Broger of the Shoalhaven

Charged with murder, Queensland, 1894.

Contents

Broger
Murder of John Rivett
Timeline
Acknowledgements

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Abstract: Broger (c.1800 - c.1830) was a famous Aboriginal man of the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, Australia. He lived during the early colonial period, following the British invasion of 1788. Brief biographical details are known due to his association with British settlers such as Hamilton Hume and Alexander Berry, and his listing as an outlaw who became the third Aboriginal man known to be publically executed for the killing of a white man. The execution took place at Campbelltown during 1830.

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1. Broger

Broger is famous due to the fact that in 1830 he was publically executed by the British government, as noted in the Australian Dictionary of Biography wherein a brief biography is combined with that of his brother Broughton / Toodwick. A copy of this entry is reproduced below.

Broughton (c.1798 - c.1850), Aboriginal guide, tracker and constable, and Broger (Brogher) (c.1800 - 1830), Aboriginal tribesman, were close relations, probably siblings, born at Boon-ga-ree - known in 1822-88 as Broughton Creek and subsequently as Berry - in the Shoalhaven area of New South Wales. The brothers responded in different ways to the challenges posed by the influx of Europeans. ..... Broger was less accepting [than Broughton] of European ways and values, though he could speak English. To Broughton's distress, he refused to undertake regular labour for Berry, preferring instead the company of his wife and at least three children in the forest at Boon-ga-ree.....

On 6 February 1829, with his Aboriginal friend George Murphy (probably a close relative), he took two sawyers, John Rivett and James Hicks, into the bush in Kangaroo Valley to show them some fine cedar. Here, Broger killed Rivett.

Broughton, because of his reputation as a skilled tracker, was recruited to hunt down his brother but led the search party on a wild goose chase. Captured in May, when taken on board ship, Broger stole the keys to his irons from a sleeping guard, jumped overboard and fled. Recaptured in October 1829, he was committed for trial by magistrates Berry and Charles Windeyer.

Broger's Creek, Kangaroo Valley.

It emerged that Broger, Murphy, Rivett and Hicks knew each other. Sawyers of the district, Rivett in particular, had a bad reputation for their dealings with Aborigines. A few days before his death, Rivett had cheated Broger and Murphy in an exchange of flour for bush turkey eggs. Further, it was rumoured that Rivett had seduced Murphy's wife. If this were true, then Broger may have been obliged to assist Murphy in securing redress under Aboriginal law. Perhaps, too, Broger resented the effects being wrought by sawyers on the stands of timber in the area, for he was known to refer possessively to Boon-ga-ree as 'his own place'.
At his trial at Campbelltown on 20 August 1830 before Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes, witnesses noted his claims that Rivett had attacked him first and he had acted in self-defence. However, he was not allowed to speak in his own defence. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. On 30 August Broger was publicly executed by Alexander Green. ...... The names of the brothers survive in several physical features and localities in the Shoalhaven. Brogers Creek is named after the one.

A detailed account of events in the life and times of Broger is included in the Timeline section below, along with a prior summary of events surrounding the murder of John Rivett and the subsequent execution of Broger.

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Governor Arthur's proclamation to Aborigines, Hobart, circa 1828-1830.

2. The Murder of John Rivett

On 6 February 1829 Shoalhaven Aboriginal men Broger and his friend George Murphy took two sawyers working for Thomas Hyndes - John Rivett and James Hicks - into the bush at or near present day Broger's Creek, Kangaroo Valley. It appears that Rivett had earlier stolen food - some Bush Turkey eggs - from Broger and had had sex with Murphy's wife. Likely related to this, Broger killed Rivett as an act of revenge - either with a tomahawk or by pushing him over a cliff, or both. He likely believed this was a just act according to Native custom. The second sawyer James Hicks was left to live, or escaped, and reported the crime to the authorities.

A reward of £10 was posted on 25 March by the Governor for the apprehension of both Broger and Murphy.

