Richard Purvis Marshall

Richard Purvis Marshall (born 3rd April 1818 - died 15th August 1872) was a British pastoral squatter and high ranking Native Police officer in the colonies of New South Wales and Queensland. He was co-founder of the Gundi Windi cattle and sheep run which later evolved into the town of Goondiwindi. He was appointed to the Native Police in 1850 and became Commandant of the force in 1855. He retired from the Native Police in 1856 and held various Justice of the Peace and police magistrate roles in Goondiwindi until his death in 1872.

Richard Purvis Marshall was born in Heatherleigh, Devon, England in 1818. His father was Lieutenant Sampson B. Marshall of the Royal Navy and his mother was Mary Ann King. His father served on the ship Diadem during the war against the American separatists and was severely wounded at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. He received a pension and was retired from service. The Marshall family later emigrated to New South Wales on the David Scott, arriving in Sydney in 1834, although it appears Richard remained in England until a later date. Sampson B. Marshall received a land grant of 640 acres at Jerry's Plains in the Hunter Valley and later moved his family to Rosebrook near Maitland in 1840.

In the late 1840s Richard Purvis Marshall in partnership with his brother Sampson Yeoval Marshall established the Gundi Windi pastoral station on the MacIntyre River along the northern frontier of the colony of New South Wales. This area straddled indigenous Bigambul and Gamilarai territory and armed opposition to British colonisation was fierce. Other new runs in the region faced similar resistance and conflict resulted in numerous deaths on either side. The invading armed British settlers augmented with constables under the command of Commissioner Richard John Bligh from Warialda were unable to defeat the Aboriginals and as result some squatting leases were abandoned.

Augustus Morris, who held the Callandoon lease adjoining Gundi Windi was also a politician in the colonial New South Wales government. He recognised the need for a strong paramilitary force to enforce British control in the MacIntyre River region and recommended legislation to set up a Native Police to be deployed in the area. In 1848, funds were set aside by the New South Wales government for this purpose and by mid 1849, fourteen aboriginal troopers from the Deniliquin region in the south of the colony were sent to the MacIntyre under the command of Frederick Walker.

...
Wikipedia