Death mask of Dan Morgan (1830-1865)
Date
Circa 1865
Description
A ‘death mask’ is a cast of a person’s head taken after death. They were much-studied items in the 19th century when phrenology – deducing personality traits and mental ability from the shape and size of the skull – was a popular field of study. The death mask of an infamous criminal was supposed to be particularly instructive. By studying them, phrenologists thought they could find a physiological basis for criminal tendencies. Although extremely popular in the early 1800s, phrenology was debunked as pseudoscience over the next few decades due to its inconsistencies and lack of evidence.
Following the killing of bushranger Dan Morgan (1830-1865) at Peechelba in 1865, his body was transported in a woolpack to Wangaratta, where his head was removed and a cast taken for his death mask. However, no record exists of even a popular interpretation of the mask. Morgan’s head was delivered to Professor Halford (1824-1910) at the University of Melbourne for examination, but by this point it had decomposed to the extent that it was no longer of use for dissection.
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