointed 27 September 1878

Constable 1st Class- appointed February 1884

Stations:  Bathurst, Coonamble – Death

Service:  From  27 September 1878  to  13 March 1885 = 6.5 years

Awards:  ?

Born:  18 August 1856 in Uig, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland

Event date:  Thursday  12 March 1885

Event location:  Gaol, Aberford St, Coonamble ( erected 1877 )

Died on:  Friday  13 March 1885

Cause:  Shot – Murdered at Coonamble, NSW

Age:  29

Funeral Date:  Sunday  15 March 1885

Funeral location: 

Buried at:  *Old Coonamble Cemetery, Auburn St, opposite Warrena St, Coonamble, NSW

( This cemetery no longer exists and was turned into a Park around 1970 and the headstones removed.  See *below )

JOHN IS Mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

Early in the morning of 12 March, 1885 two prisoners in the lockup at Coonamble overpowered a warder by the name of  Michael Langley who had gone into their cell to place leg irons on a third prisoner by the name of Courtney.

He was knocked to the floor and his revolver taken from him.

Hearing the scuffle, Constable Mitchell, acting Gaoler at the time,  arose from his bed and ran to the cells to assist.

One of the prisoners, a man named Angel, warned the constable not to come into the cell however Mitchell ignored this and lunged at the prisoner. As he did so he was shot in the chest. He died about 7am the following day.

In a dying deposition given to the Coonamble Police Magistrate on 12 March, Constable Mitchell said, ‘I am acting Gaoler at Coonamble gaol; at about a quarter past six this morning the 12th March inst., I opened the door of the guard room Coonamble Gaol; the Warder just then came into the cell where the convicted prisoners Angel, Thurston, and Courtney were confined; I heard a noise in the cell as if a man was being strangled; I came in and the warder was lying down on the cell floor; Angel was strangling him and Thurston was taking the revolver from him; I made a rush and Courtney knocked me over; Angel then got the revolver and both he and Thurston rushed at the cell door; Angel said “Keep back or I’ll shoot you”; I made a rush to try and get the revolver from Angel when he shot me; they then shut the warder and myself together with Courtney, who did not get away owing to Warder Langley’s threatening to kill him if he moved in the cell and rushed away. “

Both Angel and Thurston managed to escape, however both were later shot to death by police.

James Alfred Courtney, the third prisoner, was later found not guilty of involvement in the murder as he had been found by other police after the murder and escape, still in the cell attempting to assist Constable Mitchell by bathing his wound with cold tea (there was no water in the cell). A recommendation was then made to have his previous sentence reduced.

The constable was born in 1855 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 27 September, 1878. At the time of his death he was stationed at Coonamble, and had previously been stationed at Bathurst.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/514697128544865/?multi_permalinks=4440570939290778&notif_id=1615702894714807&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif

*Old Coonamble General Cemetery

The original general cemetery in Coonamble was in operation from 1869 to 1912 when it was deemed to be full and closed to further burials. Many years later (probably around 1970), Council removed the headstones and converted the area into a park.

In the preface to her book, “Coonamble Memorial Wall Pioneer Profiles”, local historian Joan McKenzie explains: “When the old cemetery at the end of Warrena Street was cleared about thirty years ago, a number of headstones were retained and embedded on and around a large mound of earth. In 1993, a Federal Government grant enabled the Shire Council to move those headstones to the cemetery in West Coonamble, which had been established circa 1902. ”

Appropriately, the site chosen by Council to devote to the display of those old stones adjoined the historically significant Sexton’s Hut, erected in 1912. The display was organised into three sections: a covered double-sided memorial wall, a group of sandstone monuments and a group of marble monuments. The work was completed to a high standard and dedicated on 12 September 1993. A list of 611 names of persons whose deaths were registered at Coonamble during the period that the old cemetery was in operation, and known or presumed to have been buried at the old site, was inscribed and mounted on the side of the Sexton’s Hut.

For more information on the Old Coonamble General Cemetery (including listings) click here

Cemetery Information

Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal ( NSW )     Friday  13 March 1885     page 2 of 4

FRIGHTFUL TRAGEDY AT COONAMBLE.

– * –

A CONSTABLE SHOT.

ESCAPE OF PRISONERS.

( BY TELEGRAPH )

[ FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ]

Coonamble, Friday.

A shocking tragedy occurred at Coonamble gaol yesterday morning, in a cell where a prisoner named Angel, who had been sentenced to four years for cattle stealing, another prisoner named Courtney, and a prisoner named Thurstone, who had served a sentence at Berrima gaol, were confined.

When the turnkey ( Warder Langley ) entered to leg iron Courtney and Angel, one of the prisoners pounced upon him, and knocked him down and         took his revolver. The turnkey called aloud, when Mitchell, a constable, and formerly of Bathurst, hearing the scuffle, rushed out of bed. The prisoner Angel, who had the revolver, told Mitchell not to dare to come in, Mitchell, however, advanced, and Angel fired. The bullet entered Mitchell’s breast just below the heart, and went right through his body and out at the back. Mitchell at once fell, and the three prisoners made their escape with the revolver.

Five miles from town they pulled a boy off his horse, and the escapees got on to the horse, and galloped into the bush. They have been tracked, and hopes are entertained that they will be soon captured. They are armed with revolvers taken from the gaolers.

The tragic affair has cast quite a gloom over the town.

The warder, Mitchell, is still lingering, but no hopes are held out of his recover.

Later.

On the prisoners getting to the gaol yard, they cut Thurstone‘s irons, leaving the sockets on the legs, and crossed the river at the upper end of the scrub, near the old engine, McMahon’s station. The Police Magistrate and trackers on on their tracks.

Constable Mitchell died at 7 am. to-day. Warder Langley is much prostrated, and quite ill from the effects of the encounter, and will not be able to resume his duties for a time.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/62013902?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#reloadOnBack

The South Australian Advertiser                Monday  16 March 1885                      page 5 of 8

A good deal of excitement prevails at Coonamble consequent upon the death of Mitchell, the gaolor (sic) of the local prison, from the effects of a wound caused by his being shot at by a prisoner named Angel, who recently escaped from gaol with another prisoner named Thurston.

The men Angel and Thurston, who escaped into the bush, have not yet been tracked, although search parties are in pursuit.

The Government has offered £200 reward for their capture.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/35978352?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#pstart2698000

The Brisbane Courier                                     Tuesday  17 March 1885                      page 6 of 8

The troopers sent out in search of the escaped prisoners Angel and Thurstone, who are charged with the murder of gaoler Mitchell at Coonamble, returned last night without finding any trace of the criminals.

Mitchell was buried on Sunday.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/3440123?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#reloadOnBack

Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal            Tuesday  17 March 1885                   page 3 of 4

THE TRAGEDY IN COONAMBLE GAOL.

The following, which is a more detailed account of the shooting of the gaoler, Constable Mitchell, and the escape of two prisoners from the Coonamble gaol, is abridged from the Coonamble Independent : —

After the trial of the prisoner Thomas Angel, at the Quarter Sessions, he, together with two other convicted men, Thurston and Courtney, was locked up for the night in a cell in the gaol.

Thurston had riveted irons on, whilst Angel, who it was surmised was shamming illness, and Courtney, were unfettered.

On the following morning, Mitchell gave orders to the warder to leg-iron Courtney, who was told off to act as cook. The warder was in the act of stooping down to leg-iron Courtney when the three prisoners set upon him, got him down, and endeavoured to strangle him. They seized his revolver in the struggle, leaving him powerless and half stunned. Mitchell jumped into the cell to assist the warder, and it is surmised, was tripped up by Courtney. Mitchell regained his feet and Angel was standing at the cell door with the revolver in his hand, Thurston having gone outside, and Courtney being on the inside.

Angel told the warder that if he (the latter) attempted to stir he would blow his brains out. At this juncture Mitchell jumped from Courtney towards Angel, when the latter deliberately shot at Mitchell. The gaoler fell from the effects of the shot, leaving the warder disabled, and Courtney in the cell. The door of the cell was thereupon bolted by either Angel or Thurston on the outside.

Thurston rushed down the passage with a tomahawk in his hand, and Angel went into the guard room. Angel ran quickly to a Mrs. Canham who was present, caught hold of her by the hand, and wanted to lock her up in a cell. She refused to go, when Angel held the revolver to her forehead. After some parleying, Angel let Mrs. Canham’s hand go, and the two men went through the front door.

Drs. Cortis and Tressider, were quickly in attendance, and upon examination it was found that poor Mitchell was shot in the right breast, the bullet having passed clean through his body, coming out at the lower portion of his back.

From the first the case was pronounced hopeless and the deepest sympathy was evinced for the unfortunate gaoler, his wife, and family.

Poor Mitchell, after lingering until Friday morning, succumbed to the effects of the bullet wound, and his untimely end is universally and deeply regretted. He was a thoroughly efficient officer, esteemed at headquarters, and deservedly respected in Coonamble.

