Dubbo. In old Dubbo Gaol a sad photograph of Jacky Underwood. Aboriginal man hanged for up to eleven murders of white people. This story became the basis of The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith novel by Thomas Kenneally.
The Breelong Massacres.
Jimmy Governor had a red headed Irish father and an Aboriginal mother. He was employed on the Mawbey family farm between Gilgandra and Mendooran as a fencer for five shillings a day wages. Jimmy and his white wife and child lived in a hut on the property. His wife worked casually in the Mawbey homestead and often complained of the treatment meted out to her by husband Jimmy. The Mawbey women sympathised and told her to “leave the brute”. Ethel Governor told her husband the advice given to her. Jimmy employed his brother Joe and Jacky Underwood to help him complete a particularly disputed fencing contract with John Mawbey. Later Jimmy Governor had a dispute with Mrs Mawbey over payment for rations and he told his wife Mrs Mawbey had cheated him. His wife also reported back conversations with Mrs Mawbey and Miss Kerz, who boarded with the Mawbeys, about his colour and Aboriginality. On 20 July 1900 Jimmy Governor and Underwood and his brother decided to do something about his grievances with the Mawbeys. He went to the Mawbey homestead and spoke to Mrs Mawbey and Miss Kerz. According to Jimmy Governor he asked Mrs Mawbey did you say my wife should be shots for marrying a blackfellow? She sneered and then Jimmy attacked her and Miss Kerz with a nulla nulla. The screams awoke the rest of the household and they came running to help. A number of others in the house were murdered but the three murderers escaped. A manhunt was organised to find the fleeing murderers. The two Governor men abandoned Underwood near Mendooran and Underwood was soon caught by police. 2,000 police were involved in the manhunt but the two Governor men avoided captured. They went to Gulgong and murder three people that Jimmy had once worked for and held a grievance against. They then went to Merriwa and murdered two family members of a man for whom Jimmy had once worked. They murdered a total of eleven people. Jimmy Governor was shot by the fiancé of Miss Kerz who was seeking revenge, but he escaped only to be found in a weakened state 8 days later and he was handed over to police. Three days later brother Joe Governor who had escaped was attacked and shot by a farmer near Muswellbrook. Jimmy Governor was tried in Sydney and hung on 16th January 1901 just two days after Jacky Underwood was hung in Dubbo gaol. Underwood murdered 14 year old Percy Mawbey a son of John Mawbey. Underwood was buried in the Catholic section of Dubbo cemetery. Jimmy Governor’s wife Ethel remarried and had nine children with her new husband. The sad story was renamed in a novel by Thomas Keneally in 1972 as the Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. Then in 1978 it was made into a major film directed by Fred Schepisi.
Dubbo. In old Dubbo Gaol a sad photograph of Jacky Underwood. Aboriginal man hanged for up to eleven murders of white people. This story became the basis of The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith novel by Thomas Kenneally.
The Breelong Massacres.
Jimmy Governor had a red headed Irish father and an Aboriginal mother. He was employed on the Mawbey family farm between Gilgandra and Mendooran as a fencer for five shillings a day wages. Jimmy and his white wife and child lived in a hut on the property. His wife worked casually in the Mawbey homestead and often complained of the treatment meted out to her by husband Jimmy. The Mawbey women sympathised and told her to “leave the brute”. Ethel Governor told her husband the advice given to her. Jimmy employed his brother Joe and Jacky Underwood to help him complete a particularly disputed fencing contract with John Mawbey. Later Jimmy Governor had a dispute with Mrs Mawbey over payment for rations and he told his wife Mrs Mawbey had cheated him. His wife also reported back conversations with Mrs Mawbey and Miss Kerz, who boarded with the Mawbeys, about his colour and Aboriginality. On 20 July 1900 Jimmy Governor and Underwood and his brother decided to do something about his grievances with the Mawbeys. He went to the Mawbey homestead and spoke to Mrs Mawbey and Miss Kerz. According to Jimmy Governor he asked Mrs Mawbey did you say my wife should be shots for marrying a blackfellow? She sneered and then Jimmy attacked her and Miss Kerz with a nulla nulla. The screams awoke the rest of the household and they came running to help. A number of others in the house were murdered but the three murderers escaped. A manhunt was organised to find the fleeing murderers. The two Governor men abandoned Underwood near Mendooran and Underwood was soon caught by police. 2,000 police were involved in the manhunt but the two Governor men avoided captured. They went to Gulgong and murder three people that Jimmy had once worked for and held a grievance against. They then went to Merriwa and murdered two family members of a man for whom Jimmy had once worked. They murdered a total of eleven people. Jimmy Governor was shot by the fiancé of Miss Kerz who was seeking revenge, but he escaped only to be found in a weakened state 8 days later and he was handed over to police. Three days later brother Joe Governor who had escaped was attacked and shot by a farmer near Muswellbrook. Jimmy Governor was tried in Sydney and hung on 16th January 1901 just two days after Jacky Underwood was hung in Dubbo gaol. Underwood murdered 14 year old Percy Mawbey a son of John Mawbey. Underwood was buried in the Catholic section of Dubbo cemetery. Jimmy Governor’s wife Ethel remarried and had nine children with her new husband. The sad story was renamed in a novel by Thomas Keneally in 1972 as the Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. Then in 1978 it was made into a major film directed by Fred Schepisi.