The Other Carl Jung

York Gum Woodlands in the Charles Darwin Reserve

Carl Jung, (age 35/white) was hanged by the neck until dead at Mount Gambier, South Australia in November 1871, for the murder of Thomas Garraway, sheriff's officer.

Acting as an assistant bailiff of the Local Court of Mount Gambier, Garraway was sent to levy a distress warrant on the goods of Carl Jung, a German wine shopkeeper, residing near Blackwood Flat in the district known as the Hundred of Caroline.  Garraway and Jung had previously quarreled and on 29 June 1871, Thomas was bearing a writ to seize pigs and other property belonging to the debtor, Garraway exasperated Jung by taking what the latter considered was much more than was necessary to cover the debt.

When Garraway did not return to Mount Gambier, enquiries resulted in the discovery that when he had started on the return journey, driving away the seized goods in a cart, Jung toting a double-barrelled gun, had followed him. Upon overtaking the bailiff, Jung asked whether he would give back the pigs, saying that if he did not: he would shoot him.  Garraway refused and Jung discharged both barrels, killing him instantly and hiding the body in the bush at a place about three miles from Jung's residence, called the Deep Gully. 

Garraway's body was found on 2 July 1871 with gunshot wounds in his head and side. The marks of Jung's feet were also discovered.

Carl Jung who had taken refuge in an old hut, was arrested on 4 July 1871 by Trooper Fitzgerald, the "hero of the Gothenburg", who held a gold medal for his bravery in connection with the wreck of that vessel. 

Jung confessed to the slaying of Thomas Garraway in detail.  After Garraway had arrived at his house, Jung had asked him to wait until he had gathered enough money to pay the demanded sum of
nine pounds, but when Jung left the house, Garraway took away his horse, cart and two pigs.

Clearly Garraway was not blessed with negotiating skills and made the fatal mistake of believing that a piece of paper and a uniform rendered him immunity; from his own inability to recognise danger and earnestness.  In 19th century Australia, law enforcement was heavy-handed and corrupt individuals within that grafted British Empire model, did  live like parasites on the backs of honest and willing hard-workers.  They still do.

Jung was convicted of murder at the Mount Gambier Circuit Court on 20 October 1871, receiving the death sentence, and was hanged at Mount Gambier Gaol at 8am on 10 November 1871 by possibly the hardest working man in town, Benjamin Ellis.

Before Carl Jung was hanged he became thoroughly repentant, and in his confession stated: "I had no sooner shot Garraway than I thought all the trees cried out; 'murder.' "

In his ethereal and haunting movie, "Picnic at Hanging Rock", Peter Weir captured brilliantly this quality of the Australian landscape that sees everything, misses nothing and brings you face-to-face with the Jungian Shadow.  When you understand how lonely and sad this ancient landscape is; all the hurts and insults it has witnessed -  the injustices, the abuses of its native custodians and wholesale slaughter of it's flora and fauna - then you can go out into the bush and hear the songlines.

Sandplain shrublands, Charles Darwin Reserve

For the European settlers of the late 18th century, life in Australia was pretty isolated if you were living outside of the townships, as Carl Jung was.  His only company may have been his horse and two pigs - they may have been his family; his children.  Nobody deserves to be murdered in the carrying out of their official duties, yet the heartlessness of the authorities in those times is legendary and well-documented.  It would have taken a rare and empathetic human being to have seen the despair of Carl Jung's situation and been more moderate.  Thomas Gallaway did not have those qualities and seemingly demonstrated little regard for his own self-preservation.  No doubt his colleagues commended his 'noble death in the line of duty'.

At the end of the day, Thomas died because of  two pigs. He died because in his capacity as bailiff, he had made a threat on the ability of another human being to survive in the bewilderness.  There is no 'murder' here: just another sad footnote in the long history of the failure to communicate, that is a fearsome plague on our species.  We owe it to our ancestors and to the spirits within our landscapes, to walk our path with kindness, respect and generosity. To learn from their experiences and mitigate the consequences that our ill-conceived actions may give rise to, further down the wallaby track.

Further Reading

Beauty, Myth and Monolith: Picnic at Hanging Rock and the Vibration of Sacrality

The Mulga-Eucalypt Line: First postulated by the botanist von Mueller in 1883, the concept of the Mulga-Eucalypt line and its mapping has been refined by a succession of eminent geographers and botanists including Woodward, Diels, Clarke, Gardner, Burbidge and Beard, culminating in the currently accepted maps of the Biological Regions of Australia.

Images Gallawayed from Bush Heritage Australia