The pair stayed in the Shoalhaven district following the murder - Broger had a wife and family. However, during May they were coaxed onto a boat, where the pair were then apprehended and put in chains for dispatch to the gaol in Sydney. Prior to sailing, Broger stole the keys to the chains from a sleeping sailor and both escaped. They then spent an additional six months on the run as 'outlaws'.

On 24 June the reward for their apprehension was increased to £20 and a Ticket of Leave, with the government notice stating that they had engaged in continuing 'depredations' of which no specific details are available.

Broger was finally apprehended by soldier Anthony Finn during October. At some point Murphy was captured and sent to gaol in Sydney, from whence he escaped and subsequently drown in Darling Harbour when his chains trapped him in mud and he was covered by a rising tide.

On 24 November at the Campbelltown Courthouse magistrates Alexander Berry and Charles Windeyer committed Broger to trial for murder. This was delayed for an extensive period, and it was not until 20 August 1830 that his trial took place at Campbelltown Court House before the Chief Justice Sir Frances Forbes.

At trail Broger was found guilty and sentenced to death. As he was Aboriginal, and unrecognised under British law, he was not able to give any testimony in his defence. Nevertheless, information became available, either around the time of the trial or thereafter, pointing to the various elements of Rivett's culpability, which would have supported a plea of self-defence.

Broger was publically hung on 30 August 1830 at The Green, in front of the Campbelltown Court House. The hanging was attended by a group of Shoalhaven Aboriginal people who expressed the view that it was an injustice.

Apparently he was buried at the St. Peter's Cemetery, Campbelltown. It is likely that Broger's body was taken back to the Shoalhaven for a local burial, as no record has been found of its internment in Campbelltown.

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3. Timeline

The following timeline addresses known events in the life and times of Broger, along with later articles and publications mentioning him.

circa 1800

* Approximate date of birth of Broger. Source unknown.

1816

* 1 November: Daniel Moowattin (also called Daniel Mowatty) is hanged for the rape of a fifteen-year-old girl at Parramatta. He is the first Indigenous person legally executed, by hanging, in Australia. Jack Kirby (1820) was the second, and Broger (1830) the third.

* Irish convict John Rivett arrives in Sydney aboard the Elizabeth. He has been charged at the Norfolk Azzises, England.

1822

* In Alexander Berry's Recollections of the Aborigines, written in May, 1838, is found a record of events which took place during 1822 and Berry's arrival at Coolangatta / Cullungutti.

...... Next morning we found the place to agree exactly with Broughton’s description. I now made up my mind about the plan of the establishment, but as the district was almost completely barricaded with almost impassable brush it became necessary to find some road to bring cattle, and here again I had recourse to Broughton. He collected 2 or 3 of his tribe and his brother Broger & went accompanied with Mr Hume to cut a road up a range with which he was acquainted. Being furnished with Tomahawks they wrought very hard & in the course of 4 or 5 days cut a road up the mountain. Before the road was finished Brogher began to tire and threatened to leave. Mr Hume shot a pheasant & gave it to Brogher to his supper to induce him to stop. He appeared to assent, roasted & eat the pheasant. Bye & Bye he looked at the moon which was near the full, observed that it was a fine night and therefore he would take advantage of the moon light and go home to his wife. Broughton was very indignant at him, & told him that he would rather cut all the road himself than have his assistance......

1823

- 6 November, Sydney Gazette: Convict John Rivett, Elizabeth (1) obtains a Ticket of Leave.

1829

* early February: John Rivett and James Hicks are employed as sawyers for Thomas Hyndes, possibly in the Gerringong area, located slightly north-east of Kangaroo Valley, in the Shoalhaven district of New South Wales (Christian 2017).

