Sometimes, it seems like rock stars live the most glorious life imaginable. Well, that’s true most of the time, if we’re being honest. They get to party for a living, are loved and adored by all the fans they come across, and make a ton of money doing it. Oh, and the groupies don’t hurt, either. Nor does the travel schedule—grueling though it may be at times, these rockers get to see the whole world. (And on the record company’s dime, no less!)

But behind the scenes, a great many rock stars struggle with their interpersonal relationships. And no, we don’t mean connections with loved ones or romantic partners, although there are plenty of those issues. We’re talking about seeing eye-to-eye with other members of their bands! Going on tour for months on end and/or being cooped up in a recording studio trying to perfect a much-anticipated album both create major stressors for musicians and their teams.

Inevitably, disagreements occur. And when they bubble up, they tend to fester. Over months (or years), those disagreements can get really, really vicious. So that’s what we’re here to take a look at today! In this list, we’ll take you through the stories of ten high-profile bands that suffered through absolutely brutal internal feuds. From the outside looking in, it might just seem to you like a few aging (and very rich) rockers getting into a catfight. But from the inside, these feuds represent years of pent-up rage, frustration, and anger. Yikes!

Related: Ten (Sometimes Tragic) Stories of Underappreciated Women of Rock

10 Metallica

The members of Metallica have fought with each other quite a bit throughout the years. In the group’s earliest days, they booted guitarist Dave Mustaine out of the band after they failed to get on the same page. He went on to found and front Megadeth—so maybe that was a bit of a miss on Metallica’s part. But their contention at the time was that he had major substance abuse problems, so they simply had to fire him. They had no other choice! That doesn’t mean Mustaine still isn’t pissed about it years later, though.

Even after more than two decades apart, Mustaine has still gone on the record at times to reveal how bitter he is that he was fired by Metallica. Take the 2004 music documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster as the perfect example of this. In it, Mustaine complained to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich about how the band canned him. And not only that, but how Dave isn’t credited with any of his musical contributions. In turn, Lars publicly slammed Dave for whining. Ulrich noted that Mustaine “never played on a Metallica record” and needed to get over a fractured band relationship that had come to an end more than 25 years prior. Not bad advice…

Mustaine isn’t the only one who’s gotten mad at Metallica, though. The group’s former bassist, Jason Newsted, has also feuded with the group in the past. Back in 2000, Jason asked the band for a hiatus so that he could work on a solo project. But Metallica chief James Hetfield denied the request, noting that he wanted Newsted in the group. Hetfield didn’t care to have the talented bassist focus all his creative energies on something that wouldn’t help the band. So, in turn, Newsted decided to quit the group. And he never forgave Hetfield for not allowing him the free reign to strike out on his own!^[1]

9 Hall & Oates

For years, musicians Daryl Hall and John Oates seemed to be good friends. After all, they got rich and famous together as the legendary duo Hall & Oates. But in 2023, Daryl amazingly filed a temporary restraining order against John—and then all hell broke loose! As it turned out, despite outward appearances, the two men hadn’t been on good terms for years. Things then came to a head when John attempted to sell his half of the duo’s joint music partnership. Angry that John had tried to sell out from under him without his consent, Daryl popped off with the TRO. He basically wanted the courts to prevent the sale of music rights.

“John and I did not have a creative relationship for decades; the last song I wrote with John was in 2000, and that was with somebody else,” Daryl explained to Billboard Magazine after the restraining order request blew up in the public eye. “We toured, and we toured and toured, and it was very restrictive to me and to John. The real truth of it all is John just said one day, he didn’t want to do it anymore. I said, ‘OK,’ but the problem is [John] didn’t make the parting and breakup easy, and that’s where the difficulties lay and still lay, and that’s all it is.”

On the flip side, Oates told news outlets that he didn’t think that his decision to sell his portion of the music rights was that big of a deal. And in fact, he was shocked by Hall’s reaction—and the legal maneuver with the restraining order. Regardless, Oates admits that the pair haven’t been friends for years. It would seem that the legal battle over the duo’s music rights was simply the thing that catapulted their feud into the spotlight. A tough end for a formerly close pair of musicians!^[2]

8 Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath was just about to reunite after temporarily breaking up when drummer Bill Ward erupted into a feud with the other band members. At the time, Ward claimed he’d been offered an “unreasonable contract” to once again participate in the band that he said wasn’t “signable.” So he opted out of the reunion album. Then, he got into a massive public feud with Ozzy Osbourne. Fast forward a couple years after that, and Ward was still seething and angry when the group got ready to head out on their final tour!

