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| The grave of Helena Kerz
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Girilambone
Tiny township on the Mitchell Highway
Girilambone is located 666 km north of Sydney and is 195 m
above sea level. The accepted definition of the name of the
town was that it was an Aboriginal word meaning 'place of
many stars'. This should not be accepted as authoritive as
it was an explanation provided by the NSW Railways
Department when it built the station which was the rationale
of the town in the late nineteenth century.
The traveller rushing up the Mitchell Highway from Nyngan
to Bourke would be forgiven for almost missing Girilambone.
Located 45 km north from Nyngan and 159 km south of Bourke
it is little more than a Shell garage, a long disused
Railway Station and a few buildings fading into the
distance. Yet, if you take the turnoff to the town, cross
over the old railway line and head south towards the General
Store, you will be heading towards a sad footnote to one of
Australia's most famous murder cases.
Two decades ago few people would have known the story of
Jimmy Governor. Since then but the combined efforts of
Thomas Keneally and Fred Schepisi have made the story of
Jimmy Governor or, as Keneally preferred to call it, The
Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, a tale most Australians know. It
is the story of an Aborigine who married a white woman,
tried to meet whites on equal terms, but was snubbed such
that he murdered his tormentors. On 20 July 1900 Governor,
reputedly incensed by a snub his pregnant wife had received
from the Mawbey family, took a tomahawk and accompanied by
his brother Joe and a relative, Jackie Underwood, went to
the Mawbey's home where he murdered Mawbey's wife, two
daughters, son and the family's schoolteacher, Helena Kerz.
Things to see:
The Grave of Helena Kerz
If you turn east at the General Store in Girilambone and
take the road which is marked 'Brewarrina' and drive
approximately 1 km you will see a sign to a cemetery. You
have to pass through two gates to reach a tiny, lonely
cemetery in the bush with signs clearly marking the
denominations of the graves. In the Roman Catholic section
is a grave, surrounded by other members of the family, which
reads: 'In loving remembrance of our dear daughter Helena
Kerz. Born 2 December 1878. Died 20 July 1900.' Her body had
been brought home from Breelong so she could be buried with
the rest of her family.
This tribute gives little indication of the events behind
Ms Kerz'a death at the hands of Jimmy Governor.
Jimmy was a part-Aborigine who had worked as a police
tracker before marrying a 16-year-old white woman and
obtaining a contract to erect fencing for John and Sarah
Mawbey, the licensees of the Breelong Inn, near
Gilgandra. A dedicated employee who wished to prove
himself to white society, he was initially on good terms
with his employers and their family. However, it seems that
Governor's wife, who worked in the Mawbey house, was
belittled for marrying an Aborigine by Mrs Mawbey and Helena
Kurz, the local schoolteacher who was residing with the
Mawbeys.
Whatever the contributing factors, Jimmy and Jacky
Underwood confronted the women at the new Mawbey abode while
all of the males were staying at the inn. Jimmy claimed that
Mrs Mawbey called him 'black rubbish' and stated that he
should be shot for marrying a white woman. Whatever
transpired the two men went into a rage and brutally
murdered Sarah Mawbey, three of her daughters and Helena
Kurz with clubs and a tomahawk. Sarah's sister was also
badly injured.
Jimmy, his brother Joe, and Jacky then went on a
three-month, 3200-km rampage, inflicting revenge for past
grievances. They murdered five more people, wounded another
five, committed seven armed hold-ups and robbed 33 homes. A
massive manhunt involving hundreds of policemen and trackers
and 2000 volunteers failed to capture the men who ridiculed
their pursuers by advertising their whereabouts and sending
satiric letters to the police.
In October a 1000-pound reward was offered and later in
the month they were outlawed, meaning they could be shot on
sight by anybody. By the end of the month Jacky was
captured, Joe was shot and killed near
Singleton and Jimmy was captured by a group of farrmers
near Wingham two weeks after being shot in the mouth. Jimmy
and Jacky were hung in January, 1901. In his last days Jimmy
sang native songs, read the Bible and blamed his wife.
General Store
The old general store, built in 1883, retains the marks on
the door of an attempted robbery by bushrangers.
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Girilambone