He leaves a wife and children totally unprovided for.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/62015438?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#pstart6174339

Launceston Examiner ( Tasmania )                        Tuesday  24 March 1885                 page 2 of 4

A verdict of wilful murder has been returned against the escaped prisoner Angel and his companion Thurston, also against another prisoner who was in the cell at Coonamble Gaol when Warder Mitchell was shot.

The two men have not as yet been re-captured, and the Government have offered £200 reward.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/38297541?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#pstart2934593

Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal ( NSW )                   Wednesday  25 March 1885                  page 2 of 8

MURDER OF ACTING-GAOLER MITCHELL —

The following notice appears in Friday’s Gazette:-

Whereas on the morning of the 12th instant, two prisoners, named William White, alias Thurston and Thomas Angel Hobson, escaped from the Coonamble Gaol ; and whereas one of the said offenders, previous to escape, fired at and mortally wounded Constable John Mitchell, the Acting-Gaoler, who has since died; and whereas at a Coroner’s inquest held upon the body of the said John Mitchell, a verdict of wilful murder was returned against the said offenders, William White, alias Thurston and Thomas Angel alias Hobson, and James Alfred Courteney, who was confined in the same cell with the two prisoners who escaped.

Notice is hereby given that a reward of £200 will be paid by Government for such information as shall lead to the apprehension of each of the said offenders, William White alias Thurston and Thomas Angel alias Hobson.

Description of Offenders. —

White alias Thurston, is 29 years of age, 5 feet 9 inches high, medium build, brown hair and eyes ; a native of New South Wales ; a drover.

Angel alias Hobson, is 27 years of age, 5 feet 9 inches high, dark, beard and whiskers, good looking.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/62015748?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#pstart6174276

The Goulburn Evening Penny Post                Thursday  26 March 1885                     page 2 of 6

Evening News ( Sydney )                                          Friday  27 March 1885                      page 3 of 8

COWRA.                  March 25.

The Victim of a Ruffian.—   The deepest regret and sympathy were evinced here when it became known that Constable Mitchell, formerly lock-up keeper of this town, had been shot dead by one of the prisoners in the gaol at Coonamble, where he was acting gaoler at the time of his melancholy death.

The deceased leaves a wife — very ill at the time of the occurrence — and two little children.

All the particulars of the case are by this time very well known to our readers, so that we will not state them here.

After the perpetration of the cowardly deed, the murderer and one of his accomplices escaped from the gaol, and have since eluded all attempts at capture. A large reward has been offered for their capture.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/111180347?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#pstart11784420

Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal                              Saturday  28 March 1885                  page 2 of 12

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/62017047?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#reloadOnBack

The Sydney Morning Herald                 Tuesday  31 March 1885                         page 7 of 12

A man was arrested at Granville last evening by Constables Harrison and Wilson on suspicion of being Angel, the Coonamble gaol escapee, who shot Warder Mitchell on the 12th instant. The man corresponds in almost every particular with the description given of Angel. He is very reticent, however, and, in reply to the questions of the police, he merely slated that he was a shearer. He will be brought up before the local Bench to-morrow.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13581284?searchTerm=constable%20mitchell&searchLimits=l-decade=188|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-year=1885|||l-category=Article|||l-month=3#reloadOnBack

The South Australian Advertiser dated 13 April, 1885 described the shooting and capture of the murderers.

CAPTURE AND DEATH OF THE COONAMBLE MURDERERS.   Sydney, April 13.

The Coonamble murderers were captured on Friday night by Sergeant Burns and Constable McKinley at Mr. Stewart’s store, Green’s Swamp. On the arrival of the police at the door of the store Thurston immediately shot Stewart dead. Constable McKinley and Sergeant Burns then fired simultaneously, and killed Thurston and severely wounded Angel, who has since been removed to the Gulgong lockup. Medical assistance was immediately obtained. Inquests will be held to-morrow. Later intelligence has just been received stating that the prisoner Angel died on Sunday morning in gaol. Both prisoners were fully identified. The tragedy caused great excitement.

[divider_dotted]

Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 – 1954), Wednesday 9 April 1919, page 3

Our Sydney correspondent telegraphed last night : –Mrs. Georgina Mitchell, matron of the Central Police Station, Sydney, died suddenly on Monday night. She was a recognised fingerprint authority, and had a remarkable memory for prints. Her husband, Constable John Mitchell, was shot dead by two prisoners, Angel and White, when they were escaping from “Coonamble Gaol in 1885.”

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66483099

Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1886 – 1942),

Friday 11 April 1919, page 4

First Family Member Details

Family Stories

Life in Australia:

After migrating to Australia some time before about 1876, John Mitchell spent the first few months in Queensland before moving to New South Wales where he spent the remaining years of his life.

He worked as a coachman before joining the Foot Police on 27 September 1878. When 25 years old he married Georgina Diehm (24) at Lidsdale, Wallerawang. John Mitchell was promoted to Constable First Class on February 1884. He was transferred to Coonamble to replace the lockup keeper who had died from heatstroke on 7 January. On 12 March 1885 he was shot when trying to prevent the escape from gaol of bushrangers Angel and Thurston. He died the next day. With his wife and two children – three year old John George Alexander and six month old William James McRae – John Mitchell had been living in the residential portion of the building which had been erected in Aberford Street in 1877 as the Court House/Watch House. At that time and until 1886, it served as the Police Station as well as lockup keeper’s residence attached to the gaol.

A statue of John Mitchell, standing on a pedestal in front of the Police Station in Aberford Street, Coonamble, was unveiled by his great grandson on 12 March 1996. Police and civic dignitaries, Coonamble citizens and Mitchell family descendants were present at the ceremony. John Mitchell was shot in the building which stood on the site in 1885. The plaque reads:

Dedicated to the memory of Constable First Class John Mitchell, Born Scotland 1856

NSW Police Service 27.9.1878 to 13.3.1885

Shot whilst on duty near this site on 12.3.1885 during the escape from Coonamble lock-up by prisoners

Thomas Angel (alias Hobson) and William White (alias Thurston).

Constable Mitchell died from his wounds 13.3.1885 and was laid to rest in the old Coonamble Cemetery

Erected in his honour by the police and citizens of Coonamble and District 12.3.1996.

Georgina Diehm was born 16 February 1860 at Swyers Swamp, NSW, daughter of Johann Georg Michael Diehm and Maria Eva Flegler (see separate file in First Families 2001).

Georgina married her husband John Mitchell at Lidsdale in 1880. After only five years of marriage, she was widowed. She raised her two sons alone and most of spent the remaining years of her life in Sydney.

You and Your Family:

I am Kathy Pearson, nee Dwyer, wife of Bruce Pearson who is the great grandson of John and Georgina. We have three adult children and three grandchildren. My email address is kathypea@yahoo.com.au and we live in Cundletown, NSW. Apart from the first generation of children of each couple, I have entered only my, or Bruce’s, direct line of descent, for the purpose of protecting the privacy of those relatives who may not wish to have their details included. However, if any other descendants of these couples wish to have their families included, please contact me.

See also Margaret Bohan; Annie Clement; William Clement; Melina Clothier; Sarah Coleman; James Colley; Johann Georg Michael Diehm; Oliver Dwyer; Eleanor Ewing; John Farley; Maria Farley; Maria Eva Flegler; Lucy Hetherington; Jemima Hughes; George Hutchinson; Margaret MacFarlane; Donald McDermid; Duncan McDermid; Sarah McDermid; Christopher McRae; Jonathan Pearson; Anne Taylor Pretty; Mary Stewart; Peter Thomas; James Pater Field Walker; Josiah Wesley Walker.

Life Before Australia:

John Mitchell was born in Glasgow in 1856, the son of John Mitchell and Ellen McRae.

Descendants

NB: Superscript behind each descendant name represents the lineage number of that descendant.
This family information was last updated by KATHY PEARSON on the 11 February, 2001.

http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10421/20041220-0000/www.firstfamilies2001.net.au/firstfamilyf370-2.html

Edward Mostyn WEBB-BOWEN

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  ?

Rank:  Senior Constable

Stations:  ?, Gundagai

Service:  From 11 March 1875 to 23 November 1879 = 4+ years Service

Awards:  ?

Born: ? ? 1851

Died on:  Sunday 23 November, 1879

Cause:  Murdered – Shot

Event location:  McGlede’s farm, Wantabadgery

Age:  27 – 28

Funeral date:  ?

Funeral location:  ?

