Daniel Morgan (bushranger) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daniel Morgan
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'Morgan the Bushranger', an 1864 woodblock print by Samuel Calvert.
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| Born |
John Owen
30 April 1830 Appin, New South Wales, Australia
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| Died | 9 April 1865 (aged 34) |
| Occupation | Bushranger |
Daniel Morgan (30 April 1830 – 9 April 1865) was an Australian bushranger. He was an expert bushman with superb horse-riding skills, a combination of abilities which enabled him to evade capture by the authorities for a significant period of time.
Morgan's exploits inspired the 1976 Ozploitation film Mad Dog Morgan, starring Dennis Hopper in the title role.
Early life
Dan Morgan started life as John Owen, the illegitimate son of Mary Owen and George Fuller, born at Appin, New South Wales, on 30 April 1830. His mother was locally known as 'The Gypsy' and George Fuller was a costermonger (a person who sells fruit and vegetables from a handcart in the street). Other sources claim Morgan’s father was an ex-convict called Samuel Moran.
From an early age John Owen was raised by a man called John Roberts, known in the Campbelltown district as "Jack the Welshman". Owen attended a Catholic school at Campbelltown, but was considered “a n’er-do-well”. He was characterised as having anti-social tendencies: “Society had little charm for him; bush and solitude were his delight”.
First conviction
In about 1847, aged 17 years, Owen found employment as a stockman on a station in the Murrumbidgee district. It was reputed that Owen “developed into a horse and cattle stealer, his practice being to drive his captures long distances, and sell them”. By the early 1850s he was known as ‘Bill the Native’ and was described as “a notorious horse thief” in the Avoca district where he lived “a lonely life in the mallee scrub which then abounded there”. He had “several narrow escapes from the squatters, who frequently pursued him”. On one occasion he was being chased “for several miles by two settlers” and one of them shot him in the knee.
In June 1854 Owen was convicted under the name ‘John Smith’ of “highway robbery”.
In June 1860 Morgan was granted a ticket-of-leave for the Yackandandah district (south of Albury). Morgan later claimed that he had gone to Yackandandah “where he asked a man for a job, which was refused him on account of his having been at Pentridge, and that he then determined never again to ask for employment”. After failing to report to the authorities Morgan was proclaimed to be a “prisoner of the Crown illegally at large”. Almost immediately upon his release Morgan “entered upon a continual course of crime”.
During the next few years the outlaw kept a relatively low profile, supposedly engaged in horse and cattle stealing and occasionally engaged as a horse-breaker in the eastern Riverina and western slopes of New South Wales and also north-eastern Victoria.
Bushranging activities
Morgan had been known by a bewildering variety of aliases during his life, including 'John Smith', 'Sydney Bill', 'Warrigal', 'Dan the Breaker', 'Down-the-River Jack', 'Beardie', 'Jack Morgan' and, most famously, 'Daniel Morgan'. By the time of his bushranging activities from mid-1863 the surname 'Morgan' was the identifier most often used in colonial newspapers.
Morgan has been described as "the most bloodthirsty ruffian that ever took to the bush in Australia" and “one of the most determined and bloodthirsty of colonial freebooters”. Many accounts of his activities, particularly in the years after his death, emphasise his brutality and erratic behaviour but Morgan had many sympathisers and informants in the districts where he carried out his activities.
After Morgan killed a police sergeant in June 1864 the Government of New South Wales offered a one thousand pound reward for his apprehension. He was shot and killed in April 1865 after holding up 'Peechelba' Station in Victoria, aged 34.
The New South Wales government reward of £1000 “for the capture of the offender Morgan” was shared between 17 different people. The main recipients were John Wendlan (the man who shot the outlaw) who received £300, Alice McDonald (the housemaid who first conveyed the information about Morgan) £250, James Frazer (a volunteer who assisted soon after the shooting) £250, Donald Clarke (a volunteer stationed near the house with Wendlan) £100 and Alice Keenan (the nursemaid who informed Rutherford of Morgan's identity) £50. What remained of the reward money was evenly split between 12 other volunteers and policemen who were involved in the confrontation at ‘Peechelba’ station.
Daniel Morgan was buried in the Wangaratta cemetery. Morgan was denied a Christian burial; his remains were interred in the Chinese section of the cemetery. A description of his grave published in 1878 noted that a rose-bush and geranium were growing at the head of the grave, planted by Morgan’s mother who, up until 1876, had travelled from New South Wales once every year to visit the grave.
Images for kids
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Henry Baylis, Police Magistrate at Wagga Wagga, wearing the bullet on his watch-chain that wounded him during an encounter with Daniel Morgan.
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‘Daniel Morgan, the Bushranger’, woodblock print by Samuel Calvert, Illustrated Sydney News, 16 May 1865.
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‘Morgan, the Bushranger, Sticking up “Round Hill” Station’ by Frederick Grosse (woodblock print)
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John McLean's 'grave' near Culcairn, commemorating the cattle overseer killed by Daniel Morgan in June 1864; McLean was actually buried at Albury so the 'grave' is more aptly described as a memorial.
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‘The Bushranging Affray at Copabella – Morgan Shooting M’Ginnerty’, woodblock print, Illustrated Sydney News, 17 August 1864.
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The memorial to Senior-sergeant Thomas Smyth, near Henty.
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‘Capture and Death of Morgan, the Bushranger’, woodblock print by Nicholas Chevalier, published in Australian News for Home Readers on 19 April 1865.
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A post mortem photograph of Daniel Morgan (credited to Henry Pohl).
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Daniel Morgan’s grave in the cemetery at Wangaratta.
