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Dan Morgan (bushranger)
Encyclopedia
John Fuller was an Australian bushranger
.
Fuller was born in Appin
, New South Wales
, Australia
around 1830 to George Fuller and Mary Owen. He was their illigitimate sonhttp://www.nedkellysworld.com.au/bushrangers/fuller_j.htm and from the ages of 2 to 17 he lived with an adoptive father, John Roberts. He began work as a stockman but soon became tired of this, and headed for the goldfields of Castlemaine
, Victoria. By 1854 he was back in New South Wales
, where he assumed the alias "John Smith" and became a suspected horse thief. He was also known for his heavy drinking and violent temper. He was arrested for armed robbery
and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, yet released after 6 years having received a ticket of leave.
Following his release, he began a life of bushranging, using aliases such as "John Smith", "Sydney Native", "Dan the Breaker", "Down the River Jack", "Jack Morgan", and most famously, "Dan Morgan".
Dan Morgan operated in the Henty
, Culcairn
, Morven
, Gerogery
and Tumbarumba
area over several years.
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On 12 June 1864, Morgan called at the Round Hill Station a few kilometres from Morven
and rounded up all the station hands and their wives. Morgan herded all of his captives into the carpenters shop and ordered the manager, Sam Watson to bring rum from the cellar. Morgan spent time drinking the rum and then demanded that he be brought fresh horses which he said he would return on his next visit. Whilst mounting one of these horses, one of the inebriated Morgan's pistols discharged and assuming that he was being fired upon, he in turn opened fire and wounded one of his captives, John Heriot in the leg.
Angry (or mad with the rum) Morgan demanded that the manager Watson stand still so that he could shoot him dead but Watson's wife stood in front of her husband and pleaded with Morgan to spare her husband for the sake of their children. Morgan, now moved by her bravery ordered Watson to raise his hands in the air instead and then shot him through one hand, shattering it by the force of the blast.
Morgan realised his mistake, both in relation to Heriot and Watson and so ordered the young station hand John McLean to fetch a doctor that resided some 32 kilometres away at Walla Walla
Station. However after McLean had left on horseback to fetch the doctor Morgan reached the assumption that McLean would return with the police, and considering he had made another mistake he mounted his horse and gave chase (rather than ride away to his hideout). Coming upon McLean he shot him in the back and then returned with him to the Round Hill Station, staying there until the young McLean died. Morgan then departed just before a party of police arrived in search of him.
and Tooma
. Morgan for no apparent reason shot Sergeant Maginnity under the heart. Trooper Churchley fled the scene, leaving his colleague to die (although he later insisted that his horse had bolted when the shot sounded). Churchley was later dismissed for cowardice.
The event was reported in the Sydney press and Morgan's actions helped to establish him as a brutal murderer with the government putting a reward of £1000 on Morgan's head.
The area where the shooting occurred hold occasional commemorations with regards to the tragic event. There has always been a story that Dan Morgan did not shoot McGinnity but that rather the bullet came from another's firearm. There was such an agenda to capture Morgan that any excuse that he had committed anything was enough.
Station in Victoria. A nursemaid, Alice Keenan, managed to escape and inform Mr Rutherford, the co-owner of the property. The following morning Dan Morgan was leaving the property when he found himself surrounded by police. He was shot in the back and head by station employee John Quinlan. He was buried at Wangaratta
Cemetery.
is based on his life and death.
Alice Keenan was the nurse maid to Christina Macpherson. Morgan allowed Keenan to leave the Macpherson living area where Morgan held the family as prisoners to attend to the cries of Christina, a year-old baby. The Macpherson family worked Dagworth Station
near Winton, Queensland
. It was there that Banjo Paterson
wrote the words to "Waltzing Matilda
" in response to a tune hummed by Christina Macpherson.
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
.
Fuller was born in Appin
Appin, New South Wales
Appin is a town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia in Wollondilly Shire. It is situated about 16 kilometres south of Campbelltown and 35 kilometres north west of Wollongong.-Early history:...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
around 1830 to George Fuller and Mary Owen. He was their illigitimate sonhttp://www.nedkellysworld.com.au/bushrangers/fuller_j.htm and from the ages of 2 to 17 he lived with an adoptive father, John Roberts. He began work as a stockman but soon became tired of this, and headed for the goldfields of Castlemaine
Castlemaine, Victoria
Castlemaine is a city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne, and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The...
