Broger of the Shoalhaven
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Contents
- Broger
- Timeline
- References
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Abstract: Broughton and Broger were two famous Aboriginal men of the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, Australia, during the early colonial period. Biographical details are known due to their association with British settlers such as Charles Throsby and Alexander Berry. Broger is further known as one of the first Aboriginal men to be publically executed for the killing of a white man.
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1. Broger
Broger is famous due to the fact that in 1830 that he was publically executed by the British government, as noted in the Australian Dictionary of Biography wherein it is combined with his so-called brother Broughton / Toodwick. A copy of this entry this 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.
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.
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2. Timeline
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 (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.
- 26 March, Sydney Gazette:
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 by soldier Antony Finn when taken on board a ship (McCaffrey 1922). However, he escapes.
- 25 June, Sydney Gazette: Increase in reward to £20.
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 givens, 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. According to McCaffrey (1922):
Gerringong. — The early pioneers of this locality form an interesting chapter in our history of its own in lUawarra. 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..
- Saturday, 28 November, Sydney Gazette:
1830
- 20 August: Broger goes on trial at Campbelltown before Judge Sir Francis Forbes. He is charged with: Murder of John Rivett with a tomahawk at the Shoalhaven. He is found guilty.
- 26 August, Sydney Gazette:
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.
- 31 August, Sydney Gazette:
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.)
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3. References
Blanket Lists, Archive, State Library of New South Wales, 6 June 2011.
Campbell, Keith, Broughton [and Broger] (1798–1850), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, accessed 18 September 2025.
Christian, Kerrie Anne, 1829 Murder of John Rivett - a narrow escape by James Hicks, The Hicks Family [blog], 27 March 2017.
Kendall, Melinda, Illawarra in the 1830s and 1840s, Melinda Kendall [blog], 28 October 2008.
McCaffrey, Frank, The History of Illawarra and Its Pioneers, The Author, Haberfield, John Sands, Sydney, 1922.
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 - pages 055 and 063, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane.
Organ, Michael, 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. [Book]
-----, 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. [Report]
Records of 19th century blanket lists and returns of Aboriginal people, Museums of History New South Wales, 2025.
Wikipedia, Brogers Creek, Wikipedia, accessed 18 November 2025.
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Shoalhaven & South Coast: Aborigines / Indigenous / First Nations archive | Amootoo | Aunty Julie Freeman art | Berry's Frankenstein & Arawarra | Blanket lists | Broger | Broughton | Bundle & Timelong | Byamunga's (Devil's) Hands | Cornelius O'Brien & Kangaroo Valley | Cullunghutti - Sacred Mountain | Death ... Arawarra, Berry & Shelley | God | Gooloo Creek, Conjola | Indigenous words | Kangaroo Valley | Mary Reiby & Berry | Mickey of Ulladulla | Minamurra River massacre 1818 | Mount Gigenbullen | Neddy Noora breastplate | Timelong | Ulladulla Mission | Yams |
Last updated: 18 November 2025
Michael Organ, Australia
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