Bodies in The Morningstar Mine, Rushworth 1908 Unsolved True Crime

 When hoping to reopen the closed Morningstar Mine at Rushworth on 27th November 1908 some blokes got a nasty shock when decomposing matter was brought up with the mine cage; subsequent investigations discovered the very decayed bodies of a man and a woman in the water-logged mine shaft.

The woman's head was missing and never recovered despite bailing of the water from the mine and thorough searches for evidence. A scrap of newspaper sporting a bloody fingerprint, dated 28th August suggested this was the date the murders took place. Both bodies were badly broken and smashed up; so much so that the medical examiner was unable to locate any reproductive organs or much of the pelvis of the suspected female body, but owing to measurements they determined it was indeed a female.

Numerous people stated swaggies and others often camped at the site of the mine, one witness claiming he'd heard yelling at night some time earlier.

Missing friends and relatives were reported to the police but they were all safely located alive, leaving the police and coroner no answers as to the names of the couple or who had murdered them.

Tracker Alec Riley 1884 - 1970

 This absolute legend worked to bring criminals to justice but also to help find and/or recover those lost in the bush.

Sidenote - the movie One Night The Moon 2001 is based on him not being allowed to set foot onto a white fella's farm to help look for a missing child.

Tracker Riley spent long, arduous hours combing the bush for evidence when tracking criminals, and in the case of Mad Mossy (Narromine Murders 1939) he spent more than 12 months tracking, tracing and gathering evidence as to the multiple murders.

Reaching the rank of Sergeant in NSW police in 1941 was a first for any Indigenous person, in 1943 he was awarded the King's Police and Fire Services Medal for Distinguished Conduct.

Tracker Riley and his family lived at the Talbragar Reserve at Dubbo.

The movie Blacktracker 1996 is based on Tracker Alec Riley's life.

Further reading - 

Tracker Alec Riley biography

Murderous Swaggie ; Albert Andrew Moss aka Mad Mossy 1939 Narromine Murders

 Mad Mossy was a highly intelligent individual with a talent for getting out of arrests...by acting insane.

Born in Narromine in approx. 1878, his grandfather was John Morse/Moss, a convict sent over from UK for stealing a pig, his father James Moss is considered "Australian Royalty" , his siblings were all hard-working, well-respected members of the area.
But not Andrew.

He was well known to the local police before he first appeared in court, charged with forgery at age 17, for which he got a solid 12 months hard labour. After that he managed to "put on the mad act" (as he later admitted) and got himself sent to various lunatic asylums; Callan Park, Parramatta, Gladesville, Orange Asylum, whenever he was caught he avoided gaol with the usual "mad act". He was also charged with child r*pe in 1926 but got 7 years in Gladesville Asylum, being let out in early 1933. 

He was declared insane 14 times, declared sane 12 times and he escaped from asylums twice.

He roamed far and wide; he didn't always stick to his home area sometimes turning up in Bourke, Wentworth, Broken Hill, Sydney, etc. Also, it was during the Great Depression with many people on the move looking for work, so, although he was found guilty of 3 murders, he claimed many more and the police were unable to locate another 15 travelling companions who had been last seen in his company.

Sentenced to death, it was later commuted to a life sentence as there was some query as to his mental health.

Shortly after arriving at Long Bay Gaol Mad Mossy became the unofficial chess champion, beating prisoners and warders alike, when he wasn't finishing crosswords.

He popped his clogs at age 80 in Long Bay in 1958.

Further details;

NARROMINE MURDER Accused's Remarkable "Confession"

LUNATIC RELEASED TWELVE TIMES Murdered 3 men

Could He Have Been Insane? ALBERT ANDREW MOSS