* 6 February: John Rivett is killed by the Shoalhaven Aboriginal man Broger in the Kangaroo Valley area, around what is now known as Brogers Creek (Wikipedia 2025). He was accompanied at the time by George Murphy, an Aboriginal man. A number of accounts of the murder exist, mostly long after the event or modern (e.g. Berry 1837 in Organ 1989, Berry 1871, McCaffrey 1922, Campbell 2005), with most of the contemporary newspaper accounts being brief (reproduced below). An early (1834) variant account of the murder is contained in Lieutenant Breton’s Excursions in New South Wales, Western Australia and Van Dieman’s Land during the years 1830, 1831, 1832, and 1833, 2nd edition, Richard Bentley, London, 1834:

....At Shoal Haven River there occurred, some years since, so curious an instance of superstition, that it may be worthy of mention. Three natives persuaded a convict servant to accompany them in search of cedar, an ornamental and useful wood that is found in this part of the country. The man, naturally expecting no treachery was intended, as he, in common with others, had been accustomed to such expeditions, set off with them without hesitation - for the blacks, being much better acquainted with the localities, save both time and trouble to those who have occasion to penetrate into the "bush". The guides, watching a favourable opportunity, pushed him over a precipice, and he was killed upon the spot. One of them cut out his tongue, and ate it, in the supposition that as he had eaten the tongue of a white man, he would in consequence be enabled to speak English! I readily grant this is somewhat marvellous; but there is not the smallest reason to doubt the word of the gentleman who related the circumstance to me. He added, that the body was subsequently found, and one of the blacks described the cause and manner of death.

During his visit to the Colony, Breton visited lllawarra, and at some point recorded the following fantastic tale of the murder of a whiteman by a Shoalhaven Aborigine, and of the latter eating the tongue of the dead men. This reference (see under 1871) links the murder to Broger, though another account points to murder by a blow from a tomahawk. Whilst British justice was swift in its dealings with Broger for murdering a whiteman, as we have seen (c.f. Seth Hawker, 1822; Joseph Berryman, 1832-3) the same was not true when a white person was involved in the murder of an Aborigine. In such cases acquittal was the norm, if they bothered to go to trial. Broger was of course denied traditional Aboriginal justice. See also Alexander Berry’s reminiscences of 1838 for another reference to Broger’s trial and hanging.

* 26 March, Sydney Gazette: Notice of a reward for his capture of £10.

Government Notice / Colonial Secretary's Office / 25th March, 1829 / Ten Pounds Reward / Whereas it has been represented to the Government that a Messer John Rivetts, in the service of Mr. Thomas Hyndes, at Illawarra, has been MURDERED, and strong suspicion attaches to two Natives called Broger and George Murphy, as the perpetrators of the deed - Notice is hereby given that the above reward of Ten Pounds will be paid to any person or persons who shall lodge those Natives in one of His Majesty's gaols, or give such information as may lead to the apprehension and conviction of the delinquents. / By Command of His Excellency the Governor, Alexander McLeay.

* May: Broger is captured when taken on board a ship (McCaffrey 1922). He later steals the keys to his irons from a sleeping guard, jumps overboard, and successfully escapes.

* 25 June, Sydney Gazette: Notice of an increase in reward for his capture to £20 plus a Ticket of Leave for a prisoner who achieves this.

Government Notice / Colonial Secretary's Office / 24th June, 1829 / Twenty Pounds Reward and a Ticket of Leave / Whereas, the two Black Natives named Broger and George Murphy, who were suspected of being concerned in the Murder of John Rivetts, and for whose apprehension a reward of Ten Pounds was offered by the Government Notice of 25th March last, still continue at large, committing various Depredations in the District of Illawarra. Notice is hereby given, that Twenty Pounds will be paid to any person or persons who shall lodge those Natives in one of His Majesty's gaols, or give such information as may lead to the apprehension; and should the party be a prisoner, a Ticket of Leave will also be given. / By Command of His Excellency the Governor, Alexander McLeay.

