Gatton murders

The Gatton Murders, also known as "The Gatton Tragedy", "The Gatton Mystery" and "The Murphy Murders", is the name given to a still unsolved triple homicide that occurred 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the town of Gatton, Queensland, Australia. Michael Murphy, aged 29, and his younger sisters, Norah (Honora), 27, and Theresa 'Ellen', 18, were killed between 10pm and 4am on 26–27 December 1898, while returning home from a proposed dance that had been cancelled. Michael had been shot and bludgeoned, Norah strangled and bludgeoned, and Theresa 'Ellen' bludgeoned twice.

The Murphy family owned a farm at Blackfellow's Creek, some 8 miles (13 km) from Gatton and 61 miles (98 km) west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The 1901 census listed the population as 449 souls. While today's Gatton is a small town (2006 census, 5295) located between the cities of Ipswich in the east and Toowoomba in the west, in the late 19th century the town was a major stopover point on the road from Brisbane to the Darling Downs, and with two major bridges and a railway line, the town was a rapidly expanding service centre for the district. Being more centrally located than Brisbane, there were even discussions regarding the relocation of the state capital to Gatton if the Lockyer Creek could be made navigable.

Michael and Daniel Murphy had both left home, Michael working on a government experimental farm near Westbrook, while Daniel was a Brisbane police constable. Michael had returned home for the Christmas holidays and on 26 December (Boxing Day), 1898, had taken his sister Theresa 'Ellen' to the Mount Sylvia Races in nearby Caffey. At 8pm, Michael and his sisters Norah and Theresa 'Ellen', left home to attend a dance due to be held at the Gatton Hall. Arriving at 9pm, they found that the dance had been cancelled and began the return journey home, but failed to arrive. Early the following morning, Mrs. Murphy asked her son-in-law William M'Neill to go to Gatton to find out why they had not returned. Michael had borrowed M'Neill's sulky for the outing and while on the Tent-Hill road to Gatton, M'Neill recognised his sulky's distinctive tracks (the result of a wobbling wheel) turning off the road through a sliprail. M'Neill followed the tracks along a rough winding trail through wattle scrub for around .75 miles (1.21 km) before finding his missing relatives.

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