In 1854 a shepherd, Thomas Brookhouse, who worked for Hugh Murray went missing. Another shepherd, Patrick McGeary left the town soon afterwards. Fifteen years later, Brookhouse's bones were found under a pile of rocks near Lake Corangamite. The skull had been crushed. It took police another two years to find McGeary, who was found guilty of murder and hanged in Melbourne in 1871. He had killed Brookhouse to stop him from telling Murray about his sheep stealing.