Dignum and Comerford

Last updated

Dignum and Comerford were Joseph Dignum and George Comerford (died 1837), Australian convicts, bushrangers, and murderers. They were arguably the first bushrangers in the Melbourne region. [1]

Comerford was a convict who escaped in 1837 and teamed up with eight other men in the bush around the Port Phillip region. He and two of the men, Joseph Dignum and a shoemaker, murdered the other six. Dignumn then murdered the shoemaker. [2] The men were later recaptured. [3]

In August 1837 the men were sent from Sydney to Port Philip. [4]

On 30 December 1837 Comerford took members of the police back to where the massacre took place and managed to escape, fatally shooting a policemen escorting him. [5] [6]

Comerford was captured again, pled guilty to the murder and was executed in May 1837. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bushranger</span> Australian outlaws active during the 19th century

Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia, and applied to transported convicts who had escaped into the bush to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using the bush as their base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarke gang</span> Australian bushrangers

The Clarke gang was a group of bushrangers active in the mid-1860s in the southern goldfields of New South Wales, Australia. The membership of the gang fluctuated over time, the two core members being brothers Thomas and John Clarke, from the Braidwood district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Westwood (bushranger)</span> English bushranger in Australia (1820–1846)

William Westwood, also known as Jackey Jackey, was an English-born convict who became a bushranger in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaham, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Port Stephens Council, New South Wales, Australia

Seaham is a suburb of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Williams River which flows into the Hunter River 14.6 km (9.1 mi) downstream from Seaham village at Raymond Terrace.

John Caesar, nicknamed "Black Caesar", was the first Australian bushranger and one of the first people of African descent to arrive in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian native police</span> Colonial military force used in Australia

Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal troopers under the command of White officers appointed by colonial governments. These units existed in various forms in colonial Australia during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentieth centuries. From temporary base camps and barracks, Native Police were primarily used to patrol the often vast geographical areas along the colonial frontier in order to conduct raids against aboriginals or tribes that had broken the law and punitive expeditions against Aboriginal people. The Native Police proved to be a brutally destructive instrument in the disintegration and dispossession of Indigenous Australians. Armed with rifles, carbines and swords, they were also deployed to escort surveying groups, gold convoys and groups of pastoralists and prospectors.

John Lazar was an actor and theatre manager in Australia. He was Mayor of Adelaide from 1855 to 1858.

Edward Davis (1816–1841) was an Australia convict turned bushranger. His real name is not certain, but in April 1832 he was convicted under the name George Wilkinson for attempting to steal a wooden till and copper coins to the total value of 7 shillings. Sentenced to seven years transportation, he arrived in Sydney on the Camden in 1833 and was placed in the Hyde Park Barracks. Over the next few years he escaped four times: on 23 December 1833 from the Barracks, on 1 December 1835 from Penrith, on 10 January 1837 from the farmer he had been assigned to, and for a final time on 21 July 1838.

<i>Frank Gardiner, the King of the Road</i> 1911 film

Frank Gardiner, the King of the Road is a 1911 Australian film about the bushranger Frank Gardiner, played by John Gavin, who also directed. It was the fourth consecutive bushranger biopic Gavin made, following movies about Captain Thunderbolt, Captain Moonlite and Ben Hall.

Spencer Cosens best known as Cosens Spencer and posthumously as Charles Cozens Spencer, was a British-born Canadian film exhibitor and producer, a significant figure in the early years of the Australian film industry. His company Spencer's Pictures was an early backer of Raymond Longford before it was absorbed into the conglomerate which became known as "The Combine".

<i>Dan Morgan</i> (film) 1911 film

Dan Morgan is a 1911 Australian film from Cosens Spencer about the bushranger Daniel Morgan. It was said to be starring "Alfred Rolfe and company". Rolfe directed three movies for Spencer, all starring himself and his wife Lily Dampier so there is a chance he may have directed this one and that it starred his wife. A prospectus for the Australian Photo Play Company said he directed it. It is considered a lost film.

Norfolk Island convict mutinies were a series of armed uprisings by convicts on the penal colony of Norfolk Island, Australia. All were unsuccessful.

The Border Police of New South Wales was a frontier policing body introduced by the colonial government of New South Wales with the passing of the Crown Lands Unauthorised Occupation Act 1839.

George Imlay (1794–1846), together with his brothers Alexander (1794–1847) and Peter (1797–1881), was a Scottish-born pioneer settler in southern New South Wales. All three reached Australia as military surgeons serving on convict ships. They operated in the region as pastoralists, whalers and shipbuilders.

Criminal activity in New South Wales, Australia is combated by the New South Wales Police Force and the New South Wales court system, while statistics about crime are managed by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Modern Australian states and cities, including New South Wales, have some of the lowest crime rates recorded globally with Australia ranked the 13th safest nation and Sydney ranked the 5th safest city globally. As of September 2018 the City of Blacktown (495.1) and City of Penrith (475.7) had the highest rates of violent crime per 100,000 in Sydney. Rural areas have comparatively high crime rates per 100,000 with rural shires such as Walgett Shire (1350.3) and Moree Plains Shire (1236.2) having some of the highest violent crime rates in the state. The overall NSW crime rate has been in steady decline for many years.

Harry Dashboard, pen-name of the Australian newspaper poet identified as James Riley, who also wrote under other pseudonyms including “Felix.”

The Mount Cottrell massacre involved the murder of an estimated 10 Wathaurong people near Mount Cottrell in the colony of Victoria in 1836, in retaliation for the killing of two European settlers.

The Tragedy of Donohoe is a play by Charles Harpur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Barrett (Indigenous Australian)</span> Indigenous Australian tracker

Bob Barrett or Monunggal was a notable Awabakal Indigenous Australian from the area around Lake Macquarie and Newcastle, New South Wales. He was a trusted part of the British military establishment at the Newcastle and Port Macquarie convict settlements, where he was employed in the tracking and capture of escaped convicts. He was also involved in a famous court case which set a precedent for legal pluralism in Australia, and was later given a non-commissioned officer rank in an abortive Aboriginal paramilitary unit designed to engage with Aboriginal Tasmanians resisting British colonisation.

References

  1. "Dignum and Comerford". Finding Merriman.
  2. "No Title". The Sydney Monitor . Vol. XII, no. 1063. New South Wales, Australia. 21 July 1837. p. 2 (EVENING). Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  3. "No title". The Australian . Vol. IV, no. 419. New South Wales, Australia. 18 July 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  4. "THE PORT PHILLIP MURDERERS". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser . Vol. XXXV, no. 1382. New South Wales, Australia. 15 August 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  5. "NEWS OF THE DAY". The Sydney Monitor . Vol. XIII, no. 1145. New South Wales, Australia. 29 January 1838. p. 2 (EVENING). Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  6. "ACCIDENTS, OFFENCES, &c". The Sydney Herald . Vol. VIII, no. 651. New South Wales, Australia. 22 January 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  7. "EXECUTION OF COMERFORD THE MURDERER". The Sydney Herald . Vol. VIII, no. 688. New South Wales, Australia. 31 May 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  8. "LAW". The Australian . Vol. V, no. 509. New South Wales, Australia. 29 May 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2024 via National Library of Australia.