“With a sad heart, I have to say I will not participate in any musical undertakings until a righting of the wrongs spoken against me has been achieved,” Ward said in a statement he released to the media about feuding with Osbourne and having no further part in Black Sabbath. “I have little to no expectations of this happening, but in the order of first things first, I’m looking for an honest accountability of all of Ozzy’s statements that I felt were untrue. I would want Ozzy to amend his opinions and exaggerations. I would want him to be forthcoming about his unrealistic viewpoints. And because I was chastised publicly, I would want him to amend publicly in his words, and not through an Ozzy representative, the nature of the wrongs.”

For what it’s worth, Ozzy never did “amend publicly his words” or decided to be “forthcoming about his unrealistic viewpoints,” as Ward had hoped for. Instead, the band played their final shows in 2017 in their long-ago hometown of Birmingham, England, without Ward in attendance. At those shows, Ozzy did acknowledge that it was “bittersweet” for Bill not to be there. But that’s as far as the Black Sabbath frontman would go. So the band rode off into the sunset with the feud still simmering and no end in sight.^[3]

7 Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd may be seen as one of the greatest bands of all time, but they’re also one of the most estranged. Very early in their musical run, the band butted heads with leader Roger Waters. He may have served as the group’s main lyricist and lead vocalist, but after a relatively short time, his creative views differed greatly from the rest of them. They butted heads regularly through the early 1980s. Finally, things came to a head in 1985 when he decided to leave the band. Then, he followed that up with a lawsuit seeking to legally dissolve Pink Floyd and stop the rest of the remaining band members from using that name and the musical ideas Waters had come up with before.

“I would be distressed if Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr made records and went on the road calling themselves The Beatles,” Waters argued years later about why he wanted Pink Floyd to dissolve after his departure. “If John Lennon’s not in it, it’s sacrilegious … To continue with [other band members] Gilmour and Mason, getting in a whole bunch of other people to write the material, seems to me an insult to the work that came before.”

After a prolonged and extremely bitter legal battle, Waters and the rest of the band eventually came to an agreement. Decades later, Roger even admitted to the BBC that he regretted taking things all the way to court. So, cooler heads prevailed—years later. But in the moment, rage consumed Waters, and the whole thing blew up in one of the most vicious rock band feuds of all time.^[4]

6 Guns N’ Roses

Axl Rose and Slash were two of the original members of the iconic ’80s rock band Guns N’ Roses. But almost right from the start, tensions rose between the pair over the creative direction of the band. For years, they feuded on and off about what kind of music the group should record. Then, in the early 1990s, things really came to a head when Slash agreed to hold a concert with Michael Jackson. This was just after Jackson had first been accused of pedophilia. Axl Rose hated the King of Pop for that—and, by extension, Slash for deciding to do the performance.

“Axl was molested by his father when he was two, and he believed the charges against Michael Jackson,” the band’s former manager Doug Goldstein later explained as to what started the feud. “When Axl found out Slash was going to play with Michael Jackson and that the payment was a big screen TV, he was devastated. He thought Slash would support him and be against all abuse. From Axl’s point of view, that was the only problem. He could ignore the drugs and the alcohol, but never the child abuse.”

Then, by 1996, things had gotten even worse. That year, the group was in the middle of contract renegotiations with each other and their recording company. Slash didn’t like the direction the group was taking, so he told Axl that he was quitting—and he walked away. Just like that. The two men then didn’t speak to each other for nearly two full decades. Finally, in 2015, they began to work on patching up their relationship. They even went on a limited run of concerts together, coming full circle again. But it was only after more than twenty years of vicious feuding in public and private.

“A lot of the tension has dissipated,” Slash told CBS after finally reconciling with Axl in recent years. “Over time, we all just got sick and tired of the black cloud. The biggest thing that happens when you have a breakup that is less than harmonious is you build up a bad energy because of the distance.”^[5]

5 Blink-182

Blink-182 has had multiple notable lows during their time in the spotlight. The first of those came in 2005 when differences and personal issues among the group’s members forced the rock band to break up. For a while, they had no hopes of reuniting. Then, three years later, in 2008, Travis Barker nearly died in a plane crash. After that, the trio had a massive change of heart and got back together to record music again.

