Bushrangers Dan Morgan

BUSHRANGER PROFILES

'Mad' Dan Morgan

The Death of Dan Morgan

Claims about Morgan's birth report varying details. Many claim he was born John Fuller, 30 April 1833 at Campbelltown, NSW, the illegitimate son of George Fuller and Mary Owen. Elsewhere it is claimed he was born in 1830. In 1832 he was adopted by one John Roberts who cared for him until he was 17 (in 1847).

Morgan allegedly then went to the Murrumbidgee region until 1854 working as a stockman on many of the properties in the district.

In 1847 Morgan reportedly stole two horses at Campbeltown.He moved to the Castlemaine Goldfields and soon gained a reputation as a notorious horse thief. In 1854 he bailed up a hawker named John Duff and stole goods to the value of eighty pounds. Arrested, he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years' hard labour on the prison hulks moored in Port Phillip Bay. Morgan was released on Ticket of Leave in 1860 from which he absconded. He left Victoria for southern New South Wales, around the Lambing Flat (Young) District.

In 1863 Morgan commenced fulltime bushranging in southern New South Wales and over the next three years (1863 to 1865) he robbed homesteads, travellers and mail coaches, committed a number of murders and gained a reputation for extraordinary brutality and savagery. On 20 August Wagga Police Magistrate Henry Bayliss was bailed up after a five-mile chase. On 26 August Bayliss joined a police party tracking Morgan and was wounded in a shootout at the bushrangers' camp.

Next day Morgan shot a shepherd named Haley whom Morgan accused of providing information to the police. Haley was badly wounded but survived. As a result, on 31 August a reward of two hundred pounds was posted for Morgan's capture by the NSW Government. Later this was raised to five hundred pounds.

Morgan was a callous murderer, among his victims were John McLean, Sergeant David Maginnity and Senior Sergeant Thomas Smyth

On 8 April 1865 a Morgan arrived at Peechelba Station at about five pm and bailed it up and held the occupants captive. A man named Rutherford, who was in another building, despatched a man to Wangaratta to summon the police and then alerted all the station employees.

On 9 April a police party arrived and deployed around the homestead. One of the men, John Wendlan, acknowledged as the best shot on Peechelba shot Morgan in the back, just below the left shoulder blade, shattered two verterbrae, and passed through his body before exiting at the neck, under the chin right of the windpipe.

Next day (10 April) Superintendent Cobham from Wangaratta and Doctors Hallett and Henry arrived. An inquest was held at five pm and the jury found that the deceased met his death from a gunshot wound and that the homicide was justifiable.

On 11 April Morgan's body was transferred to Wangaratta and placed in the gaol, pending burial. On 14 April. Morgan was buried in Wangaratta cemetery

So passed Mad Dan Morgan.