Last year I learnt why Jimmy Governor murdered the pregnant wife of Werriwa selector, Mick O'Brien.
An O'Brien descendent told me that Jimmy and Mick used to be friends, but fell out one day while fishing at a local creek.
After Mick had thrown a fishing net over the water, he wanted Jimmy to swim to the other side to fasten it.
A punch up resulted when Jimmy refused.
Then Mick's older and much bigger brother, Ted, appeared on the scene and got seriously stuck into Jimmy.
Mick was egging him on, shouting: 'Kill the black bastard!'
Ted only revealed this story on his death bed, suggesting he felt guilt about the role he played in the murder of his sister-in-law.
A shadow puppet play about this incident, and Jimmy's subsequent return to the O'Brien home with a tomahawk to commit murder, can be seen at http://vimeo.com/31173858.
Only a snippet of this appeared to me to have been used in the play for which it was created, Posts in the Paddock, staged in Sydney last November.
There is also a short video of parts of the play at http://vimeo.com/36010647.
An O'Brien descendent told me that Jimmy and Mick used to be friends, but fell out one day while fishing at a local creek.
After Mick had thrown a fishing net over the water, he wanted Jimmy to swim to the other side to fasten it.
A punch up resulted when Jimmy refused.
Then Mick's older and much bigger brother, Ted, appeared on the scene and got seriously stuck into Jimmy.
Mick was egging him on, shouting: 'Kill the black bastard!'
Ted only revealed this story on his death bed, suggesting he felt guilt about the role he played in the murder of his sister-in-law.
A shadow puppet play about this incident, and Jimmy's subsequent return to the O'Brien home with a tomahawk to commit murder, can be seen at http://vimeo.com/31173858.
Only a snippet of this appeared to me to have been used in the play for which it was created, Posts in the Paddock, staged in Sydney last November.
There is also a short video of parts of the play at http://vimeo.com/36010647.