“Up until that point, I had zero hope for Blink,” Barker explained to the Daily Beast years later about his plane crash. “It was something that I had really put behind me. My accident definitely made everyone think about things a little more clearly, especially me. It’s horrible that it took something like that for everyone to wake up, but we realized, ‘Man, life’s short!’ We were fighting about some bull s**t and not talking, and it wasn’t anything to be fighting over.”

For the next seven years, the group worked together. But in 2015, they once again parted ways. This time, it was Tom DeLong who left the band—well, maybe. After the second breakup, Barker and Mark Hoppus shared a statement with their fans that Tom wanted to “work on his other non-music endeavors.” Meanwhile, DeLonge denied that he quit but instead intimated that he was forced out of the band while Barker and Hoppus focused on recording yet another new album.

Regardless, Tom really did spend the next few years building a non-band-related company. And in his absence, Blink-182 kept on touring—with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba in the place of DeLonge. Once again, though, a tragedy brought them back together. This time around, the scary moment was when Mark was diagnosed with cancer near the end of 2021. The group reunited once again in 2022, began touring as a threesome once more, and even started recording more new music. What a long, strange trip it’s been!^[6]

4 Van Halen

The guys who brought together Van Halen promptly began feuding nearly as soon as the band took off. That would be founder and lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth, of course. The pair butted heads on photo shoots, music videos, and side projects alike. Things came to a head in 1984 when David decided to launch a solo career. Right from when he broke away from the band, he started talking smack about Eddie and his way of managing the group—which immediately kicked off a massive, decades-long feud between them.

“Since my very first days with the band 11 years ago, I have always had the feeling that one day I would wake up in a cold hotel, all the rooms would be empty, and I would be stuck by a phone with a busy signal,” Roth complained to Billboard Magazine about feeling abandoned by Eddie Van Halen after splitting from the band. “From the first day. Nothing has changed.” And just like that, David was gone!

In response, Eddie made his case: that he wanted to cut back on touring and focus more on recording and releasing new music. David, he claimed, had instead wanted to focus on solo projects and even dip his toes into the world of acting in a Hollywood movie. Then, to tip the scales, Eddie confirmed that David had quit the group by explaining that he was “tired of putting up with [Roth’s] bull s**t.”

That didn’t sit well with David, and for the next couple of decades, the duo feuded publicly. Eddie quickly went out and got Sammy Hagar to replace David Lee Roth in the band and enjoyed some smashing success with the new lineup. To their credit, though, cooler heads eventually prevailed. In 2007, Roth and Van Halen finally reunited and even went back to being bandmates for a while until Eddie died years after that due to complications from throat cancer.^[7]

3 Oasis

We bet you’re surprised that you had to read this far down into the list to see Oasis’ name listed, aren’t you? We couldn’t very well write a list about bands feuding without including the brainchild of the Gallagher brothers. The first time Noel and Liam officially feuded on the record was way back in 1994 when the pair said they hated each other during an on-the-record interview with NME.

Sadly, things only got worse from there. Over the years, the brothers routinely fought with each other in public. They would hurl insults at each other during media interviews and shows. They would randomly skip out on concerts without any notice, leaving the other brother in the lurch. And in 2009, it came to a head when Liam destroyed a dressing room and Noel’s guitar for good measure. At that point, Noel had enough—and he quit the group.

“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,” Noel wrote on the band’s website. “I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.” And with that, the two were done with each other forever… Well, OK, not really.

Since then, the pair have only ever continued to take shots at each other in public. The brothers are fond of insulting each other in interviews and on social media alike. Things got so intense at one point that Liam even filed a libel lawsuit against Noel. He eventually dropped it without further pursuit after Noel apologized for his prior statements. But still, really?! A libel lawsuit against your own brother? You know the rift is deep, and the emotions are very significantly at odds when two brothers start filing lawsuits against each other!^[8]

2 Journey

The guys in Journey have been fighting with each other since pretty much the inception of the band. Take lead singer and frontman Steve Perry as the best example of this. Perry joined the group in 1977, but things were bad from nearly the start. Perry said years later that upon joining Journey, he nearly immediately lost his passion for music. Things got so bad with the other band members that he eventually walked away from the group ten years later. He was unable to take it any longer—and he hated how much he’d come to hate music while performing with Journey.