* October: Broger is re-captured by the soldier Antony Finn. According to McCaffrey (1922):

Gerringong. — The early pioneers of this locality form an interesting chapter in our history of its own in IIawarra. A Sydney merchant named Thomas Hyndes, was a friend of Alexander Berry and John Wright, the brewer of Sydney. Hyndes was, among other things, a timber merchant. He had the right with Aspinall and Brown to cut timber. Their holdings were originally leaseholds, which they converted into real property prior to selling to Berry and Wollstonecroft about the year 1836. A soldier named Antony Finn was placed in charge of the sawyers to keep order. He had a grant of land at Broughton Vale known as the little meadow. Finn got the credit of having captured Broger, the outlaw, after which Broger's Creek (now Harper's Creek) in the Kangaroo Valley is named.

* Tuesday, 24 November: Broger is committed for trial on the charge of murder by magistrates Alexander Berry and Charles Windeyer. Berry's account appeared in 1871:

There was a Native Chief of the name of Brogher, who was the brother of Broughton, a great friend of mine. (They gave their names to Broughton’s Creek and to Brogher’s Creek). One day Brogher and another Native went to two sawyers, and promised to show them a quantity of cedar trees, but they suddenly attacked the sawyers in the bush, and killed one of them. The other escaped.

A constable was sent from Sydney, who apprehended the two blacks, took them on board one of my vessels, fastened them with a padlock to the chain cable, and then lay down to sleep. But Brogher noticed that he put the key in his pocket, and as soon as he was sound asleep, the Natives abstracted the key from his pocket, opened the padlock, and then swam ashore. Unfortunately for themselves, however, they did not leave the district, but boasted of the feat they had committed, and they were again captured. On their arrival in Sydney they were put into awatch-house near Darling Harbour, and one night the companion of Brogher escaped, and endeavoured to cross the upper part of the harbour, but the tide was out, and he stuck in the mud, in which he was found dead next morning.

When Brogher was brought to the Police Court, I was on the Bench, along with Mr Windeyer, the Police Magistrate. Poor Brogher smiled when he saw me. I addressed him and said, ‘I am sorry to see you here, accused of killing a white man. I did not think you would have killed anyone. I have more than once walked with you alone in the bush when I was unarmed and you were armed with a spear, and might have easily killed me, had you wished’.

Brogher replied, ‘I would not have killed you, for you was my Master, and was always very good to me’.

Mr Windeyer said, ‘He is an ingenious fellow this, and I should be sorry to see him hanged.’

But he was tried and convicted. His defence was that the sawyers threatened him, and that he killed him in self-defence. He was kept long in gaol before the sentence was carried into effect. Meanwhile, the Chief Justice visited him there, when he made a confession, and said that he had eaten the tongue of the sawyer ‘that he might speak good English’. Some days, however, after his execution, a party of natives came to me, and said that they had witnessed the hanging of Brogher, but that, according to what they understood of the matter, he had suffered unjustly, for that he had killed the white man in self-defence.

* Saturday, 28 November, Sydney Gazette:

The native black committed for murder on Tuesday last, is named Broger, and the same for whose apprehension a reward was offered by Government some time ago. Broger is the actual perpetrator of the murder; the other native, Murphy, who made his escape from custody in Sydney, and was afterwards found drowned, is stated to have been only an accessory.

1830

* 20 August: Broger goes on trial at Campbelltown before Chief Judge Sir Francis Forbes. He is charged with: Murder of John Rivett with a tomahawk at the Shoalhaven. According to British law, he was not able to speak in his own defence. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was later visited by the Chief Judge and apparently .... he made a confession, and said that he had eaten the tongue of the sawyer "that he might speak good English" (Allan 2021).

* 26 August, Sydney Gazette: Brief report on Broger trial.

Campbell Town Assizes / Friday, 20th. / Broger, an aboriginal native, was indicted for the wilful murder of John Rivett at Shoalhaven, on the 6th of February, 1829 - Guilty. Death. Ordered for execution on Monday the 23rd instant.

* 30 August: Broger is publically executed at The Green (modern day Mawson Park), Campbelltown, opposite the Court House. The executioner was Alexander Green. He was buried in St. Peter's Cemetery (Allen 2021). Nine other people were hung at Campbelltown during 1830, and Broger appears to have been the only hanging carried out in public.

