Connor Hobb (1853-1880) was an Irish-Australian former convict laborer and hired gun in the service of the powerful landowner Elliott Marston during the late 19th century.
Biography[]
Connor Hobb was born in Ireland in 1853, and he was later transported to Australia as a convict laborer for crimes committed in the United Kingdom. Once emancipated, Hobb was employed as a hired gun by the landowner Elliott Marston at the Marston Waters ranch in Western Australia, and, in 1880, he, Jerome Coogan, and Isaiah Brophy were sent to pick up the American mercenary Matthew Quigley at the docks of Fremantle and take him to the ranch to meet their boss. However, the three men got into a street fight with Quigley after he prevented them from kidnapping another American, "Crazy Cora", for use as an involuntary prostitute; it was only after Quigley told Cora (who repeatedly called him "Roy") his name that the three Irishmen realized who they had been fighting with. They proceeded to bring Quigley, Cora, and the prostitutes Karen Slattern and Kylie Davitt with them on a wagon through the Outback and to Marston Waters, having a tense run-in with the British Army Major Ashley Pitt along the way.
Quigley kneeling over a dying Hobb
On the night of the group's arrival, Quigley threw Marston out of his own house after becoming disgusted and infuriated with Marston's attempt to hire him to commit genocide against the Aborigines, leading to Marston's men capturing and severely beating Quigley and abandoning Quigley and Cora in the Outback without food or water. After Coogan and Miller turned up dead, Marston sent Hobb and a band of riders to search for the fugitive Americans and harass the Aborigines in the countryside, only for Quigley to intervene when Hobb and his men attempted to drive several trapped Aborigines off a cliffside. Quigley shot Hobb in the back as he attempted to flee on his horse, mortally wounding Hobb. Quigley then confronted Hobb, who asked Quigley to perform a mercy killing on him, as he had broken his back. Quigley demanded to know where the nearest town was, and what direction Marston's ranch was in, threatening to leave Hobb to be killed by dingoes or ants if he refused to cooperate. Hobb told Quigley where Meekathanga was, and pointed out the direction of Marston's Ranch, and Quigley left Hobb a pistol to shoot himself with, telling him that there was only one shot in it, and advising him to make it count.