But that wasn’t the end of the story for Perry by a long shot. He eventually rejoined Journey in 1996, eager to give it a second try. But right from the start of his second tour of duty, things were once again messed up. This time around, Perry was suffering from a hip injury and needed to undergo significant hip surgery. He tried to postpone the procedure to help the band, but he was unable to tour because he could barely move. So the other band members kicked him out of the group—for good this time.

After Perry departed for the second time, Journey carried on with a new lead singer. But it wouldn’t be long before the other members started feuding with each other, too. In 2022, guitarist Neal Schon delivered a cease-and-desist letter to keyboardist Jonathan Cain a few months after Cain decided to perform “Don’t Stop Believin’” for Donald Trump down at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Then, two years later, during Journey’s fiftieth-anniversary tour, Cain and Schon started fighting over how their touring company was managing concert finances.

In the end, the pair released a public statement indicating that they “fundamentally disagree” about the strategy of their anniversary tour and the operation of its management company. That has resulted in a few canceled tour dates here and there, much to the chagrin of fans who are hoping to see Journey for possibly the last time. But as far as the band members are concerned, they just can’t seem to stop fighting and leave it all behind them. Not a great look!^[9]

1 Jane’s Addiction

Everything seemed as good as could be for Jane’s Addiction right up until September 2024. That month, singer Perry Farrell was performing in the middle of a show when he suddenly tried to attack guitarist Dave Navarro on stage. Farrell had to be restrained and pulled off the stage—right in the middle of the concert! In time, Perry’s wife revealed that the band had been playing their instruments too loud, which was leaving Perry with frazzled ears and a sore throat while he tried to sing loud enough to hear himself. That, apparently, was what nearly led to an on-stage brawl. Yikes!

In turn, Farrell later released a statement of apology for going after Dave in such a public way on stage. “This weekend has been incredibly difficult, and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family, and friends for my actions during Friday’s show,” Farrell’s statement read. “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”

The issue was a longstanding one, as Perry has dealt for years with tinnitus. And since he couldn’t even hear his own voice in his earpiece, he was apparently straining his voice to the point of near breakdown at each and every concert. But still, trying to punch Dave Navarro isn’t the way to handle that situation! Things were made even worse when bassist Eric Avery got involved and delivered his own punch to Farrell’s stomach. Ouch! In the end, less than 24 hours after the on-stage fight, the band announced that they would be “taking some time away as a group” and promptly canceled all of their remaining 2024 tour dates. Honestly, that’s probably for the best.^[10]

Australia is generally known for the Great Barrier Reef, the Sydney Opera House, and the diverse species of the outback. However, the continent’s encapsulating history is as dark as it is captivating. Australia’s story is one of blood and violence.

With its famous past as a penal colony, the Australia of old was not for the faint of heart. Bushrangers and con men alike ravaged the continent, committing unspeakable acts. The following list examines ten seemingly forgotten 19th-century massacres and mass murders that riveted both the headlines of Australia as well as the world stage.

10 The Baby-Farming Murderer

While tending to a communal garden in Moreland Rd, Coburg, a man unearthed the lifeless remains of a baby girl. Following a police investigation, a second child’s body was discovered, with tape tightly wound around the boy’s neck. The atrocity of the sickening crime ultimately led police to Frances Lydia Alice Knorr, a 23-year-old English migrant working as a domestic servant. Baby farming, as it was known, was a common occupation where working-class women were hired to care for so-called “illegitimate children.”

Much public opposition arose subsequent to Knorr’s trial and death sentence, particularly from women and church groups. The escalating, emotion-charged outpouring of sympathy became an immense burden for the executioner, Thomas Jones, who felt pressure and disdain from both the public and his wife. Two days before Jones was to meet Knorr at the gallows, the hangman slit his own throat. Nevertheless, Jones was replaced by a man named Roberts, who saw to it that Knorr would hang in the early hours of January 15, 1894.

