Law and Order, Published 26 August 2026, Updated 1 November 2026
The Cox Murder: Did Brisbane Hang the Wrong Man?
In 1848, Brisbane was still a young colonial settlement when a horrifying murder shocked the community. On 26 March, the dismembered remains of sawyer and former convict Robert Cox were discovered along the riverbank at Kangaroo Point. A man named William Fyfe was arrested, convicted and hanged for the crime.
Almost 150 years later, historian Rosamond Siemon revived the case in her book The Mayne Inheritance, proposing a sensational theory that a wealthy Brisbane butcher may have been the true killer!
Did Brisbane's most notorious murder mystery send the wrong man to the gallows? More than 175 years later, we still don't know. What do you think?
Dave & Malou — bringing Brisbane's fascinating past back to life.
History can be stranger than fiction!
A Note on Our Visuals: To ℎelp bring tℎis story to life, we’ve used computer-generated illustrations inspired by ℎistorical sources. Wℎile we’ve made every effort to ensure tℎey are ℎistorically accurate, some details may contain artistic interpretation or inaccuracies. Tℎese visuals are created solely for educational, non-commercial ℎistorical storytelling.
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