Buried at:  Gundagai Cemetery

In November, 1879 a gang of young bushrangers led by Andrew Scott (Captain Moonlite) attacked MacDonald’s farm at Wantabadgery Station, holding the occupants captive for two days and nights. After eating and drinking, the gang moved to a nearby pub, The Australian Arms Hotel, and more hostages were taken.  Eventually one of the captives, Alexander MacDonald, escaped, rode to Wagga Wagga and alerted the police. A party of mounted police were quickly dispatched to the area & arrived at 4am and a gun battle ensued. During a lull in the shooting, while the police retired to await reinforcements, the gang managed to escape.

They then rode to nearby McGlede’s Farm where they again took siege in the farmhouse from the increasing numbers of police who attended from as far away as Gundagai and Adelong. Again a shootout ensued between the two sides. At one stage, one young offender, Gus Wernicke, moved into the yard in an attempt to shoot the police horses and was quickly shot to death. In a further exchange of fire another bushranger, James Nesbitt, was also shot and killed by Senior Constable Webb-Bowen. During this last exchange, Webb-Bowen was also shot in the throat. This wound also proved to be fatal.

The Sydney Morning Herald of 4 December, 1879 reported that “The funeral of Constable Bowen was very largely attended, and partook of a military character. His widow, with her only child, will, we believe, leave for Pembrokeshire, England, where her late husband’s relatives reside. A subscription has been started to present the constables with a substantial reward of their bravery, and of the great service they have done to society.”

At the trial of Scott and his gang for the murder of Constable Webb-Bowen, Mr. Justice Windeyer concluded sentencing by informing him that “Fortunately, your career of crime was promptly cut short by the courage, the vigilance, and the energy of our police, who are entitled to all praise from every man in the community for the prompt manner in which they arrested and brought you to justice. You young men have had an appeal made on your behalf. But I cannot forget that most of the cruel as well as some of the most bloodthirsty crimes which have been committed by the bushranging class in this country have been committed by young men like yourselves, and the question in your case is — what is mercy? Not only to you, but to the youth that are growing up amongst us; and I have been pained to find, through a long experience in our criminal courts that crime amongst our young men is becoming far more frequent than it was. The recommendation in your favour, of course, I will convey to the Executive, but I would remind you that the shadow of death is upon you. Whether it will pass away is not for me to say. The victim of your murder, shot down by you, when in the execution of his duty, will live in the memory of all who admire devotion to the cause of duty and manliness, whilst your fate will only give an additional warning to the reckless criminal that the way of transgressors is hard, and that a felon’s death and an ignominious grave await those who commence a career of crime. It is useless to moralise further on your case.

The senior constable was born in 1851 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 11 March, 1875. At the time of his death he was stationed at Gundagai.

http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/2025629/hero-of-wantabadgery-should-be-remembered/?cs=148

Thursday, 16 January 2014:

TWO Riverina police commands will honour the “Hero of Wantabadgery” – one of their own killed in the exchange of gun fire more than a century ago.

Senior Constable Edward Mostyn Webb-Bowen, known as Edward Bowen, was shot in the neck and died on November 23, 1879 as a result of the wound he sustained.

Now, the Wagga and Cootamundra local area commands (LAC) are working together to restore his grave at Gundagai cemetery.

Staff from the Wagga LAC will meet with Wantabadgery residents on February 1 to discuss ideas regarding a plaque, headstone or statue to honour Sen Con Webb-Bowen.

Wagga police duty officer, Inspector Stephen Radford, labelled the police-led community project – headed by Constable Max Burmeister, who resides in Wantabadgery – as exciting.

“We hope to raise awareness about those who were defending our community and values at a time when bushrangers were a real threat,” Inspector Radford said.

“Unfortunately history has tended to forget the true heroes of this era and instead the names of outlaws such as Captain Moonlight and the Ben Hall Gang, (which are) responsible for the deaths of police officers, hold more recognition than those that did the right thing.

Inspector Radford said the project aimed to help change the imbalance.

Senior Constable Webb-Bowen’s death came after Captain Moonlight and his gang held up Wantabadgery Station one evening in mid-November.

A number of people were taken hostage, and that number increased when the gang moved to the nearby Australian Arms Hotel.

Officers from Wagga police arrived in the early hours of the morning and gunfire was exchanged.

They retreated, waiting for reinforcements from Gundagai, and later visited a farm nearby where they found Captain Moonlight and his gang.

For further information about the project, email waggabowen@police.nsw.gov.au or call Wagga police on 6922 2599.

OFFICIAL OPENING – UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL – SUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2015

Hero of Wantabadgery – Senior Constable Edward Webb-Bowen honoured.

Wagga Wagga LAC – NSW Police Force, is honouring the ‘Hero of Wantabadgery’ Senior Constable Edward Mostyn Webb-Bowen who died in an exchange of gun fire in November 1879.

During an evening in mid November 1879, ‘Captain Moonlite’ and his gang held up Wantabadgery Station and took a number of hostages. After eating and drinking, the gang moved to a nearby pub, The Australian Arms Hotel, and more hostages were taken.

At 4am, officers from Wagga Police arrived and gunfire was exchanged with the gang. Officers retreated and waited for reinforcements from Gundagai. On arrival of Gundagai Police, the officers attended nearby McGlede’s farm and found ‘Captain Moonlite’ and his gang.

Shots were exchanged and Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was shot in the neck. On Sunday 23rd November 1879, Senior Constable Webb-Bowen, known as Edward Bowen, died as a result of the gunshot wound.

Project Bowen, was established in 2012 by the Wagga Wagga Police and Wantabadgery community to raise awareness and funds to build a monument to remember Bowen.

Following an, archaeological survey, art exhibition, art auction, generous donations from individuals and local businesses the monument was completed His grave in Gundagai was also restored.

The monument now proudly stands adjacent to the Wantabadgey MacDonald Memorial Hall in Jewnee Street, Wantabadgery.

The memorial will be officially opened at 11:00am on Sunday 13th September 2015 by the Wagga Wagga Local Area Commander Bob Noble.

The opening will include; a display of modern and historic police vehicles, police command bus, police helicopter, horses and re-enactors. People are encouraged to attend in period 1870’- 80’s attire.

Opportunities will be provided to speak to police including the; PolAir – NSW Police Force Airwing, Police Dog Unit – NSW Police Force, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command – NSW Police Force, Women In Policing and Detectives. Interested members of the public are invited to attend and share in this special occasion.

For further information or if you have any enquiries please contact: Detective Inspector Stephen Radford 02 69222599.

Thomas Edward WALLINGS

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  ‘ P ‘ 716 

( ‘P’ = Pre 1862 when NSWPF “Officially” commenced )

Rank: Mounted Constable – 15 July 1855

Senior Constable – appointed 1 March 1862

Sergeant 2nd Class – appointed 1 June 1868

Senior Sergeant – appointed 1 November 1877

Stations:  , Molong ( January 1865 ), Mudgee ( September 1869.  Sgt In Charge of Mudgee to Bathurst Gold Escort ), Dubbo – death

Service:  From  15 July 1855  to  20 September 1878 = 23+ years Service

Awards:  ?

Born: ? ? 1838 in Dubbo ( although other records state a native of England )

Died on:  Friday 20 September 1878

Cause:  Shot – Murdered

Event location:  Marthaguy Creek, ( near Warren ), NSW

Age: 40

Funeral date:

Funeral location:

Buried at:  Old Dubbo Cemetery, Myall St, Manera Hts, Dubbo, Church of England Portion, Section R2

Memorial location:

Thomas IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

On the night of Thursday 19 September, 1878 Sergeant Wallings, Senior Constable William Souter and Constable John Walsh were searching for a gang of bushrangers ( Captain Midnight & his gang ) when they set up a bush camp near the Wonbobbie Inn, Marthaguy Creek (near Warren).

The following day ( Friday 20 September ) at 6am the three police rode to the inn where they suspected they might find the bushrangers. Constables Souter and Walsh remained on guard outside while Sergeant Wallings approached the inn. Meanwhile, Constable Souter saw a man about 50 metres away carrying a rifle. He rode over to him and was told he would be shot if he came any closer. Souter called to the other police who rode down to him.

Sergeant Wallings then fired a warning shot and told the man to surrender, however the man replied that he himself would fire if the police came any closer. Sergeant Wallings then advanced on the man and pointed his revolver at him. The man then turned suddenly and dropped to one knee. As he did so, he fired at the sergeant, hitting him in the chest. In the confusion the offender ran a short distance away and took cover from the police. A short gun battle took place, however, the offender, being far better armed with a rifle, compared to the police revolvers, managed to escape. The two constables then directed their attention to assisting the wounded sergeant. The wound suffered by Sergeant Wallings ( shot through the heart and lung ) proved to be severe, and he unfortunately passed away almost immediately.

