Daniel Morgan – Mad Dog
“Mad Dog” Dan Morgan’s level of violence is shockingly confronting even when compared to other Australian Legends of the 1800s. Born John Owen in 1830 in the Macarthur region southwest of Sydney to Mary Owen, “the Gyspy”, of Irish Catholic Stock. The older he got, the more he exhibited intense anti-social sociopathic characteristics and was once coined “the most bloodthirsty ruffian that ever took to the bush in Australia.”
While genetics play a role in temperament development, so does our conditioning. No one is an island, so we are all products of our environment to a greater or lesser extent. Dan Morgan was no different. He was the product of a culture of extreme violence that took hold of Australia with the arrival of the white man. White authorities imposed cruel and unjust transportation practices on the poor of the British Isles and reigned down unspeakable atrocities on first nations peoples. In behaving like a mad dog, Morgan reflected the inhumanity of his times.
His biological father may have been anyone of many characters Mary associated with, like George Fuller, a street cart seller of groceries or Samuel Moran, an ex-convict. However, John Roberts raised John Owen, who sent him to a Catholic school in Campbelltown, New South Wales.
As a teenager, John Owen found himself employed in the Murrumbidgee river region of New South Wales, herding horses and cattle, where he quickly took to raiding or duffing, using various aliases.
He was known for driving his plunder long distances interstate. Whilst venturing deep into the Mallee region of Victoria, he was pursued by graziers. One shot him in the leg while in pursuit. In those days, graziers killed aborigines like wild dogs, treating them like strangers on their own land.
Ned Kelly, the supreme Australian Legend and bushranger, led stolen horses across the border into New South Wales from North East Victoria. Some say Ned worked with corrupt police in his late teens and early twenties. Similarly, oral tradition in the Upper Murray says Jack Riley, the original man from Snowy River, was jailed for stealing horses before he moved to Tom Groggin in 1884. Some say he was covering for others and was unprepared to dob them in. Hence one could say blurred boundaries and unspoken allegiances were common in the bush in the 1800s, especially amongst the struggling underclasses.
Mad Dog Morgan’s first major stint in jail was in 1854, having been convicted of ‘highway robbery’ near Castlemaine, Victoria. He mercilessly left his victims tied to trees. In hot pursuit, the police captured him despite his bloody and ruthless resistance.
“Mad Dog” Morgan was sentenced to 12 years in jail with hard labour and ended up on the Success; a ship converted to a prison anchored off Williamstown on Port Phillip Bay.
The Success is another typical example of Australia’s chaotic and violent history. On its arrival in Melbourne on 31st May 1852, its crew deserted to the gold fields. It was subsequently purchased by the Victorian Government and converted into a prison hulk moored at Williamstown. Horrifically, in 1857 prisoners from Success murdered the Superintendent of Prisons John Price. Immediately after, authorities transferred Morgan to Pentridge and subsequently convicted and hung seven of his inmates for the crime.
Released from jail in June 1860 on a ticket of leave to work in northeast Victoria, Morgan failed to report to authorities in Yackandandah and was proclaimed “a prisoner of the Crown illegally at large”. He found a new career as a bushranger, hustling at gunpoint coach travellers on the roads. However, unlike the many other bushrangers that came before him, think Ben Hall or Ned Kelly, Morgan maintained his notorious, ‘un-gentlemanlike’ reputation; he continued to be considered a figure that one should steer clear of at all costs.
Upon returning to the life of crime he had previously left behind, Morgan began to harass the incoming and outgoing traffic around the major regional city of Wagga Wagga, ensuring a firm, brutal grip on the Riverina district. Following suit with a violent and bloodthirsty reputation, Morgan had no remorse when committing acts of extraordinary violence – what many would coin atrocities. “Mad Dog” Morgan fired at anyone who opposed him, irrespective of whether they belonged to armed governmental authorities or were simply unarmed citizens looking to make their way into the city.
While he was back in New South Wales, the local administration in North East Victoria had stated that in the case that Morgan decided to enter Victoria, he would be neutralised within a mere two days. But, seeking a challenge, Morgan entered the Victorian territory and committed a broad range of serious crimes within his first two days.
On 8 April 1865, Morgan saw sunlight for the last time. Holding up his final set of hostages at Peechelba Station, Morgan forced them to prepare a meal for him. Unfortunately for Morgan, in the process of doing so, one of the staff members from the property escaped and informed the local police forces of Morgan’s whereabouts. As such, when Morgan left the house, he was met by a large force of armed police officers, losing his life in the skirmish that later ensued.
One might surmise that both Ned Kelly’s last stand at Glenrowan and Mad Dog’s re-entry into Victoria were intentional self-sabotaging ‘suicide-by-cop’ episodes.
Despite his rather adrenaline-inducing life, his body found a simple end; He now lies in the Wangaratta cemetery, with a distinctive rock marking his burial site. Similarly, Ned Kelly rests at Greta cemetery just twenty kilometers away.
