Gulgong 1928 – The man who triggered “the last of the poor man’s gold rushes’’ in New South Wales, died an invalid pensioner at the ripe old age of 80. John Thomas Saunders Junior passed away in 1928 after a short stay in the hospital of the town which sprang up overnight around his famousContinue reading “Gold rush hero did not die rich”
Tag Archives: gulgong cemetery
Horses hasten men’s end
No-one saw Thomas Hood, driver of the mail coach from Mudgee to Wellington in rural NSW, get kicked in the face by a horse, but the mark of the shoe was plainly visible on his face. Death-by-horse was a reasonable common occurence in early Australia, particular as horses were essential for transport of people andContinue reading “Horses hasten men’s end”
A bitter epitath
Alex McKay was one of nine people murdered by the Jimmy Governor gang, touted as Australia’s last outlaws. McKay’s gravestone stands proudly in the Gulgong Cemetery, New South Wales, slightly apart from other graves. It declares he was “brutally murdered by the blacks.” The Governor story is well studied in Australian history, with its overtonesContinue reading “A bitter epitath”
Way to go Australia 