A few weeks later, the Sydney Morning Herald dated 10 October, 1878 reported the death of the murderer, informing its readers that “News has just reached the metropolis that the man who shot Senior Sergeant Wallings at Dubbo has been killed by the police, shortly after he committed the murder. The cold-blooded villain shot Wallings in the execution of his duty. He was pursued by Sub-Inspector Duffy and Constables Latton and Gray of Bourke, in the most unrelenting manner, and traced to the borders of Queensland, where he made a desperate resistance. The police shot at the horse he was riding and fatally wounded the murderer, whose name is said to be George Gibson. This man’s death is one which has not in any way been regretted by the general community. It was such a death as luckily there is not much necessity for now-a-days. The police deserve the congratulations of the public here for their bravery in this instance, which however, is only of a piece with much the New South Wales police have accomplished in the suppression of crimes of this nature. A movement has been initiated for relieving the widow and eight children of Wallings.

The sergeant was born in 1838 and joined the police force on 15 July, 1855. In 1862 he became a member of the newly-formed New South Wales Police Force. At the time of his death he was stationed at Dubbo. The offender was the bushranger “Midnight“.

Andrew SUTHERLAND

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. # ‘Q‘ 1099

For the purposes of this website ‘Q‘ represents those Police joining between 1 March 1862 ( commencement of NSWPF ) – 23 February 1915 ( Commencement of NSWPF current numbering system )

Rank:  Constable – appointed 7 January 1863

Senior Sergeant – appointed ? ? ?

Final Rank:  Senior Sergeant

Stations:  ?, Cowra – Death ?

Service:  From 7 January 1863 to  1 May 1872 = 9+ years Service

Awards:  ?

Born: ? ? 1840, Wick, Scotland

Died on:  1 May 1872

Cause:  Shot – Murdered

Event location:  Binni Creek, Cowra, NSW

Age: 31

Funeral date:

Funeral location:

Buried at:  Anglican section of the Young General cemetery

Memorial at:  Cowra Police Station, 88 Brisbane St, Cowra, NSW

ANDREW IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

On 1 May, 1872 the sergeant was returning to Cowra from Bathurst Court.

During his journey he was told that two men who were wanted for robbery, George Gray and William Bristow, were at Daniel Horan‘s hut at Binnie Creek, twelve miles from Cowra.

The sergeant rode over to investigate and as he neared the door of the dwelling the offenders suddenly emerged and shot him to death.

The Clarence and Richmond Examiner dated 7 May, 1872 provided a brief account of the tragedy, which tends to suggest that the offenders were known to the sergeant.

SERGEANT SUTHERLAND SHOT DEAD BY BUSHRANGERS –

CARCOAR ” Thursday – I regret to have to announce that Sergeant Sutherland, of the Cowra police force, was shot dead last evening, by bushrangers, at a place about five miles from Cowra.

It appears that two armed men called on a settler named Daniel Oram, whose house is distant about two miles from Cowra and demanded food, which he placed on the table for them.

Sergeant Sutherland, who was going home from the Bathurst Assizes, rode up to the door during the meal, and was dismounting, when one of the men stopped to the door, gun in hand, and said, “I have been looking for you, you wretch,” and then shot him through the heart, causing instant death.

The men then went off and Oram started to Cowra, and upon arriving there, informed the police, who are now in pursuit of the murderers.

The fate of the unfortunate but brave officer is universally regretted. He leaves a wife, and had only been married a few months.

The sergeant was born in 1839 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 5 January, 1863.

At the time of his death he was stationed at Cowra.

The Queenslander

Sat.  9 Aug 1873  p 10

ST. GEORGE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) July 31.

We have also to record the arrest of a man named Frank Riley alias George Gray by Sergeant Cranney, on the charge of murdering Senior-sergeant Andrew Sutherland, of the New South Wales force, at Hordern’s hut, Beni Creek, on the 1st of May, 1872.

The prisoner had been staying in town for some few weeks, and left accompanied by another man with the avowed intention of going to the Surat races, but parted with his comrade about three miles from Weribone, his comrade going on into Surat, while he went out into the bush to camp.

Sergeant Cranney, in the meantime, appearing to have some clue to his identity, followed the pair, and finding that only one had reached Surat, returned on his tracks, and camped in the bush for two nights endeavouring to ascertain the whereabouts of the prisoner.

Becoming faint from fasting, he went to Weribone Station for food, and just dropped on to the man he was looking for, and who had also been there on the same errand. The officer arrested him at once, and prisoner was taken to Surat and remanded to Roma, and we believe by this time is on his way to Brisbane.

This is the second arrest of New South Wales offenders made by Sergeant Cranney during the past few months, the other being that of James Madgwick, whose capture and exploits were narrated in your columns a short time since. Sergeant Cranney was also the officer who arrested the notorious Patrick Collins.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27277108

Address: 88 Brisbane Street, Cowra Police Station, Cowra, 2794
State: NSW
Area: AUS

Please Note: GPS Co-ordinates are approximate.

View Google Map

Monument Type: Garden

Theme: People

Sub-Theme: Crime

Description:

A plaque commemorates Sergeant Andrew Sutherland who was fatally shot in the line of duty as a New South Wales Police officer.

Sergeant Second Class Andrew Sutherland was shot whilst on duty at Binni Creek near Cowra on May 1, 1872. On May 1, 1872 he was returning to Cowra from Bathurst Court. En route he was told two offenders wanted for robbery, George Gray and William Bristow, were at Daniel Horan’s hut at Binni Creek, 12 miles from Cowra.

The Sergeant rode over to investigate and as he approached the door of the dwelling, two offenders emerged and shot and killed him. Gray and Bristow were subsequently arrested but both were later released without charge. No-one was ever convicted of the crime.

Actual Event Start Date: 01-May-1872

Actual Event End Date: 01-May-1872

Actual Monument Dedication Date: 01-March-2012

Front Inscription:

In memory of
Senior Sergeant Andrew SUTHERLAND

who was fatally shot whilst on police duty
at Binni Creek near Cowra
on the 1st May 1872.

http://monumentaustralia.org.au/australian_monument/display/97891?image=1

John McCABE

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  Q 1181

For the purposes of this website ‘Q‘ represents those Police joining between 1 March 1862 ( commencement of NSWPF ) – 23 February 1915 ( Commencement of NSWPF current numbering system )

Rank:  Constable – appointed Monday  23 February 1863

Senior Constable

Stations:  Biree  ( see description below )

Service:  From 23 February 1863 to  1 November 1868 = 5+ years Service

Awards:  ?

Born:  ? ? 1828, Ireland

Event date:  Tuesday  6 October 1868

Died on:  Sunday  1 November 1868

Place of Event:  Enngonia, NSW

Place of death:  ?

Cause:  Shot – Murdered

Age:  39 – 40

Funeral date:  ?

Funeral location:  ?

Buried at:  Bourke Old C of E Cemetery, Gorrell Ave & Kidman Way, Bourke, NSW

GPS – 30 06′ 05S / 145 56′ 14E

Memorial at:  ?

JOHN IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

On 6 October, 1868 Constable McCabe was searching an area near the Queensland border for bushrangers Frank Pearson (Captain Starlight) and Charles Rutherford. He was accompanied by Constable Hugh McManus of the Queensland Police Force. During their patrol the police stopped for supplies at Shearer’s Inn, Enngonia (about 100 kilometres from Bourke). While they were so engaged, two riders appeared and entered the inn. Almost immediately, Pearson yelled “Bail up!” with the obvious intention of robbing those present. The two police, who had taken their weapons into the inn, turned and fired at the two offenders. Constable McCabe, who had dropped to one knee and fired, was shot in the chest, however he managed to fire several times, hitting Pearson in the wrist and right arm. The two bushrangers then ran from the inn and escaped. After rallying for almost a month, Constable McCabe died as a result of both his wound and the resultant infection. ( This murder is sometimes incorrectly attributed to small-time New England thug and armed robber Fred “Thunderbolt” Ward ).

The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser of 27 October, 1868 featured a lengthy article, informing its readers that “Immediately upon the termination of the encounter a special messenger was dispatched from Shearer’s to Bourke, a distance of seventy five miles, for medical assistance. Dr. Roberts, in company with Sergeant Cleary, were promptly upon the spot and the ball has been extracted from McCabe. Its course was through the left breast, passing through a part of the lungs, and finally lodging under the shoulder-blade. Although in a critical state from such a dangerous wound, Dr. Roberts anticipates a favourable result.”

Despite the doctor’s confident prognosis, however, Senior Constable McCabe passed away a few weeks later.

The senior constable was born in 1828 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 23 February, 1863. At the time of his death he was stationed at Biree (Brewarrina).  Biree (a small outpost Station believed to exist only from 1865 to 1869 in the river country between Brewarrina and Enngonia).

Newcastle Chronicle (NSW : 1866 – 1876),

Thursday 19 November 1868, page 3

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article111330794.txt

Location: 30 06′ 05S / 145 56′ 14E
Old C of E, Bourke.
Same GPS as ARMYTAGE as they are adjacent as can be seen in the long shot of the grave.

