to have remained unaware of Midgegooroo's fate, possibly to ensure that the news would not reach the feared Yagan. Four days after the execution, G. F. Moore recorded an encounter with Yagan near his homestead when he arrived with Munday, Migo and seven others, possibly with the aim of finding out from Moore what had happened to his father. Moore, caught by surprise, decided to conceal the truth from Yagan, whereupon Yagan told him that if Midgegooroo's life was taken, he would retaliate by killing three white men. Six days later, it appears that news of the killing had still not penetrated the Noongar community for, when Moore was visited on 2 June by Weeip, Yagan's son Narral, and some women, they asked him again about Midgegooroo and his young son. Moore again concealed the execution but assured them that his son 'would come back again by & bye.' Two days later, Moore recorded that thefts of sheep and goats continued on the Canning River, and expressed his despair at the prospects for a people in whom he felt 'a very great interest': 'These things are very dispiriting. I fear it must come to an act of extermination between us at last if we cannot graze our flocks in safety.' It was not until 11 July that the colonists succeeded in killing Yagan, his death at the hands of sixteen-year-old James Keats on the Upper Swan, who duly collected his reward and left the colony. The Perth Gazette recorded its satisfaction at the deaths and believed that most of the citizenry supported the ruthless actions of the Government. Midgegooroo's execution, it claimed, met with 'general satisfaction ... his name has long rung in our ears, associated with every enormity committed by the natives; we therefore join cordially in commending this prompt and decisive measure.' On the other hand, it is clear that a number of colonists were unhappy with the actions of the government. Robert Lyon, who published his account of the period in 1839 after he had left the colony, wrote that while the killing of Midgegooroo and Yagan was 'applauded by a certain class', they were 'far from being universally approved. Many were silent, but some of the most respectable of the settlers loudly expressed their disapprobation.' There was criticism also from other Australian colonies about the execution of Midgegooroo. The Hobart Town Review of 20 August 1833