, Victoria. By 1854 he was back in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, where he assumed the alias "John Smith" and became a suspected horse thief. He was also known for his heavy drinking and violent temper. He was arrested for armed robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, yet released after 6 years having received a ticket of leave.
Following his release, he began a life of bushranging, using aliases such as "John Smith", "Sydney Native", "Dan the Breaker", "Down the River Jack", "Jack Morgan", and most famously, "Dan Morgan".
Dan Morgan operated in the Henty
Henty, New South Wales
Henty is a town on the Olympic Highway almost midway between Albury and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia. Henty is situated on the border of the South West Slopes and the Riverina districts. At the 2006 census, Henty had a population of 863 people....
, Culcairn
Culcairn, New South Wales
Culcairn is a town in the south east Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Culcairn is located in the Greater Hume Shire Council Local government area on the Olympic Highway between Albury and Wagga Wagga...
, Morven
Morven, New South Wales
Morven is a small village about 7 kilometres west of Culcairn in the eastern Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Morven had a population of 464 people.-History:Morven commenced its existence as a Cobb and Co Staging Post...
, Gerogery
Gerogery, New South Wales
Gerogery is a small village in Greater Hume Shire Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gerogery serves a rural farming community. The village is located on the Main South railway line between Sydney and Melbourne, where it intersects with the Olympic Way. At the 2006 census,...
and Tumbarumba
Tumbarumba, New South Wales
Tumbarumba is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, about 500 km southwest of Sydney. Tumbarumba is located within the Riverina region and more specifically on the South West Slopes at the western edge of the Snowy Mountains. At the 2006 Census of Population and Housing, people lived...
area over several years.
Shooting of John McLean
Morven, New South Wales
Morven is a small village about 7 kilometres west of Culcairn in the eastern Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Morven had a population of 464 people.-History:Morven commenced its existence as a Cobb and Co Staging Post...
and rounded up all the station hands and their wives. Morgan herded all of his captives into the carpenters shop and ordered the manager, Sam Watson to bring rum from the cellar. Morgan spent time drinking the rum and then demanded that he be brought fresh horses which he said he would return on his next visit. Whilst mounting one of these horses, one of the inebriated Morgan's pistols discharged and assuming that he was being fired upon, he in turn opened fire and wounded one of his captives, John Heriot in the leg.
Angry (or mad with the rum) Morgan demanded that the manager Watson stand still so that he could shoot him dead but Watson's wife stood in front of her husband and pleaded with Morgan to spare her husband for the sake of their children. Morgan, now moved by her bravery ordered Watson to raise his hands in the air instead and then shot him through one hand, shattering it by the force of the blast.
Morgan realised his mistake, both in relation to Heriot and Watson and so ordered the young station hand John McLean to fetch a doctor that resided some 32 kilometres away at Walla Walla
Walla Walla, New South Wales
Walla Walla is a town in Greater Hume Shire Council in New South Wales, Australia. It is about north of Albury-Wodonga and south of Wagga Wagga.Walla Walla had a population of 581 people in 2006 and has the largest Lutheran church in New South Wales....
Station. However after McLean had left on horseback to fetch the doctor Morgan reached the assumption that McLean would return with the police, and considering he had made another mistake he mounted his horse and gave chase (rather than ride away to his hideout). Coming upon McLean he shot him in the back and then returned with him to the Round Hill Station, staying there until the young McLean died. Morgan then departed just before a party of police arrived in search of him.
Shooting of Sergeant David Maginnity
On 24 July 1864, Morgan approached two mounted troopers, Sergeant David Maginnity and Trooper Churchley in the bush area between TumbarumbaTumbarumba, New South Wales
Tumbarumba is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, about 500 km southwest of Sydney. Tumbarumba is located within the Riverina region and more specifically on the South West Slopes at the western edge of the Snowy Mountains. At the 2006 Census of Population and Housing, people lived...
and Tooma
Tooma, New South Wales
Tooma is a village community in the eastern part of the Riverina and situated about 11 kilometres east from Welaregang and 34 kilometres south from Tumbarumba.Tooma is in the valley of the Tooma River, not far from where it joins the Murray River....
