William George Murray

William George Murray (1884 – 2 December 1975) was a constable in the Northern Territory Police force who, in 1928, led a series of punitive expeditions against Aboriginal Australians that became known as the Coniston massacre.

Early life Murray was born near the small rural town of Yarck in the British colony of Victoria in 1884. His father was a local farmer by the name of William Henry Murray who was married to Mary Jane Mills. He grew up on the "Horton Vale" family farm near Yarck where he remained until around 1910 when Murray and his parents moved to the inner Melbourne suburb of Northcote. They lived at 62 Waterloo Road in Northcote.

First World War In 1914, at the age of thirty, Murray enlisted as a soldier in the First Australian Imperial Force to fight in World War I. He was assigned to the 4th Light Horse Regiment and was shipped out to Egypt in October 1914. He later fought in the Gallipoli campaign where he was wounded twice. In a letter to his parents, Murray described his participation in the battles at Gallipoli during August 1915. Murray wrote about how the advancing Turks were mowed down with machine gun and artillery fire and how it was "great fun and very exciting." He also recounted the occasions in which he was nearly killed and described an incident in which he was shot in the shoulder. Due to this wound, Murray was evacuated from Gallipoli by ship and sent to a military hospital in Malta. Murray later returned to Gallipoli where he was promoted to lance corporal. In December 1915, he was transferred to the Western Front and again promoted to sergeant. He remained at the front until the end of the war and was wounded twice more. In October 1918, Murray was shipped back to Australia and he was discharged from the military forces in March 1919.

In 1926, Murray was transferred to the Barrow Creek police station where he was given the additional title of Protector of Aborigines for the immediate region around Barrow Creek. The actual evidence against Akirkra and Padygar for killing Brooks was weak and they were acquitted. Murray's admissions in court however led to widespread publicity about the massacres and a governmental Board of Inquiry was set up to investigate his actions.

Arltunga Around 1931, Murray was transferred to Arltunga about 100 km east of Alice Springs. Here he was also appointed as a gold warden in charge of the goldfields in the area. He took prospecting leases out for himself and also demanded Aboriginal people bring him samples of gold in return for the government rations that he was supposed to hand out to them. There is also a suggestion that Murray participated in another massacre or mass poisoning of Aboriginal Australians at the nearby Sandover River while he was posted at Arltunga.

In 1936, he was given a further title of health inspector in the Arltunga area. However, in 1937 he was investigated for the alleged illegal selling of government property. Murray faced a heated court hearing where the charges against him were eventually dismissed. He was soon transferred away from Arltunga.

Later postings Murray was transferred to the Roper River in 1938 and then to Brock's Creek in the same year. In 1940, at the age of 56, he was transferred to Darwin, where he remained a constable in the police force until 1945. In this year his title of Protector of Aborigines was terminated and he left the Northern Territory to retire to Adelaide in the state of South Australia.

Family and later life William George Murray married Edith Esme Bligh in Melbourne in 1931. They had one son together, whom they named Eric. Murray's young family moved with him to Arltunga and remained with him during his later postings in the Northern Territory. When he retired to Adelaide, Murray worked as a caretaker at the Malvern Methodist Church in the Adelaide suburb of St Peters. This church was burnt down by an arsonist soon after Murray took up the caretaker position. He and his wife lived in a cottage nearby on Harrow Road.

Death and legacy William George Murray died on 2 December 1975 at the age of 91. Murray is remembered as the main perpetrator of probably the worst mass killing in Australia since the Federation of Australia.