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Sergeant Thomas SmythPrint Page Print this page

Plaque Inscription : 11-11-2013
Plaque Inscription : 11-11-2013

Photographs supplied by Neville Brabet

The memorial stone commemorates Sergeant Thomas Smyth who was shot by bushranger "Mad Dog Morgan" in September 1864. A new plaque has been erected by the New South Wales Police Service.

Morgan had committed his second and third murders just a few months before he arrived in the Henty area. After the murders, and an outcry from the press, the reward for Morgan`s capture was raised to £1000 and parties of special police were sent to track and capture him. Senior Sergeant Smyth was leading one of the parties but Morgan outwitted them (he claimed he had watched the campsite for some time) and fired into Smyth`s tent wounding the policeman who later died from his injury.

Location

Address:Henty - Pleasant Hills Road, 2 kilometres west, Henty, 2658
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -35.510781
Long: 147.013977
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Crime
Actual Event Start Date:04-September-1864
Actual Event End Date:04-September-1864

Dedication

Front Inscription

Death of Senior Sergeant Thomas Smyth - 1864

This plaque is erected by the New South Wales Police Service as 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 one thousand pound 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.

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au