Maungatapu murders

The Maungatapu Monument for the five victims of the murders in Wakapuaka Cemetery

The Maungatapu murders took place on 12 and 13 June 1866 on the Maungatapu track near Nelson, South Island, New Zealand, in two separate attacks that killed five people. Four people were charged with the murders; one was pardoned after giving information which allowed the other three to be convicted and hanged. The group of four, dubbed the Burgess Gang or Burgess-Kelly Gang,[1] was composed of Richard Burgess, Joseph Thomas Sullivan, Philip Levy, and Thomas Kelly (birth name Thomas Noon). The victims were James Battle, George Dudley, John Kempthorne, James de Pontius, and Felix Mathieu.[2]

  1. ^ Bradshaw, Julia (2014). The Diggers' Story: Accounts of the West Coast Gold Rushes. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-927145-60-9.
  2. ^ Clune, Frank (1959). Murders on Maungatapu. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.