In spite of Knorr’s incessant claims of innocence, authorities discovered a penned confession in her cell following her execution that read, “I express a strong desire that this statement be made public, with the hope that my fate will not only be a warning to others but also act as a deterrent to those who are perhaps carrying on the same practice.” Further inquiries later revealed that Knorr was responsible for more than a dozen other infants’ deaths.^[1]

9 Stringybark Creek Massacre

In October 1878, the Kelly Gang was on the run, hiding out in the wild bushlands of Northeast Victoria. With their whereabouts narrowed down, four officers were dispatched to apprehend the murderous outlaws, eventually setting up camp at Stringybark Creek. Unbeknownst to them, the Kelly Gang was well aware of their location, patiently waiting in the brush for an opportune moment to execute their ambush. In a profound lapse of judgment, Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlan left the camp at dawn to search for the gang, leaving their partners, Lonigan and McIntyre, behind, vulnerable and outnumbered.

The Kelly Gang ambushed the camp in the late afternoon, whereupon they immediately executed Lonigan. Over the next several hours, McIntyre was held at gunpoint, knowing full well the fate that awaited his unsuspecting comrades. Upon their return, a barrage of gunfire erupted. While Constable Scanlan’s mortally wounded body fell to the ground, a weaponless McIntyre leaped onto a horse that had bolted in the onslaught, leaving a doomed Kennedy in the dust.

Public outrage to the triple murder was swift and tremendous, with the State of Victoria officially declaring the Kelly Gang as outlaws; thus, it was legal to shoot and kill Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne, and Steve Hart on sight without an attempted arrest.^[2]

Surprisingly, the gang would go on to live another two years despite overwhelming odds mobilized against them. In the years that followed, locals began flocking to Stringybark Creek to observe a morbid piece of Australian history.

8 Joseph Thyer

It was a Monday afternoon, October 12, 1896, when 17-year-old George Albert Thyer returned to the family farm after spending the weekend away. Immediately upon his arrival, George noticed something hanging in the stockyard a mere 91 meters (300 ft) from the entrance of his home. It was the body of his father, 44-year-old Joseph Thyer.

Frantic and distraught, George ran inside the house, only to find the bloody and disfigured bodies of his mother and younger siblings—36-year-old Elizabeth, Florence (12), Edward (9), Alexander (7), Charlie (6), and Roy (4 months)—their skulls split open with an unknown blunt weapon. Three of the victims were struck multiple times with such a force that the top parts of their skulls were entirely removed. Joseph Thyer had killed them all before hanging himself.

It would be another two days until their corpses were removed from the gruesome scene. In the three blistering days that elapsed, the “strongest disinfectants” were required by the undertaker in an attempt to lessen the haunting and repulsive stench of death and decay.

Settlers in neighboring localities were beside themselves after hearing the news of such butchery at the hands of Mr. Thyer, a well-known, reserved, and highly respected man in Cavanagh, SA. In spite of his perceived character, Joseph Thyer had a violent temper and had been complaining of “pains in his head” in the weeks leading up to the murders. On October 14, Elizabeth and Florence were placed in a casket, while the four boys were put into two separate caskets, two boys per coffin. The four caskets were then lowered into the ground, together in one grave.^[3]

Fittingly, the body of the craven savage who snuffed out their lives was buried alone in a separate plot.

7 Glover Family Tragedy

With the nation still reeling from the Thyer family murder, a similar act of unspeakable violence would shock the quiet little community of Triabunna in 1898. On the first day of March, watchhouse-keeper George Glover was notified by his eldest daughter that his wife, Mary Catherine, and their six younger children were missing. Over the next several hours, local businesses suspended operations, with every man in town volunteering to form a search party. Before dusk that evening, the town’s worst nightmare had come to fruition. Combing through the brush with his trusted spaniel, storekeeper Edward Ford found the bodies of the six youths—ages ranging from four months to 11 years—lying together, covered in bloodied blankets and shawls.^[4]

Their throats had been slit from ear to ear, and based on appearances, it was theorized that the children had been sleeping or were drugged at the time of their murder. Upon news of the slayings, great anxiety overtook the town, not due to Mrs. Glover’s well-being but to her unknown whereabouts. She had been described as a peculiar woman with a history of depression, and locals worried that Mary was eluding capture with the intention of murdering her two eldest daughters.

Such speculations, however, would be rendered forever moot upon the discovery of her body more than 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) outside of town. Lying facedown in shallow water not more than 0.6 meters (2 ft) deep, it appeared that Mary had attempted, but failed, to cut her own throat prior to drowning. All that remained for detectives, in the end, was rolled up cash in Mary’s pockets, the murder weapon stained in children’s blood, and an eternity of unanswered questions.

