At the Rest Area a printed sign is held within a frame of khaki-painted, right-angle steel, held at an angle. It is near the Gilgandra Rotary Club memorial Orientation Table in the picnic area of the Rest Area. It also has several historic photos on it, including the scene at the Mawbey home, shortly after the tragedy; a later-taken photo of the Mawbey home; one of Sarah and John Mawbey in 1875; and a photo of Jimmy Governor, c 1896. The sign reads:
"Not far from here in July 1900, Jimmy Governor and an accomplice murdered four members of the Mawbey family and the school teacher who boarded with them.
The Breelong Tragedy
"On the night of 20 July 1900, Jimmy Governor and his friend Jacky Underwood went to the old inn at 'Breelong' to confront the owner of the property, John Mawbey, about rations. The two Aboriginal men were armed with a nulla nulla (heavy club), and a tomahawk. Underwood also carried a rifle without ammunition.
"Earlier that evening, Governor and his wife had quarrelled over their situation. Mawbey had engaged Jimmy Governor to work at 'Breelong' on a fencing contract. Governor and his young wife, a white woman, had arrived at the property in January 1900. Since that time, a range of issues had created friction between the two families. There had been a dispute over fence posts. Mawbey had rejected the posts as substandard, but wanted to use them even though they had not been paid for. The women of the Mawbey household made no secret of their disapproval of Mrs Governor's interracial marriage. Relations were strained further when the Governors were joined at their camp site by Jimmy's brother Joe, his younger nephew Peter, his uncle Jacky Porter and Jacky Underwood.
"Up until 1900 the Mawbey family lived at the Breelong Inn site. That year they built a new home about one mile away on the Wallumbaurrawang Creek. It was not a very large house, and members of the extended family, as well as the school teacher, Helena Kerz, were staying with them. The men of the household were sleeping at the inn when Governor and Underwood called next at the new house.
"Witness accounts of what unfolded there, given at various times following the murders by both the survivors and perpetrators, differ significantly in substance and reliability. Five members of the Mawbey family and the teacher were brutally attacked. Only Elsie Clarke, Mrs Mawbey's younger sister, survived her injuries.
"Young Albert 'Bertie' Mawbey escaped from the house unharmed, running to get help at the nearby inn. By the next day the entire district was in an uproar, with armed men on horseback searching for the Governors and Jacky Underwood.
The Manhunt
"Underwood was quickly arrested, but the Governor brothers used their bush skills and knowledge of police tactics to evade capture, leading authorities on a three month manhunt that covered over 3,000 kilometres of northern NSW. Fear gripped the countryside as the Governors visited former haunts, settling old scores. The Governors were eventually declared outlaws and a reward of £1000 was offered for the capture of each of the brothers.
"Jacky Underwood was tried and hanged at Dubbo. Joe Governor was shot and killed at Singleton in October 1900. A few days before, Jimmy had been captured near Wingham. He stood trial for the murder of Miss Kerz in Sydney. Found guilty, he was eventually hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol in January 1901, shortly after Federation.
The Mawbey family
"John Thomas Mawbey was born at Woolloomooloo in 1849, the son of schoolmaster George Mawbey and his wife Ann, nee Williams. John married Sarah Ann Marie Clarke at Mudgee in 1875. In the 1880s they purchased 'Breelong' on the Castlereagh River. The couple had nine children.
"After the massacre, in which his wife and three of their children were killed, John had no desire to continue living at 'Breelong', and sold it cheaply. He asked that the large twin-trunked tree under which his daughter Hilda had been clubbed to death should be left as "nature's monument" to the tragedy. The tree died in 2008, but its bare timber remains standing on the bank of Wallumburrawang Creek at the time of writing (2012).
"John and his surviving sons eventually settled at Wongarbon, where John died in 1912."
Photo of Jimmy Governor, [c.1896]
"Jimmy Governor was born on the Tralbragar River in 1875. The eldest of eight children, he was the son of Tommy Governor (also known as Sam) and his wife Annie, nee Fitzgerald. Although of mixed ethinicity, Jimmy was dark skinned and Aboriginal in appearance. His education would have been intermittent, as the family moved often, however he excelled at school and could read and write. He also learned excellent bush skills and worked on the land in various capacities, lopping trees, droving, fencing, shearing and horse breaking. He was said to have a strong work ethic. In 1896 he was employed as a police tracker at Cassilis.
"He married Ethel Page at Gulgong in 1898. The couple had a son, Sidney, an infant at the time of the murders. Eventually Ethel married again and had nine more children. She died in 1945."
Address: Breelong Rest Area, Castlereagh Highway, Breelong, NSW, Australia
Visited: 1302-4, Friday, 21 September, 2018
* Incidentally there is a Historical Marker not too far from my home (~30 km) for where Jimmy Governor was captured. Jimmy Governor capture. *