Miles O’GRADY

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  ?

Rank:  Constable

Stations:  Nerrigundah

Service:  From  15 June 1863  to  9 April 1866 = 2+ years Service

Awards:   ?

Born:  ? ? 1841

Died on: 9 April 1866

Cause:  Shot – Murdered

Event location:  Nerrigundah

Age:  25

Funeral date:   ?

Funeral location:   ?

Buried at:   ?

[alert_green]MILES IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_green]

On the morning of 9 April, 1866 Thomas Clarke and his gang of bushrangers appeared at Deep Creek near the Gulph Goldfields and spent the day robbing passing travellers. At nearby Nerrigundah, 19 km west of Bodalla, Constable Patrick Smythe was performing his duties alone. Sergeant Nelson Hitch was absent at Braidwood Court and Constable O’Grady was in bed seriously ill with ‘colonial fever‘ (probably cholera). When Clarke learned of the police situation at Nerrigundah he led his gang into the township. Upon their arrival they held up Wallis’ Hotel and Pollock’s Store. Mrs Pollock (wife of the local gold buyer), however, threw the keys to the safe into the street and the gang spent considerable time searching for them in the darkness.

News of the events reached Constables Smythe and O’Grady at the police barracks and, against the wishes of his colleague, Miles O’Grady arose from his sick bed and dressed in his uniform. The two constables then set out to engage the bushrangers although O’Grady was very ill, and was having difficulty walking. As they approached Wallis’ Hotel, the police spotted the bushrangers and O’Grady fired, killing bushranger William Fletcher. In the ensuing gun battle O’Grady was shot in the side and as both police fell back, the gang ran to their horses and escaped. O’Grady was carried to the police barracks where he died a few hours later in great pain.

The Mercury newspaper dated 16 April, 1866 announced the constable’s unfortunate death from the wounds received, informing its readers that “Additional news respecting Clarke’s gang states that they burned down a settler’s homestead near Moruya and robbed Pollock’s station [store?]of £800, and several others of smaller amounts! Constable O’Grady has died of the wounds he received. The ringleader has been identified as Tommy Clarke. The Government is now taking steps to outlaw all connected.”

The constable was born in 1841 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 15 June, 1863. At the time of his death he was stationed at Nerrigundah.

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The Kiama Independent & Shoalhaven Advertiser ( NSW )    Thursday  29 November 1866  p 3 of 4

The Bushranger Thomas CONNELL. – This prisoner, who was arrested by sergeant Byrne on Wednesday last, was charged at the Braidwood police court on Monday with the murder of constable O’Grady, at Nerrigundah, on the 9th of April last, and remanded to Moruya, there to be dealt with. Yesterday morning he was forwarded under escort of the police to Nelligen, en route to Moruya. – Braidwood Dispatch.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/106006894

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At 1pm on 9 April,2016, a commemorative service and presentation will be held at the re furbished monument at Nerrigundah to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the murder of our brother, Miles O’GRADY, by members of the Clarke gang bushrangers. There will also be a presentation by the Moruya and districts historical society at 2pm. There will be a detachment from the mounted police as well as a flag party.

If interested the contact for this is A/Supt Greg Flood at Far South Coast LAC on 02 44789910.

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Bushranger shootout in Nerrigundah commemorated with NSW Police flag ceremony

Posted Tuesday  3 May 2016 at 5:49pm

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/video/201605/Nerrigundah%20shootout%20mid.mp4

Well before anyone had heard of Ned Kelly, a gang of bushrangers robbed and murdered across an area from present day Canberra to the south-east coast of NSW.

The Clarke Gang have been dubbed “the bloodiest bushrangers”. They shot and wounded some of their victims, and killed others, and they’re suspected of killing all four of a police special squad sent from Sydney to track them down.

On April 9 1866 they killed Constable Miles O’Grady in a shootout in the then thriving mining town of Nerrigundah, which is now a quiet, isolated settlement of about 30 people, connected to the world by a public telephone.

Very little is left now of the many hotels, shops, houses and shacks that supported thousands of miners who came to the town during its 1860s gold rush, but a stone memorial to the murdered policeman stands proud.

The community and around 200 visitors gathered at that memorial on the 150th anniversary of the shootout to attend a NSW Police flag ceremony to honour Constable O’Grady.

The author of a book about the gang, Peter Smith, said that if bushrangers were measured by how violent they were, and how many people they murdered, then the Clarke Gang were at the top of the scale.

“They were a lawless lot that started off taking horses out of paddocks and returning the horses and claiming the rewards,” said Mr Smith.

“They drifted further into crime, then highway robbery, then full-scale bushranging.”

By the time they rode into Nerrigundah in April 1866 they had a fearsome reputation.

“They were an amalgamation of families that started in the area south of Braidwood,” Mr Smith said.

“The whole area south of Braidwood had a reputation for many years as a lawless area.”

The core of the gang comprised their leader Thomas Clarke and his brother John, together with their uncles, Pat and Tom Connell.

By 1865 Thomas Clarke had warrants issued for his arrest — for crimes that he denied.

He calculated that the police case was weak and he would avoid a conviction and so he surrendered at Braidwood. But the police by now regarded him as a notorious bushranger and were preparing cases that would see him imprisoned for a very long time.

Then when Clarke heard that he would be transferred to Goulburn Gaol and his trial heard there, he escaped from Braidwood Gaol.

“There was no return after that. He had to become a full-time bushranger,” Mr Smith said.

The gang came to Nerrigundah after travelling well south to the Bega races. Horse races were always an opportunity to steal another racehorse or perhaps someone’s winnings.

On their return north they held up the road leading into Nerrigundah, about five kilometres from town, robbing travellers as they came by. They shot and wounded one and beat up another.

Meanwhile, Constable O’Grady was severely ill in bed with what was then called colonial fever, his sergeant was away in Moruya, and the one remaining policeman was a newly arrived recruit, Constable Patrick Smythe.

“It’s difficult to know that they really intended to come into Nerrigundah in the first place,” Mr Smith said.

“When they found out that the place was basically unprotected, it’s probably when they thought they’d come into town.”

Leaving two of the gang to guard their captives, the gang rode into town. With them was a new member of the gang, William Fletcher. It was to be his only day as a bushranger.

They rode to one of the hotels and began taking captives and robbing them.

Mr Smith said the hotel was across the road from Pollocks Store where there was “probably 200 or 300 ounces of gold, which in present days would be worth a million dollars or more”.

Word got to O’Grady on his sick bed a little further down the road, and with Constable Smythe they made their way up the road to confront the bushrangers.

The publican of one of the other nearby hotels, Mrs Jones, tried to stop O’Grady as he was so ill he was staggering.

His response was, “I will do my duty.”

The two Constables confronted the gang outside the hotel. The bushranger William Fletcher was the first to be shot, and then Constable O’Grady was shot, and the gang fled the town.

“Once they’d murdered a police constable they were outlawed,” Mr Smith said.

“Once they were outlawed it meant that they had no rights. They could be shot by anybody. Basically they were already condemned to death. There was no reason to surrender. They were committed.”

The Clarke Gang would eventually be tracked down but not until after more robberies and more killings. Tommy Clarke and his brother John would get a one-day trial and then were hanged.

Ever since that day in Nerrigundah, Constable Miles O’Grady has been a police hero.

Speaking after the NSW Police flag ceremony, Detective Superintendent Kevin McNeil said, “The poignant moment in his death is when O’Grady is staggering and Mrs Jones says ‘Don’t go’ and he says ‘I will do my duty’. And from that point on he’s doing his duty for the people of New South Wales”.

“He knew what he was confronting. This Clarke Gang was very famous. He knew all about the Clarke Gang. Later on they killed four police at Jinden Station near Braidwood. That’s how violent they were.

“That was the moment, yet he still went out there because other people were at risk, to protect their life and property.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-03/nerrigundah-clarke-gang-ogrady-bushranger-shootout/7379516

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Charles CHAPMAN

AKA ?

Late of Booligal, NSW

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. # ‘ P ‘ 467

For the purposes of this website ‘P’ = represents those Police joining Pre 1862 when NSWPF “Officially” commenced

Rank:  Constable – appointed 6 September 1861

Senior Constable – appointed 1862 ( Newly formed NSWPF )

Final Rank = Senior Constable

Stations: ?, Booligal Police Station – Death

Service: From 6 September 1861 to 22 February 1866 = 5 years Service

Awards: No find on It’s An Honour

Born: ? ? 1835 – 1836?

Died on: pre 22 February 1866

Age: 30

Cause: Exposure

Event location: Booligal ( Deniliquin ), NSW

Event date: between  Thursday 1 March – Saturday 10 March 1866 ( according to newspaper reports dated below )

Deceased body located on: 22 February 1866 ( according to NSW Police Gazette – Issue 10, page 86, Wed 7 Mar 1866 )

Funeral date: ? ? ?