6 Thomas Jeffries

On December 31, 1825, Thomas Jeffries broke out of the Launceston Watch House in Van Diemen’s Land (present-day Tasmania). He was accompanied by fellow jailbirds John Perry, James Hopkins, and a man identified only as “Russel.” That evening, the four men broke into the residence of a respected settler named Tibbs, who, along with his wife and male servant, soon found themselves being tied up by the infernal intruders. In that moment, a struggle ensued, and shots were fired.

As the two innocent men’s bullet-riddled bodies lay lifeless on the ground, Mrs. Tibbs and her infant son were led to the forest in the dark of night. In the seclusion of the woodlands, Jeffries forcefully snatched the five-month-old from his mother’s shielding arms and bashed the baby to death against a tree.

The dreadful degree of the true horrors of that evening became apparent among the locals a week later, when the infant’s battered and decayed remains were discovered. What was left of the baby was nothing more than mangled flesh and bone, torn apart by the carnivorous animals of the terrain. During this time, Jeffries and his partners remained at large, with the exception of Russel, who was shot and partly eaten by the others.

Jeffries and Perry would be captured a few days later after the murder of Magnus Bakie, for which they stood trial. During court testimony, Mrs. Tibbs—who was raped and left to die in the woods—collapsed upon seeing her child’s killers. On May 4, 1826, Jeffries and Perry were led to the gallows and hanged.^[5]

5 Frederick Bailey Deeming

Conman and murderer Frederick Bailey Deeming had already spent the majority of his life in and out of prison by the time he married Marie James in England in 1881. Having four children with Marie did not stop Deeming’s bigamist heart from marrying Helen Matheson in 1890. As if juggling two families wasn’t enough, Mr. Lady-Killer (no pun intended) added another notch to his blissful union belt in September 1891 to Emily Lydia Mather.

Three months later, the newlyweds moved to Windsor, Australia, where they rented a brick cottage which still stands at 57 Andrew Street. A little over a week later, on Christmas Day, the ever-so-charming philanderer bludgeoned Emily, slit her throat, and then buried her naked body beneath the hearthstone of their bedroom. The following month, the cold-blooded killer sailed to Sydney, where he immediately became engaged to Kate Rounsefell. Fortunately for his newfound love interest, their whirlwind romance would be short-lived. Due to a putrid smell emitting from the floorboards of the Windsor cottage, Emily’s decomposing remains were discovered, leading to Deeming’s arrest in Western Australia.

When the news made its way to England, Emily’s grieving mother recalled floor work her murderous son-in-law had done at his former home in Rainhill. Due to this, local authorities excavated the floors of the couple’s previous residence, only to discover Deeming’s first wife Marie and their four young children entombed in concrete.^[6]

The savagery of the crimes became a media spectacle, with the press accusing Deeming of being Jack the Ripper. Overnight, newspapers nationwide labeled him “The Jack the Ripper of the Southern Seas.” In all the time during his trial, he never once confessed to or denied being the Ripper, possibly due to the fact that he undoubtedly relished the fame. On May 23, 1892, Deeming enjoyed one last cigar as he walked to the gallows in front of a crowd of 12,000 enthusiastic spectators.

4 The Gatton Murders

On the night of December 26, 1898, Michael Murphy, 29, and his sisters Norah, 27, and Theresa “Ellen,” 19, made their way to a dance in the small town of Gatton. The following morning, the three had yet to return to the Murphy farm, prompting a search that would lead to their grisly discovery in a secluded pasture. Lying neatly beside one another with their feet pointing to the west, it appeared that the siblings’ blood-soaked corpses were posed by their killer. While ants crawled across their lifeless bodies, investigators noted that the girls’ hands had been bound and that they had possibly been raped with the brass-mounted handle of a riding whip. Furthermore, all three were bludgeoned to such an extent that Norah’s brains masked her face. The callous killer didn’t even bother to spare the Murphys’ horse, which was found shot in the head a few yards away.

