James

DETAILS OF DEATH

James McCullogh arrived in Van Diemen’s Land on the Blenheim in 1847 at the age of 19 to serve out a sentence for breaking into a store and stealing meal in the town of Donigal/Donegal, Ireland. (Convict Record; Con33-1-93). In March 1850, The Hobart Town Gazette published a notice, under the heading Police Department, and listed a number of recently recruited police officers; James McCullogh Blenheim2 (Ticket of Leave) was one of the newly recruited officers. Constable McCullogh eas stationed at Sorell. According to several newspaper reports, Constable James McCullogh was murdered while attempting to stop a robbery on a property near Buckland, Tasmania. One newspaper details how ‘he has been severely stabbed in the right side, [his] hands fastened behind him with [his] handcuffs and that subsequently a large stake was drawn from a fence in the vicinity and driven into [his] head. (Examiner Newspaper, July 1851). The inquest certificate details the severity of his death and notes the date of his death as the 2nd July 1851. The Police Magistrate offered a reward of 50 pounds and the Police Force and local residents contributed an extra 20 pounds for information on the murdered. (The Colonial Times 1851 p.3)