Funeral location: ?

Wake location: ?

Funeral Parlour: ?

Buried at: Booligal Cemetery, 689 Lachlan Valley Hwy, Booligal

Unmarked grave

Memorial located at: new Deniliquin Police Station Wall of Remembrance – 2018

[alert_red] CHARLES is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_red] * BUT SHOULD BE

[alert_pink] CHARLES IS mentioned on the new Deniliquin Police Station Memorial Wall – 2018[/alert_pink]

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FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS PERSON, THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER AND THEIR DEATH.

PLEASE SEND PHOTOS AND INFORMATION TO Cal

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May they forever Rest In Peace

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Constable Chapman was the officer in charge of Booligal Police Station, in the Deniliquin District.

In mid-February, 1866 he set out on horseback to visit several properties in his area to serve summonses and carry out other duties. A few days later a report was received that his riderless horse had been seen near Tooragama, about twenty miles from Booligal, so Constable Barry went in search of him.

Barry found the horse, without either saddle or bridle, and then he proceeded to call at every place where it had been Chapman’s intention to have called.

The unfortunate constable was never seen alive again.

On 6 March, 1866 the Maitland Mercury reported that “Our correspondent at Hay reports that Constable Chapman is missing. It appears that, being stationed at Booligal, he left that place on Thursday fortnight to serve a summons at a station about forty miles distant. His horse, without saddle or bridle, was subsequently found, as were his waistcoat hanging on the branch of a tree, probably put there by the unfortunate man as a guide to those who might be, and are now, searching for him. Our correspondent hints at foul play but the central office here has no suspicion of such, believing that, having lost his way, he has perhaps perished from thirst. Let us hope not.”

Then, a fortnight later the Sydney Morning Herald of 21 March, 1866 reported that “The remains of the unfortunate Constable Chapman, lost in the bush near Deniliquin, were found a few days since and buried at Booligal Cemetery.”

The New South Wales Police Gazette of 7 March, 1866 recorded that “Chapman Charles, Senior Constable (No. 467), lost in the bush; body found on February 22nd.”

The constable joined the police force on 6 September, 1861 and in 1862 he became a senior constable in the newly-formed New South Wales Police Force. At the time of his death he was aged 30 years and was stationed at Booligal. He was not long married when he passed away and his wife was expecting their first child. He is not listed in the official New South Wales Police Honour Roll.

New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime (Sydney : 1860 – 1930), Wednesday 7 March 1866 (No.10), page 86

DEATH.

Chapman Charles, Senior Constable ( No. 467 ), lost in the bush; body found on February 22nd ( Thursday ).

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/252042237

Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), Wednesday 28 March 1866, page 3

HORRIBLE DEATH IN THE BUSH. –

The Deniliquin Chronicle states that the remains of constable Chapman, who was lost in the bush lately, have been found by a man named Patrick Hardy and another, within three-quarters of a mile of where some men were making a dam. He was buried in the Booligal cemetery, and followed by a good many people to the grave.

His horse was found naked.

The body was as black as ink, and in an advanced state of putrefaction.

In his struggles he had torn his shirt, and forced his pants up to his knees, and by his tracks it was seen that he had been rolling round and round the tree under which he was found to avoid the sun.

He must have had a horrible death.

He is said to have been lying on his side, with a coat under his head for a pillow.

The spot was a dry creek, about twenty-five miles from Booligal, and seven from the Lachlan River.

It is understood that there were no mark of violence on deceased’s person, but that he had evidently perished from exhaustion, and had, after rambling about for some time in a circuitous direction, being overcome with fatigue and thirst, lain himself down to die, having, it is supposed, hung his waistcoat on a tree or bush near as a guide to his last resting-place.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1264852

Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1932), Saturday 10 March 1866, page 151

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/115451038

Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser (NSW : 1858 – 1859; 1866; 1872 – 1874), Saturday 10 March 1866, page 2

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105997671

Constable Charles CHAPMAN does NOT appear on the on-line version of NSW State Archives – Register of Police.

John WARD

Late of  ?

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  ????

Rank:  Senior Constable – appointed 1 May 1863

Stations: ?, Coonabarabran – Death

Service:  From  1 February 1858  to  4 February 1865 = 6+ years Service

Awards:  ?

Born:  ? ? 1829 in England

Died on:  4 February 1865

Age:  35 – 36

Cause:  Murdered – shot

Event location:   Barney’s Reef

Event date:   3 February 1865

Offender – Sam Poo – arrested  15 February 1865

Funeral date:  ? ? ?

Funeral location:  ‘Birriwa Station’, Coonabarabran

Buried at:  ‘Birriwa Station’, 3894 Castlereagh Hwy, Birriwa ( between Gulgong & Dunedoo )

 Memorial located at: Coonabarabran Police Station – Memorial plaque.

Monday  28 January 2013 – Memorial Gardens at ‘Birriwa Station’ were dedicated to John Ward

[alert_green]JOHN is mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_green]

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FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS PERSON, THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER AND THEIR DEATH.

PLEASE SEND PHOTOS AND INFORMATION TO Cal

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May they forever Rest In Peace

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On the morning of 3 February, 1865 Constable Ward was returning to Coonabarabran from a prisoner escort to Mudgee. Near the locality known as Barney’s Reef he was informed that a Chinese gold miner, Sam Poo, thought to be mentally unbalanced, started sticking up people on the road to Mudgee.  He also kidnapped and raped a young woman. Ward was told that Poo was nearby in the scrub. After a short search Constable Ward located the offender’s camp and approached him. When the offender saw the constable he ran into the bush.  Ward rode after him, and when he caught up, called on him to stand and drop his weapon ( a cut down shotgun ).  Sam Poo aimed at the trooper and said “You policeman – me fire”.

The Trooper leapt from his horse and tried to use the animal as cover as he drew his Colt navy revolver.  Ward‘s hesitancy in shooting the Chinaman proved to be fatal for him, for Sam Poo fired, hitting the policeman in the pelvic area.  Ward fell to the ground, discharging one shot from his Colt in the process.  He then fired twice more at the Chinaman, who was running away through the bush.

The trooper lay bleeding on the ground until he was found by Mr M J F Plunkett, the squatter on whose run the shoot out had taken place. Plunkett arranged for Ward to be taken to his homestead, and sent for the doctor who lived 50 miles away. The doctor arrived the next day, but examination showed that Ward was beyond medical help.

The trooper told Mr Plunkett that he knew he was dying and asked what would become of his wife and family. Later he dictated a full statement about his encounter with Sam Poo to the squatter. Ward said he was a member of the Church of England, and asked Plunkett to pray for him. This the squatter did using a book of Common Prayer. The trooper then asked the squatter to send for his wife and family. However, John Ward died shortly after giving his request, passing away on 4th February 1865. His family arrived at the homestead after he had been buried.

A meeting was held in Mudgee, where a large sum of money was raised for Senior-Constable John Ward’s widow and children. This support acknowledged the supreme sacrifice the trooper had made in the performance of this duty.

The murderer, Chinese bushranger Sam Poo, thought to be mentally unbalanced, was later captured and hanged, as described by the Clarence and Richmond Examiner of 2 January, 1866.

EXECUTION, AT BATHURST: Wednesday’s Free Press states that on the previous day, the Chinese convict Sam Poo, who at the last assizes was convicted of the murder of constable Ward, suffered the extreme penalty of the law, within the precincts of the gaol. In the absence of any of his countrymen outside the prison walls, three Chinese prisoners, who are at present confined in Darlinghurst Gaol, were brought to see the end of Sam Poo, there were also about a dozen other persons present besides the police and the officers of the gaol. The wretched man, who, ever since his apprehension has been quite weak in intellect, appeared perfectly unconscious of his fate, and until his arms were pinioned by the executioners, stood in the door of his cell clapping his hands. The ceremony of pinioning over, he was led to the gallows without speaking a word, or even lifting his head. The rope was fixed, the bolt drawn and Sam Poo ceased to exist. The body was, after the lapse of little more than half an hour, cut down, and taken away for burial.

The senior constable was born in England in 1829 and joined the police force on 1 February, 1858. In 1862 he became a member of the newly-formed New South Wales Police Force as a mounted trooper. At the time of his death he was stationed at Coonabarabran.

He was described as 29 years old, 5′ 10 1/2″ tall, had brown hair and blue eyes and his complexion was fair.  Ward was promoted to Senior Constable on 1st May 1863.

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Fallen officer is honoured 150 years on

IT’S not unusual that the state’s most senior policemen, the mayor and local MP would turn out on Monday to attend the memorial service for an officer lost in the line of duty.

Senior Constable John Ward was shot at point blank range and died the next day from his appalling injuries. The dignitaries stood in silence enduring steady rain as the prayers and dedications were delivered at Birriwa Station near Coonabarabran.