The subsequent investigation by authorities was the epitome of incompetence, given the myriad of illogical mistakes. Case in point, it took two days for investigators from Brisbane to arrive at the scene of the crime, and by that time, curious locals had unreservedly contaminated the crime scene. Throughout years of speculation, one man has been singled out as the likely culprit: Thomas Day, a local butcher who was seen lurking near the crime scene on the night of the murders. Weeks prior to the Murphy slayings, Day was suspected in the killing of 15-year-old Alfred Stephen Hill, whose pony was also found with a single bullet to the head. In 1900, Day shot himself in the head and died in the Sydney Hospital. More than a century later, the Gatton murders remain unsolved.^[7]

3 Cape Grim Massacre

In the early 1800s, the majority of the Aboriginal people of Northwestern Tasmania were hunted down and slaughtered in an attempted genocide led by VDL Company hunting expeditions. According to the company’s chief agent, Robert Curr, “We have to lament that our own countrymen consider the massacre of these people an honour.” By December 1827, complacency among the Aboriginal people had ceased, and reprisal attacks, something seldom seen before, were escalating.

Following the murder of numerous Aboriginal men who died protecting their women from rape, the natives exacted their revenge by driving over 100 sheep belonging to the company off a cliff. This led to a “company punitive expedition” in 1828, resulting in the butchery of 12 Aboriginals following a sneak attack. The bloodshed only worsened in the days that followed, when the same party of murderous shepherds encountered another group of Aboriginal people.

On that day, February 10, around 30 terrified natives were systematically massacred before their bodies were thrown off the 60-meter (200 ft) cliff in what is now remembered as the Cape Grim Massacre. Such appalling brutality continued in the years to come, with the lieutenant governor declaring martial law, which permitted the capture or murder of Aboriginal people. By 1830, an estimated 60 Aboriginals of the northwest tribe remained.^[8]

2 The Maria Shipwreck Massacre

One of the most controversial events in Australian maritime history began on June 26, 1840, when 26 souls left Port Adelaide on the brigantine Maria. The vessel was bound for Hobart under Captain William Smith. However, it foundered for unknown reasons off the coast of Kingston.

With fading hope for Maria’s anticipated arrival, reports began circulating that all aboard were murdered by natives after “a massacre site” was discovered along the coastline. This spawned a party of men to investigate, all of whom described finding “legs, arms and parts of bodies partially covered with sand and strewn in all directions.” Wedding rings found on the slain bodies of two female passengers were recovered in addition to the men describing how they had witnessed a native wearing a sailor’s jacket.

As the public’s ire progressively escalated, Governor George Gawler instructed Major Thomas O’Halloran to lead a team on horseback and perpetrate retribution upon those responsible. Specifically, once identifying those he believed to be the culprits, Major O’Halloran was ordered to serenely “explain to the blacks the nature of your conduct . . . and you will deliberately and formally cause sentence of death to be executed by shooting or hanging.” The major did just that, and on August 25 of that year, two natives were hanged beside the graves of their alleged victims.^[9]

1 Cullin-La-Ringo Massacre

As we have already seen, the colonial government was committed to ridding the land of the Aboriginal people through callous and unwarranted bloodshed. Such was the case in October 1861, when members of the local Gayiri where shot by Jesse Gregson, along with Second Lieutenant Patrick and his Native Police Troopers. Gregson, who managed the Rainworth station, had accused the tribesmen of stealing a flock of sheep.

On October 17, in a retaliatory response, local tribesmen slaughtered 19 white settlers, including women and children, in what is now known as the Cullin-la-ringo massacre, the largest mass murder of whites by Aboriginals in Australian history. It became apparent only after the senseless carnage that Gregson’s sheep were not stolen, as they were later found having wandered from their pasture. Nonetheless, another retaliatory attack was inevitable. Soon after the massacre at Cullin-la-ringo, seven Native Police detachments were deployed by the colonial Queensland government, resulting in the slaughter of 300 to 370 Aborigines.^[10]

Champion sportsman Thomas Wentworth Wills was Australia’s first cricketer of significance. Being one of the few survivors who narrowly escaped death at Cullin-la-ringo, Wills witnessed the murder of his father on that fateful October day. The frame of mind of the once nationally acclaimed athlete was forever detrimentally changed, and he resorted to alcohol to escape his torments. By 1869, his career was in ruins, and his temperament was degrading. Wills was eventually confined at the Kew Lunatic Asylum, and on May 2, 1880, he took his own life at the age of 43.