George Poultney Malcolm Murray or simply G.P.M. Murray (13 October 1837 - 3 July 1910) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born senior officer in both the paramilitary

Native Police Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentie ...

and civilian Queensland Police Force.

Early life

G.P.M. Murray was born on 13 October 1837 at his family's ''Georgefield'' estate near

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits nort ...

in southern

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. His grandfather was Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Murray of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

who married a

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. ...

woman from

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while in

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. The offspring of this marriage, including George's father James Murray, were collectively dubbed the "Black Murrays" on account of their darker skin colour. G.P.M. Murray arrived in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to live with his parents and siblings in the year 1843. George's father was a pastoralist, his family residing at the ''Warrawang'' property at Mt Lambie near Bathurst. In May 1854 he moved into the northern areas of the colony near the town of Maryborough. He assisted his brother-in-law, H. C. Corfield, in forming Stanton Harcourt, a sheep station taken up by Mr. Corfield in the

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district.

Native Police career

G.P.M. Murray was appointed to the

in December 1857 as a 2nd Lieutenant. His older brother, John Murray, had been in this

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

force since 1852. George was posted to the Dawson River region to assist in the reprisals following the

Hornet Bank massacre The Hornet Bank massacre involves the killing of eleven settlers (seven members of the Fraser family, including a woman and five of her children) and one Aboriginal station-hand, by a group of Iman Aboriginal Australians. The massacre occurred ...

where he maintained an effective control without exercising unnecessary severity. In 1860, he was the officer-in-charge of the barracks at Robinson's Creek near

Taroom Taroom is a town in the Shire of Banana and locality split between the Shire of Banana and the Western Downs Region in Queensland, Australia. At the , Taroom had a population of 869 people. Geography The town is located on the Dawson River ...

. In 1861 he was transferred to the

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

barracks and became a senior Lieutenant in the force. In October of that year, the

Cullin-la-ringo massacre The Cullin-la-ringo massacre, known historically as the Wills tragedy, was a massacre of white colonists by Indigenous people that occurred north of modern-day Springsure in Central Queensland, Australia on 17 October 1861. Nineteen men, wom ...

occurred near the

Nogoa River The Nogoa River is a river located in Central Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river rises on the Carnarvon Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, in the Carnarvon National Park and flows in a generally north easterly direction ...

and Murray mobilised his section to that region. He arrived with his troops at the police camp at Rainworth on 26 October. His force "shot a large number of aboriginals and recovered firearms and other property which had been stolen from Cullin-la-Ringo". Queensland Native Police 1864

With the reorganisation of the

Queensland Police Service The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

in 1864 under

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

David Thompson Seymour David Thompson Seymour (5 November 1831 – 31 January 1916) was a soldier and the inaugural commissioner of Queensland Police, in office from 1864 to 1895. Early life and military career Seymour was born on 5 November 1831 at Ballymore Castle, ...

, Murray became more involved in the local administration of the Native Police rather than the more brutal field work. After Lieutenant Brown of the

had assisted in the capture of the famous

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

Frank Gardiner Frank Gardiner (1830 – c. 1882) was an Australian bushranger who gained infamy for his lead role in the a robbery of a gold escort at Eugowra, New South Wales in June 1862. It is considered the largest gold heist in Australian history. Gard ...

, to the north of Rockhampton, Murray was selected as a magistrate in Gardiner's initial trial. In 1865, Murray was publicly condemned by social identity

Gideon Lang Gideon Scott Lang (1819–1880) was a Scottish born Australian pastoralist who was a key figure in the pioneer settlement of Victoria, the Riverina and the Darling Downs regions. Born on 25 January 1819 in Selkirk, Lang left school at 16. In 1 ...

for his sanctioning of a sequence of massacres of Aboriginal people conducted by sub-Inspector Otto Paschen and his troopers in the

Expedition Range Expedition Range is a mountain range within the Central Highlands sandstone region of Queensland, Australia. Robinson Creek cuts a 100 metres deep gorge through sandstone clifflines. Many spectacular side gorges add to the appeal of the area, ...

. These "dispersals" were in response to the killing of Native Police officer Cecil Hill by Aboriginals near

Duaringa Duaringa is a town in the Central Highlands Region and a locality split between the Central Highlands Region and the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda in Central Queensland, Australia. In the , Duaringa had a population of 262 people. Geography ...

. In spite of these accusations, Murray was promoted in 1866 to Chief Inspector of the Police for the Northern Districts of Queensland, responsible for both civilian and Native Police forces in these regions. The following year, Murray headed an investigation into complaints against sub-Inspector Myrtil Aubin of the Native Police for the killing of eight Aboriginals in the township of Morinish. Murray controversially concluded that it was clearly the duty of Aubin and his troopers to kill these people (which included old men and children) and "it is very much to be regretted that they did not do so quietly". In 1866, Murray was posted to

Springsure Springsure is a town and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Emerald, Queensland, Emerald on the Gregory Highway. It is the southern terminus of the Gregory Highwa ...

and retained his title of Chief Inspector until 1872.

Police Magistrate

In 1872, G.P.M. Murray became Police Magistrate and Gold Warden for Clermont and in 1877, Murray became Police Magistrate in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

and in 1882 transferred to

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

. After a brief period in

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

, he relocated to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

where he became senior state magistrate in 1898. Murray retired from public service in 1904 and moved to the Brisbane suburb of

Wilston Wilston is a northern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wilston had a population of 3,937 people. Geography Wilston is located by road north of the Brisbane GPO. It has a mix ...

where he died in 1910. Murray Street in Wilston is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, George Poultney Malcolm 1837 births 1910 deaths Queensland police officers People from Langholm Scottish emigrants to Australia