What makes the scene rather remarkable is that the officer’s blood was spilt almost one and a half centuries ago.

Sam Poo, who committed the murder, achieved fleeting infamy as Australia’s only Chinese bushranger.

The gold prospector, apparently weary of thin pickings on the Talbragar claims, decided to switch jobs and take up bushranging. Fellow diggers were alarmed by news a man reported to look like a Chinaman had stuck up a woman and her little girl on the Mudgee Road. There were more reports of a Chinaman ”bailing up” travellers.

Ward, married with five children and with five years’ experience in the police force, was soon on his trail. On seeing his man after some hard riding, he called out ”Put down that gun.”

Poo responded: ”Me fire: you policeman.” And he did.

A stockman took the officer to his homestead. The nearest doctor travelled 80 kilometres to tend to him, arriving the next day.

By then Ward was reportedly beyond the reach of human aid and died soon after.

Two weeks later three constables aided by a ”smart half-caste Aboriginal stockman and tracker Harry Hughes” found Poo hiding in scrub. The fugitive was shot in the neck. He recovered at Mudgee Hospital and was later convicted of murder. He was hanged at Bathurst Jail in 1866.

Fast forward to the service last week, part of the NSW Police Force recognition of the sacrifice made by officers over 150 years of policing.

Inspector Scott Tanner, of the Mudgee area command, said: ”We were looking at how to mark the 150 years of policing. We have a plaque in Coonabarabran police station to John Ward and then there was the loss of Dave Rixon [the senior constable shot dead in Tamworth last March] so we started thinking about how to also remember John Ward – he walked the same streets that we walk today. When I first came here I lived in the house he had lived in.”

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Homestead’s website to preserve history

The owners of Birriwa Homestead, Mary and Keith Salvat, are working to rediscover and preserve the history of the sandstone house.

Mrs Salvat said she wanted to use a new website being established at www.birriwahomestead.org to collect the stories surrounding the homestead, the balls it hosted and the families who lived or worked there.

Mrs Salvat said she wanted to create an opportunity for families with connections to the house to reach each other and share stories that could otherwise be lost.

“We’re just beginning a journey of rediscovering the history,” she said.

The website is under development, and currently consists of a form that can be used to submit stories to be published on the website, or to ask to be alerted when the site launches.

“It’s a very democratic website. Everyone owns their own intellectual property,” Mrs Salvat said.

“The purpose is really to act as a library – a 21st Century library.”

She said a house was bricks and mortar, but at the same time, it contained a subtle energy left by the people who had lived there or developed a connection with the place.

The Salvats have owned Birriwa Homestead for 15 years, and maintained and restored it while living in Sydney before moving there permanently in 2009.

They are often visited by descendants of the families who owned the house in the past – the Lanes, Cowards, Lowes and McMasters – including a 90-year-old woman who remembered playing in the garden as a very small child.

The property was opened on Monday for the dedication of a memorial garden surrounding the grave of Senior Constable John Ward, who was shot by a bushranger at Birriwa in 1865.

As well as police and descendents of Senior Constable Ward, guests included people who were raised at the homestead, a former Birriwa jackaroo, and a neighbour whose family had lived on the next property for three generations.

The memorial garden includes infant graves alongside the grave of Senior Constable Ward, and others that are unidentified as the stones and crosses have been washed away.

Mrs Salvat said working with the police on the project had been a wonderful experience.

“They were very respectful and incredibly well-mannered,” she said.

“This has been a beautiful journey for me and my husband over the last 12 months.”

Mr Salvat said the memorial garden made the grave site more approachable for members of the public who wouldn’t like to intrude on a private residence, while the planned website would allow visitors to read about the memorial before visiting.

Mrs Salvat plans to invite people with relatives buried at Birriwa Homestead to visit the property in autumn to plant trees that can bear plaques naming the people interred there.

http://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/1267854/homesteads-website-to-preserve-history/

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Samuel NELSON

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  ?

Rank:  Constable

Stations:  Moreton Bay, Collector ( 7.5 years )

Service:  From  5 August 1857  to  26 January 1865 = 7+ years Service

Awards:  ?

Born:  ? ? 1823 – arrived in N.S.W., from England, aboard the ship ‘ Parsee ‘ in 1855

Died on:  26 January 1865

Cause:  Shot – murdered

Location of Event:  Collector, NSW

Age:  38

Funeral date:  ?

Funeral location:  ?

Buried at:  Grave in the C of E portion of the Catholic and C of E Cemetery, Collector

Grave:  34 54’54S, 149 25’51E

Monument:  34 54’44S, 149 25’53E

[alert_green]THOMAS IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_green]

Shortly before 6pm on 26 January, 1865 bushrangers Hall, Dunn and Gilbert attacked Kimberley’s Inn at Collector. At the time the local police were out searching the area for the bushrangers, and the only man on duty in town was the lockup-keeper, Constable Nelson. When news of the attack reached the constable, he remarked to his wife that he would simply “have to do his best” against the gang. As he approached the hotel, armed only with a police carbine with bayonet attached, the constable was shot by Dunn who had hidden behind a fence post. Nelson was hit in the chest by a shotgun blast and, as he staggered, Dunn fired again, hitting him in the face. He died almost instantly.

The bushrangers then stole the constable’s personal belongings and the carbine, and escaped. The entire incident had been witnessed by young Frederick Nelson, one of the constable’s nine children, who was also fired at by Dunn. Frederick Nelson would later go on to have a long and successful police career himself. Hall, Dunn and Gilbert all met with violent deaths shortly after this incident. Hall and Gilbert were shot dead by police, and Dunn was convicted of Constable Nelson’s murder and was hanged: fitting results for this extremely violent gang of criminals.

Many years after the murder the Australian Town and Country Journal dated 27 November, 1907 printed the following story.

BUSH RANGING DAYS RECALLED.

When Mr. Carruthers, in his capacity of Premier, visited the country some time ago, a spot was pointed out to him at Collector, in the Goulburn district, at which Constable Nelson was shot dead over 40 years ago, while assisting in the capture of the notorious bushranger, John Dunn. The then Premier promised that a suitable monument would be erected to mark the spot, and that has just been completed by Messrs. Ross and Bowman, of Pitt-street. It will be unveiled at an early date by the Treasurer, Mr. Waddell. The Metropolitan Superintendent of Police, Mr. Sherwood, has received a photo of the monument, which stands 9ft 6in high. It shows the stump of what “was at that time a tree near where Nelson stood when he received the fatal wound, and another higher stump behind which some of those held up by the outlaws took refuge. The monument bears the following inscription near the base: “Erected by the Government of New South Wales to the memory of Constable Samuel Nelson, who was shot dead on this spot while in the execution of his duty, by the outlaw John Dunn, January 26, 1865.” On the other side are the words, “In memory of a brave officer”.

The constable was born in 1823 and joined the police force on 5 August, 1857. In 1862 he became a member of the newly-formed New South Wales Police Force. At the time of his death he was stationed at Collector.

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Wollongong police memorials

The NSW Police Force carries on its logo the phrase “Proud Traditions since 1862“, but capturing the history of these traditions at an operational level has never been a priority for the force.

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/602982/wollongong-police-memorials/

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Grave in the C of E portion of the Catholic and C of E Cemetery, Collector.

Sydney Morning Herald, 28 January 1865, p 7

Nelson, Samuel (1827–1865)

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• Tim the Yowie Man

It’s the murderous event which put the village of Collector on the map. On  January 26, 1865, outlaw John Dunn shot dead Constable Samuel Nelson outside the Kimberley Inn while his partners in crime, the notorious Ben Hall and Johnny Gilbert raided the hotel.

The brave Nelson, on being informed that the Hall Gang  was in town, had earlier marched defiantly from the nearby police station towards the hotel with the aim of stopping the infamous mob of bushrangers in their tracks.

Next Sunday, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the dramatic hold-up, a Wild Colonial Day is being held in Collector in which descendants of both Nelson and the Hall Gang  will converge on the town.

One of the most anticipated highlights of the day is the planned re-enactment of the tragic events of January 26, 1865. Although playing out such a momentous event in our region’s history will be no doubt be entertaining for the crowd, I don’t envy the performers of the Gold Trails Re-enactment Group who will need to settle on an agreed sequence of events that unfolded on that fateful day in 1865, the exact details of which appear to have been lost in the mists of time.

One person who has spent months poring over the evidence is Boyd Trevithick, Nelson’s great-great-grandson. In doing research for his family history book, Believe Nothing That You Hear and Only Half of What You See: a compilation of sundry articles, facts, photographs, maps, poems and family anecdotes dating back to 1087AD, (self-published, 2011) Trevithick reports he was “constantly confronted with conflicting accounts”.

