Musquito

Who was Musquito?

Musquito was an Indigenous Australian outlaw, or bushranger, based in Van Diemens Land. He was born in Sydney Cove and transported to Van Diemens Land for murdering his wife.

After his release he turned to working as an Aboriginal tracker. According to some sources, he supplemented his wages by pimping Aboriginal women to white men. Eventually, he fled to the bush and put together a gang of Aborigines who robbed and murdered white settlers and their farmhands. Eventually captured by an Aboriginal tracker named Tegg, Musquito was convicted of the murder of a Tahitian farm hand named Mammoa while stealing dogs from the Tahitian's employer. Musquito was sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out at Old Hobart Gaol on 25 February 1825.