In a small town in Queensland, a full moon illuminated a horrifying scene on Boxing Day evening in 1898. Three siblings, Michael, Norah, and Ellen Murphy, set off for a dance but never returned home. They were ambushed, bound, and brutally murdered in a secluded paddock on their way back to the family farmstead.
The investigation into the murders was marred by incompetence, contaminated crime scenes, and rushed autopsies, allowing the killer to evade capture. The lack of a clear motive puzzled detectives and locals for generations, making it one of Australia’s most notorious unsolved murder mysteries.
Over a century later, historian Caroline Stevenson uncovered startling connections between the Murphy siblings’ murders and the brutal killing of a teenage boy, Alfred Hill, in Brisbane. The similarities in the crimes, from the weapon used to the positioning of the bodies, pointed to a potential link between the two cases.
Alfred Hill’s body, found weeks after the Murphy murders, bore striking resemblances to the siblings’ tragic fate. Both sets of victims were found in paddocks with fatal head injuries inflicted by the same type of gun. The eerie similarities raised suspicions of a single killer behind the heinous acts.
Despite initial leads and suspects, including a drifter named Thomas Day and a career criminal, Richard Burgess, no one was ever charged in connection with the murders. The mishandling of the investigations, coupled with conflicting theories and overlooked evidence, left the cases unsolved and the families without closure.
The royal commission that followed criticized the police department’s lack of organization and efficiency in handling serious crimes like the Gatton murders. The lead detective, Inspector Urquhart, faced scrutiny for his handling of the cases, leading to calls for a more competent person to oversee such investigations.
Stevenson and publisher Jack Sim continue to advocate for a deeper understanding of the intertwined tragedies, urging for the restoration of Alfred Hill’s neglected grave in Brisbane. Despite the passage of time and the mysteries shrouding the murders, their efforts aim to shed light on the interconnectedness of these cold cases.
The unresolved murders of the Murphy siblings and Alfred Hill serve as haunting reminders of the dark chapters in Queensland’s history, where justice remains elusive and the truth hidden beneath layers of time and neglect.
The Gatton Murders – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton_murders