. Morgan for no apparent reason shot Sergeant Maginnity under the heart. Trooper Churchley fled the scene, leaving his colleague to die (although he later insisted that his horse had bolted when the shot sounded). Churchley was later dismissed for cowardice.
The event was reported in the Sydney press and Morgan's actions helped to establish him as a brutal murderer with the government putting a reward of £1000 on Morgan's head.
The area where the shooting occurred hold occasional commemorations with regards to the tragic event. There has always been a story that Dan Morgan did not shoot McGinnity but that rather the bullet came from another's firearm. There was such an agenda to capture Morgan that any excuse that he had committed anything was enough.
Shooting of Senior Sergeant Thomas Smyth
Two kilometers west of the Henty on Pleasant Hills Rd (the Lockhart road) is a memorial stone on the site where Morgan shot Sergeant Thomas Smyth in September 1864. A more recent plaque has been erected by the NSW Police Service and reads:A memorial to Senior Sergeant Thomas Smyth, aged 29. A member of the NSW Police Force shot by bushranger Dan Morgan in the surrounding hills on 4 September 1864. Senior Sergeant Smyth received a gunshot wound to his left shoulder and convalesced at the Imperial Hotel, AlburyAlbury, New South WalesAlbury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...
until 29 September 1864 where he haemorrhaged as a result of the gunshot wound and died. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the Albury cemetery. Dan Morgan was a murderer with a £1000 price on his head. Senior Sergeant Smyth gave his life while in the pursuit of Morgan who although a tourist attraction these days put fear in the people of the district in the 1860s.
Shooting of Dan Morgan
On 8 April 1865, Mad Dan Morgan, held up the McPherson family at PeechelbaPeechelba, Victoria
Peechelba is a small town in north eastern Victoria , Australia. The town is located in the Rural City of Wangaratta Local Government Area between Wangaratta and Yarrawonga and north west of the state capital, Melbourne...
Station in Victoria. A nursemaid, Alice Keenan, managed to escape and inform Mr Rutherford, the co-owner of the property. The following morning Dan Morgan was leaving the property when he found himself surrounded by police. He was shot in the back and head by station employee John Quinlan. He was buried at Wangaratta
Wangaratta, Victoria
Wangaratta is a cathedral city of almost 17,000 people in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, about from Melbourne along the Hume Highway, with Benalla to the southwest, and Albury-Wodonga to the northeast. It is located at the junction of the Ovens and King rivers which flow from the...
Cemetery.
Film
The film Mad Dog MorganMad Dog Morgan
Mad Dog Morgan is a 1976 Australian bushranger film directed by Philippe Mora and starring Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson and David Gulpilil. It is based upon the life of Dan Morgan...
is based on his life and death.
Alice Keenan was the nurse maid to Christina Macpherson. Morgan allowed Keenan to leave the Macpherson living area where Morgan held the family as prisoners to attend to the cries of Christina, a year-old baby. The Macpherson family worked Dagworth Station
Dagworth Station
Dagworth Station is a cattle station located north-west of Winton in central west Queensland in Australia. It was established between 1879 and 1884. In 1894 the station's shearing shed was burned down along with 7 others in the district as part of a protest by shearers over wages. Samuel...
near Winton, Queensland
Winton, Queensland
-Qantas:Winton was one of the founding towns of the Australian airline Qantas. The first board meeting was held at the Winton Club on 10 February 1921.-Waltzing Matilda:...
. It was there that Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
wrote the words to "Waltzing Matilda
Waltzing Matilda
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
" in response to a tune hummed by Christina Macpherson.
External links
- Sydney Morning Herald article about Henty with details of Dan Morgan's activities in the area
- Article and photos of Dan Morgan from the State Library of VictoriaState Library of VictoriaThe State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district...
.