“Discrepancies exist as to precisely where John Dunn stood to shoot, what course Nelson took, the distance from which the shooting occurred, the times of the day, the words uttered, whether Nelson staggered forwards, backwards or towards the road and where exactly Nelson fell,” explains Trevithick.

Trevithick isn’t the only one to have struggled to provide a definitive account of the details leading up  to Nelson’s death. Respected historian, the late Stuart Hume, whose widely lauded article  published in the Goulburn Evening Post on January 26, 1965, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Nelson’s death, wrote “to try and get an accurate account of what actually did occur is to find the wayside strewn with garbled, highly coloured accounts from old hands who’d ‘heered telled’ arguments from bush lawyers with a misguided sympathy for the bushrangers and bush balladists using poetic licence to cover a multitude of sins”.

Two of the most contentious issues concern what have subsequently become Collector landmarks – first, a rotting wooden stump standing next to the Bushranger Hotel, and second, Nelson’s final resting place.

1. Stumped

Trevithick reports that his “family members have handed down two versions of the role the stump played in events of 26 January 1865,” and he cites the following references to illustrate these disparate accounts.

The Queanbeyan Age (11/2/1908) reports “… The railing encloses the stump near which Nelson stood when he received his fatal wound.” Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald (10/2/1908) reports “. Inside the railing [of the memorial] is one of the posts of the fence behind which Dunn concealed himself on approach of the Constable …”

Regardless of the significance of the stump, cynics have questioned whether it’s plausible that a 150-year-old stump could still be standing, suggesting that perhaps the stump isn’t the original from 1865 and, is, in fact, a ‘replacement’.

2. Grave diggers

Nelson died during the height of summer and with no morgue within cooee of the Collector, Hume reports, “research indicates that he was hastily buried without the aid of a minister in the grounds of the police station [still operational] … over the grave they struck a willow stave which grew, and, in the course of time, only the willow wept there”.

“Although there is currently no marked grave in the grounds of the police station, some old-timers did recall a willow growing there mid last century,” reports life-long local Gary Poile. However, the precise location of the willow may be a moot point for those who wish to pay their respects to the slain police officer, for it appears that Nelson was unlawfully exhumed  about 50 years later.

Hume reveals that “just after World War I someone decided to remove Nelson’s remains from the Police Station without an exhumation order or permission from the family”. “Not knowing exactly where Nelson lay…they sank several ‘duffers’ till they struck paydust in the shape of the constable’s bones. These they reverently gathered and crawling through a hole in the dividing fence put them in a grave alongside the Kimberleys [in the neighbouring cemetery].”

According to Hume, with the public becoming more history conscious, some years later a cross was  placed on the freshly dug unmarked grave in the cemetery and inscribed “Constable Nelson 1865”.

Neither Hume (nor Trevithick) uncovered the identity of those who allegedly moved Nelson’s bones, nor their motives. Trevithick hypothesises that it may have been “so that Nelson was buried in consecrated ground”.

While snooping around Collector this week I bumped into a couple of bushranger-era enthusiasts who questioned whether Nelson’s remains were moved at all. The duo suggested that a ground-penetrating radar, or perhaps something even more invasive, ought to be employed to prove the presence of remains.

I don’t know about you, but I think poor old Constable Nelson suffered enough trauma in the final moments of his life and that he should be left to lie in peace, wherever that may be.

Fact file

Collector Wild Colonial Day: Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the day Constable Samuel Nelson was killed on duty by John Dunn outside the Bushranger Hotel. Next Sunday,  January 25, from 10am–4pm in Collector Village (about a 30-minute drive north of Canberra on the Federal Highway). Free admission.

Expect: Historical displays, re-enactments, bush poetry, author talks, food, wine, local produce, art and craft. Devonshire tea and all day barbecue.

For the kids: Horse and cart rides, face painting (small charge) and bushranger activities (if you dare!) all day.

Shoot-outs: The Gold Trails Re-enactment Group will perform a realistic re-enactment of the murder of Constable Nelson at 3pm near the Collector Police Station (Bourke St) and again outside the Bushranger Hotel (Church St) about 6pm.

Become a star: At midday, there will be a re-enactment of the trial of John Dunn, including an opportunity for “extras” to participate (scripts will be provided).

Don’t miss: The rare collection of guns and equipment used by bushrangers and police during the colonial period (in the Memorial Hall).

Nelson’s Grave: Located in the Anglican Cemetery in Bourke St.  About 3.30pm, the NSW Police Chaplain will lead a graveside Memorial Service, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony.

The stump: Takes pride of place next to Nelson’s Memorial outside the Bushranger Hotel. Unfortunately, there’s precious little information on the state of the stump in 1865, so it’s difficult to determine if it’s the original. However, if any suitably qualified foresters would like to offer an educated opinion, I’d love to hear from you.

More: www.facebook.com/Nelson150 or ph: 0423 672 153

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Gang-gang: 150 years ago – Constable Samuel Nelson shot in Collector

One hundred and fifty years ago this week the brigands Ben Hall, John Gilbert and John Dunn descended on Collector and Dunn shot dead brave constable Samuel Nelson. The gang fled. The Sydney press throbbed with the news. The murder was on 26 January and the inquest, held at Collector the next day, was reported in great and grisly detail by the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Frederick Nelson, 18, eldest son of the dead man’s many children, saw his father shot dead.

” ‘A bushranger sprang from behind the fence and called to my father to stand, and fired immediately afterwards [with a shotgun], on which my father staggered into the road and called out “Oh!”. The bushranger fired again and my father fell. I heard his carbine fall from his hands on to the ground.

“Dr. Hanford deposed: I have made a post-mortem examination of the body of the deceased; I found a bullet wound midway between the nose and the ear on the left side of the face; also a wound, two inches long and two and a half inches broad, on the left side of the chest, and twenty shot marks round the wound; on examining the cavity of the chest, I found the heart lacerated … I found several shots in the liver … the stomach was perforated. Death resulted from the wounds I have described and no other cause.

“The jury returned a verdict that deceased was wilfully murdered by John Dunn, and that Benjamin Hall and John Gilbert were aiding and abetting.”

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/ganggang-150-years-ago–constable-samuel-nelson-shot-in-collector-20150126-12yg5f.html

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The New City of Canterbury Bankstown

Samuel Nelson

Samuel Nelson was born in 1828 in Chesterton, Oxfordshire, England. His Father was Samuel Nelson and mother Elizabeth Taylor. In England he married Elizabeth Goode who was born in 1828.^[1]

They came on the ship called “Parcee” and arrived in Sydney on 11th January 1853. Samuel and Elizabeth could both read and write. They came with their three children who were born in England, Fredrick 6 years born 1846, Henry 1848 4 years, Jonas 2 years 1850. While the ship was at sea Elizabeth Nelson gave birth to Matilda Parcee Nelson. The ship anchored in Sydney and then proceeded to Queensland.^[2]

Samuel Nelson worked at Drayton Darling Down’s then made his way to Collector N.S.W. which is between Canberra and Goulburn. Four more children were born at Collector Emma born 1857, Samuel 1860, David 1862 and Thomas 1864.

It was on a Thursday, Foundation Day 26th January 1865 in the country town of Collector, when the team of bushrangers, John Dunn and his group, were spotted in the District. They had bailed up Judge F.W. Meymott and two escorting troopers at Geary’s Gap a few miles south of the town. The gang of bushrangers were almost on the outskirts of Collector, when they bailed up a bootmaker named Tom Menzy; three farmers named Mitchell and William Deveron and James Bull; and a 16 year old boy named Henry Nelson – the constable’s son.

At the police station Constable Samuel Nelson was studying his day’s labour. He had chopped a good supply of wood and his gardens were in fine shape. He was looking forward to cleaning up a hearty supper and a quiet evening with his family, including his wife who was eight months pregnant with their ninth child. Suddenly, a young girl came running towards him calling “Mr Nelson come quickly the bushrangers are at the Kimberley’s Inn”, then shots from Dunn’s gun were heard.^[3]

Samuel Nelson entered the station and put on his uniform, jacket and belt while Elizabeth his wife looked on in surprise. At the trial of Dunn, Kimberley’s Inn Keeper said “John Dunn came back from direction and said there one of your bloody are down”. When somebody asked who was shot Dunn said “a little sandy bugger”. Kimberley replied “I felt sure it was Nelson knowing he was a short sandy man”.

Some of the other people brought in the dead body of Constable Samuel Nelson who had a wound on his cheek and a large wound over his heart. Fredrick Nelson was fired upon by the accused. Henry Nelson was forced to hold the estranger’s horses under the threat of having his brains blown out.^[4]

The trial of John Dunn on the 19th February 1866 jury returned the verdict of guilty, the sentence of John Dunn was to be hanged by the neck till he was dead. On the 19th March 1866 the 19 year old murderer was taken from Darlinghurst to the place of execution and was hanged.

http://www.canterburycommons.net/index.php?title=Samuel_Nelson

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