The Tragic Story of Gulliver's Waterhole

There is probably no more romantic or tragic story in the annals of Central Queensland than that of Fanny Briggs and Johnny Watt. Extract from 'Mostly Murder' by Hugh MacMaster.

Note: this story contains graphic descriptions which may upset some people. It also contains names of deceased Indigenous people.

The murder of Fanny, diabolical in its cruelty, brought to an end this young couple’s short but happy time together.

Shortly after Rockhampton’s town survey had been completed and the settlement proclaimed an official port-of-entry in late 1858, Johnny Watt arrived at this tiny northern outpost of NSW. During the sea voyage from Sydney he met a vivacious and attractive twenty-year-old, Fanny Briggs, formerly a barmaid of the Royal Hotel, Sydney. Love blossomed during the trip and by the time they stepped ashore at the Quay Street wharves, Rockhampton, the couple were inseparable.

Watt, joined by his darling Fanny, set up a comfortable homestead on the Rockhampton-to-Gracemere road near what was then Mrs Pearson’s Sportsmen’s Arms Hotel. The couple ran some horses and cattle and Johnny conducted a butchering business in town.

On the morning of November 6, 1860, Johnny kissed his partner and rode into town to attend his butchering business. During the day Fanny rode out looking for stray horses, intending to be back in time to meet Johnny on his way home. As she searched the scrub, Fanny encountered four of the local Native Police troopers.

The troopers agreed to help her, but instead, lured her into some thick scrub. They then pulled Fanny off her horse and raped her. Fanny’s attackers tortured her and progressively mutilated her body while they continued to satisfy their sexual desires. Fanny Briggs died a terrible death during this barbaric attack but this did not stop her attackers from continuing to rape her dead body.

When Johnny returned home and found an empty house he organised a search party, but no sign of the girl was found that evening. The next day others joined the search, which spread out across the nearby country. The Native Police troopers soon fell under suspicion because they appeared unable to follow Fanny’s tracks. There was no proof however, that they had been involved.

Five days later, Fanny’s mutilated body was found on the Rockhampton side of Scrubby Creek near where the Capricorn Highway now passes. Dr A. Robertson, Rockhampton’s first medico, was with the search party and examined the body.

Fanny Briggs was buried close to the Watt homestead and there her lover, who was never the same man again, raised his monument to her in the form of a beautiful arbour of climbing rose and honeysuckle. For many years this was known to locals as “Fanny’s Bower”.

It became apparent to Dr Robertson and others present when Fanny’s body was found, that the method used in abusing and mutilating her indicated that this terrible crime had been committed by Aborigines. Fanny had been popular in Rockhampton and her brutal murder served to intensify the racial hatred in the area.

The Commandant of the Native Mounted Police, then based in Rockhampton, suggested to several of Rockhampton’s leading citizens that they dismiss native employees so that the Native Troopers could shoot them away from their former places of employment.

This suggestion was disregarded by most, if not all, employers of Aboriginal servants in and around Rockhampton. Some even went to great lengths in hiding Aboriginal servants and workers when the troopers came searching. But most Aborigines then living in the Rockhampton area were not under the protective care of influential white employers.

What followed was a series of indiscriminate reprisals against innocent Aborigines. How many died in acts of retribution for the vicious murder of Fanny Briggs can now only be guessed at. But there was a cruel irony here. The most vicious of these acts of revenge were perpetrated by the murderous Native Police troopers who slaughtered innocent Aborigines as punishment for a crime committed by the Native Police troopers.

Some time after the murder, a group of Aborigines gathered near a Rockhampton pub and a dreadful row broke out. Drunken Native Police troopers, sent to put down the disturbance, started bashing some of the women. One of the women being mistreated threatened to tell the white police who had murdered the ‘white Mary’.

Word soon reached the authorities and after the woman was interviewed, Troopers Toby, Gulliver and Johnny Reid were arrested. Trooper Alma was also named by the woman but he was away on patrol with Lieutenant Phipps.

Lieutenant Powell was sent to bring Alma back and overtook Phipps' party at Musket Flat near Maryborough. He brought his prisoner back to Rockhampton by steamer.

During the Court of Petty Sessions examination Gulliver broke down and gave all the terrible details. Toby, who had earlier been discharged, was then rearrested.

The next day Gulliver led two well armed policemen to the murder scene where he dragged some of the girl's clothes out of a hollow log. He then asked for a tomahawk, saying the victim's veil was up in the hollow branch of a tree and he wished to enlarge a hole to get at it.

The police took one handcuff off Gulliver and he soon had the wood chips flying into their faces, forcing them to move back. The prisoner saw his chance, jumped out of the tree and ran off into the bush. The police fired after him but missed.

Lieutenant Powell was sent with three native troopers to follow the fugitive's trail. Gulliver led them through Prestowe (later Westwood) and to the Dee River near where Dululu now stands. Along the way he had robbed shepherds' huts taking food, blankets, old pistols and a variety of other things.

When Powell's group approached the Dee, a trooper noticed smoke a little way ahead. Powell crept up on hands and knees and saw Gulliver, carrying two billy cans, going to the river for water. The lieutenant blew his whistle as a signal for the troopers to come forward, forgetting that Gulliver also, would be alerted. Of course, the fugitive bolted into the scrub.

Powell stayed at Gulliver's abandoned camp overnight and the next morning Mr Hugh Robinson from Callinugal Station rode up and told him that Gulliver had been captured by a teamster named Bolger who was camped nearby.

Gulliver had followed Bolger's wagon tracks and, when seeing an Aborigine named Remus with the teamsters, had asked if he could join the group for a meal. Permission was granted and, after the meal, Bolger offered the escapee liberal quantities of grog. Gulliver passed out and when he came to, found he was again a prisoner, chained to a wagon.

When Powell arrived at the wagons he took Bolger's name so that he would receive the reward money offered for Gulliver's capture. He then made preparations to take his prisoner to Rockhampton.

Gulliver then refused to take a single step and the lieutenant called for assistance from a man passing by in a buggy. The prisoner was loaded into the vehicle and taken off the road to what, for many years after, was known as Gulliver's Waterhole. There, 'in trying to escape' he was shot.

Of the others involved in the murder of Fanny Briggs, Johnny Reid was acquitted, there being

insufficient evidence to convict. Corporal Toby was escorted off into the scrub and shot.

Trooper Alma had been held in the Rockhampton stockade on Victoria Parade. A constable, carrying a carbine, escorted him across the road to the Fitzroy River to draw water. The trooper returned alone, reporting that he had shot dead the handcuffed and anklecuffed prisoner when he tried to escape by jumping into the river. Some Rockhampton people found this explanation difficult to accept. The weight and restrictions of the irons would almost certainly have caused Alma to drown. Most people believed he was shot on the bank and thrown into the river.