John Fuller (aka Daniel Morgan; 1830 – 9 April 1865) was an Australian bushranger.
Fuller was born in Appin,[1] New South Wales, Australia around 1830 to George Fuller and Mary Owen. He was their illigitimate son[1] and from the ages of 2 to 17 he lived with an adoptive father, John Roberts. He began work as a stockman but soon became tired of this, and headed for the goldfields of Castlemaine, Victoria. By 1854 he was back in New South Wales, where he assumed the alias "John Smith" and became a suspected horse thief. He was also known for his heavy drinking and violent temper. He was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, yet released after 6 years having received a ticket of leave.
Following his release, he began a life of bushranging, using aliases such as "John Smith", "Sydney Native", "Dan the Breaker", "Down the River Jack", "Jack Morgan", and most famously, "Dan Morgan".[2]
Dan Morgan operated in the Henty, Culcairn, Morven, Gerogery and Tumbarumba area over several years.
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On 12 June 1864, Morgan called at the Round Hill Station a few kilometres from Morven and rounded up all the station hands and their wives. Morgan herded all of his captives into the carpenters shop and ordered the manager, Sam Watson to bring rum from the cellar. Morgan spent time drinking the rum and then demanded that he be brought fresh horses which he said he would return on his next visit. Whilst mounting one of these horses, one of the inebriated Morgan's pistols discharged and assuming that he was being fired upon, he in turn opened fire and wounded one of his captives, John Heriot in the leg.
Angry (or mad with the rum) Morgan demanded that the manager Watson stand still so that he could shoot him dead but Watson's wife stood in front of her husband and pleaded with Morgan to spare her husband for the sake of their children. Morgan, now moved by her bravery ordered Watson to raise his hands in the air instead and then shot him through one hand, shattering it by the force of the blast.
Morgan realised his mistake, both in relation to Heriot and Watson and so ordered the young station hand John McLean to fetch a doctor that resided some 32 kilometres away at Walla Walla Station. However after McLean had left on horseback to fetch the doctor Morgan reached the assumption that McLean would return with the police, and considering he had made another mistake he mounted his horse and gave chase (rather than ride away to his hideout). Coming upon McLean he shot him in the back and then returned with him to the Round Hill Station, staying there until the young McLean died. Morgan then departed just before a party of police arrived in search of him.
On 24 July 1864, Morgan approached two mounted troopers, Sergeant David Maginnity and Trooper Churchley in the bush area between Tumbarumba and Tooma. Morgan for no apparent reason shot Sergeant Maginnity under the heart. Trooper Churchley fled the scene, leaving his colleague to die (although he later insisted that his horse had bolted when the shot sounded). Churchley was later dismissed for cowardice.
The event was reported in the Sydney press and Morgan's actions helped to establish him as a brutal murderer with the government putting a reward of £1000 on Morgan's head.[3]
The area where the shooting occurred hold occasional commemorations with regards to the tragic event. There has always been a story that Dan Morgan did not shoot McGinnity but that rather the bullet came from another's firearm. There was such an agenda to capture Morgan that any excuse that he had committed anything was enough.
Two kilometers west of the Henty on Pleasant Hills Rd (the Lockhart road) is a memorial stone on the site where Morgan shot Sergeant Thomas Smyth in September 1864. A more recent plaque has been erected by the NSW Police Service and reads:
A memorial to Senior Sergeant Thomas Smyth, aged 29. A member of the NSW Police Force shot by bushranger Dan Morgan in the surrounding hills on 4 September 1864. Senior Sergeant Smyth received a gunshot wound to his left shoulder and convalesced at the Imperial Hotel, Albury until 29 September 1864 where he haemorrhaged as a result of the gunshot wound and died. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the Albury cemetery. Dan Morgan was a murderer with a £1000 price on his head. Senior Sergeant Smyth gave his life while in the pursuit of Morgan who although a tourist attraction these days put fear in the people of the district in the 1860s.
On 8 April 1865, Mad Dan Morgan, held up the McPherson family at Peechelba Station in Victoria. A nursemaid, Alice Keenan, managed to escape and inform Mr Rutherford, the co-owner of the property. The following morning Dan Morgan was leaving the property when he found himself surrounded by police. He was shot in the back and head by station employee John Quinlan. He was buried at Wangaratta Cemetery.
The film Mad Dog Morgan is based on his life and death.
Alice Keenan was the nurse maid to Christina Macpherson. Morgan allowed Keenan to leave the Macpherson living area where Morgan held the family as prisoners to attend to the cries of Christina, a year-old baby. The Macpherson family worked Dagworth Station near Winton, Queensland. It was there that Banjo Paterson wrote the words to "Waltzing Matilda" in response to a tune hummed by Christina Macpherson.
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