A light westerly wind carried the flames into the hotel and it rapidly caught alight. Matthew Gibney, a priest from Western Australia, entered the burning structure in an attempt to rescue anyone inside. He discovered the bodies of Dan and Hart, who he surmised had committed suicide. Whether they died in a suicide pact, or by other means, remains a mystery. Caught hours earlier in police crossfire, hostage Martin Cherry, an old platelayer of the district, was found dying from a groin wound and promptly taken outside where Gibney gave him the last sacrament. Cherry succumbed within half an hour. Another hostage, quarryman George Metcalf, was shot in the face, and died from the wound several months later. While he claimed it was an injury from police fire, more recent research indicates that Ned accidentally shot him the day prior to the siege.