* 31 August, Sydney Gazette:

EXECUTIONS. —

Yesterday, an aboriginal native named Broger, was executed at Campbell Town, for the murder of a stockman, committed some time since in the interior. Four other unhappy beings convicted at the same assizes, we understand, are also to undergo the sentence of the law, this day, at the same place. The two convicts, Maas and McGibbon for the late forgeries on the Commissariate are ordered for execution tomorrow at Liverpool.

* 30 September, The Australian, Sydney:

On Monday, BROGER, a black native, was hanged at Campbell Town, for the murder of a stockman, some time ago, in the interior of the country. Four other culprits suffered the day following; and the two men, McGibbon and Maas, who were not many days ago found guilty of various forgeries on the Commissariat Department, paid the penalty of the law at Liverpool, on Wednesday. This expenditure of human life is appalling, and doubly so, when the little amelioration produced by the frequency of capital punishments, generally on the surviving part of the depraved, and the exhibition of those spectacles in particular, is considered, "Whose sheddeth man's blood (unrighteously) by man, shall his blood be shed." Murder merits death by the hands of the hangman; and arson and highway robbery, when attended with aggravated outrages. There are few other crimes, we think, the odds against the commission of which will be much augmented by the terrors of capital punishment. The stoutest safeguards against rapine will lose their force and influence by a too common use. What diminution of crime did the common spectacle of criminals, hanging in gibbets at the sport of the elements for years, as was once the fashion of the law, in the realm of England, ever produced? The very crow stuck up daily, without intermission, to scare away interlopers from the corn field, soon becomes an accustomed sight to the tribe of winged free-booters. And so is it with Jack Ketch and his noose. Hard labor [sic] and solitary confinement have terrors in prospect for the generality of offenders, who would not unwillingly exchange the pleasure of a feat, for the chance of escaping intimate connection with "JACK," and a "cist of his office."

1841

* 7 May: From "G G", being Mr. Buckland's report re Henry Sketland or William Thompson / "Sophia" - mentions capture of Broger and murder of John Rivett. (New South Wales - Colonial Secretary, Letters relating to Moreton Bay and Queensland, Received 1822 – 1860, Letters Received 1841 - 1842 and papers filed with them – Reel A2.12 - page 063.)

* 19 June: Mentions Ticket of Leave for capture of Brogher, black native charged with murdering John Rivett (New South Wales - Colonial Secretary, Letters relating to Moreton Bay and Queensland, Received 1822 – 1860, Letters Received 1841 - 1842 and papers filed with them – Reel A2.12 - page 055.)

1922

* Frank McCaffrey, The History of Illawarra and Its Pioneers, The Author, Haberfield, John Sands, Sydney, 1922.

1990

Michael Organ, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Aboriginal Education Unit, Wollongong University, December 1990, 646p.

1993

Michael Organ, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1900; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Report for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 1 December 1993, 364p.

1999

* 29 March: R. v. Broger [1830] NSWSC 55 (30 August 1830). A copy of the newspaper report from The Australian, 1830, is following by a legal discussion:

