National
Australia’s first political assassination is just as mysterious today as it was a century ago – ABC News
In 1921, a charismatic NSW MP who supported the Russian Revolution was shot at a rural railway station as he tried to disarm an itinerant Russian migrant. Was Percy…
The basic details sound like the ingredients of a wild west movie: a country town, a lone gunman, armed police and a shootout at the local railway station.
Key points:
- Socialist MP Percy Brookfield was fatally shot at Riverton in 1921
- His killer was Koorman Tomayeff, a migrant originally from Russia
- Both men had been on the same train from Broken Hill, but Tomayeff’s motive remains a mystery
But unlike a Hollywood blockbuster, the events at the small South Australian settlement of Riverton on March…
