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”