For another account of the execution, see Sydney Gazette, 31 August 1830. The Sydney Gazette, 26 and 28 November 1829, reported that Broger was committed for trial on 23 November 1829 on a charge of murder. The Gazette reported the trial on 26 August 1830 (the trial having been held at Campbelltown on 20 August) as follows: "Broger, an aboriginal native, was indicted for the wilful murder of John Rivett at Shoalhaven, on the 6th of February, 1829 - Guilty, Death. Ordered for execution on Monday the 23d instant." His execution was then postponed for a week. In this, as in many other murder cases, the trial was held on a Friday and the prisoner condemned to die on the following Monday. This was consistent with the provisions of a 1752 statute (25 Geo. III c. 37, An Act for Better Preventing the Horrid Crime of Murder). By s. 1 of that Act, all persons convicted of murder were to be executed on the next day but one after sentence was passed, unless that day were a Sunday, in which case the execution was to be held on the Monday. By holding the trials on a Friday, judges gave the condemned prisoners an extra day to prepare themselves for death. See R. v. Butler, July 1826. The Act restricted the opportunity for clemency in murder cases: see Australian, 5 August 1826, pp 2-3. By s. 4 of the Act, the judge was given power to stay the execution; for an example of that, see R. v. Fitzpatrick and Colville, June 1824. The Archives Office of New South Wales has a file called Miscellaneous Correspondence Relating to Aborigines (5/1161), which contains a list of all Aborigines tried before the Supreme Court between May 1824 until February session 1836 (pp 271-273). Broger or Brogan was the first on the list after Tommy, who was tried and executed in 1827 (R. v. Tommy, 1827). Broger's alleged accomplice, another Aborigine called George Murphy, was held in custody in Argyle, but escaped. He was later found drowned: Australian, 4 September 1829; Sydney Gazette, 28 November 1829. See also R. v. Ballard or Barrett, 1829. The Sydney Gazette reported the following on 27 July 1830: "A black native, known in Sydney by the name of Bumble, who was formerly sentenced to death for his murderous exploits, but obtained his Excellency's pardon, has recently been committing some most daring and attrocious depredations at Brisbane Water. He has placed himself at the head of a party of his tribe, and from his warlike threats, and known ferocious character, the persons residing on the spot, have been deterred from pursuing him. A request for the assistance of the Police was sent to town on Sunday, and we hope soon to hear that this furious gentleman, on whom conciliation has produced so little effect, is in safe custody." No one of this description appears on the list of Aborigines tried between 1824 and 1836, though the list may not be complete. This may be a reference to the Aboriginal Defendant case, 1827, to R. v. Binge Mhulto, 1828, or to a case decided before 1824. It is also possible that the Gazette did not get the story right. On 17 November 1830, Governor Darling announced that Captain Logan, commandant at Moreton Bay, had been killed by natives: Sydney Gazette, 18 November 1830. For an account of their trial, see Sydney Gazette, 17 August 1830; and see Sydney Gazette, 4 September 1830.

2005

* Keith Campbell, Broughton [and Broger] (1798–1850), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 2005, accessed 18 September 2025.

2008

* Melinda Kendall, Illawarra in the 1830s and 1840s, Melinda Kendall [blog], 28 October 2008.

2011

* Blanket Lists, Archive, State Library of New South Wales, 6 June 2011.

2015

* Rachel Franks, Governor Arthur's Proclamation to the Aborigines [c.1828-1830], State Library of New South Wales, circa 2015.

2017

* Kerrie Anne Christian, 1829 Murder of John Rivett - a narrow escape by James Hicks, The Hicks Family [blog], 27 March 2017.

* Oscar Holland, Provocative photos imagine Australia's white colonizers in chains, CNN Style, 19 September 2017.

2019

* Jedda Costa, The Frontier War memorial you might have missed in the heart of Melbourne, ABC Melbourne, 28 May 2019.

Auntie Marlene, A depiction of the hanging of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, Melbourne, 20 January 1842 (Costa 2019).

2021

* Andrew Allen, White Man's Justice, The History Buff [blog], Campbelltown City Library, 1 April 2021.

2023

Connors, Libby, Remembering Dundalli (1820-1855) freedom fighter today, Sovereign Union, Facebook, 5 January, 2023.

2025

* Wikipedia, Broger, Wikipedia, accessed 21 November 2025.

* -----, Brogers Creek, Wikipedia, accessed 18 November 2025.

* Records of 19th century blanket lists and returns of Aboriginal people, Museums of History New South Wales, 2025.

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4. Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Kerrie Anne Christian of Thirroul, whose Hicks Family research, and especially the article 1829 Murder of John Rivett - a narrow escape by James Hicks, formed the basis for this deep dive into the life and times of Broger, enabling the present author to greatly expand upon what he had achieved as part of his previous work on Broughton, Bundle and Timelong of the Shoalhaven.

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Last updated: 24 November 2025

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