From the outset Ethel Governor was subjected to ridicule and sarcasm from the women of the household, particularly Mrs. Mawbey and her 16-year-old daughter Grace, as well as the teacher Ellen Kerz. The comments were directed at her lowly position as a household servant and the fact she was married to an Aborigine. The manner in which Ethel was treated during the day was an issue that festered and became magnified in the ensuing months. After they had settled at Breelong Jimmy and Ethel decided to fetch their baby and a subsequent incident seems indicative of the tensions that had developed. Ethel rode to Dubbo on a borrowed horse to collect her child; when she arrived back with the baby at the Mawbey homestead it had been raining. The women took the baby to warm it by the fire. While Ethel was unsaddling the horse she watched through the window as the women ridiculed and laughed at her child. Ethel then went into the house, grabbed her baby and walked the three miles to the camp seething with anger.Details of Ethel Governor's interactions with the women of the Mawbey household are based on an account of the lead-up to the murders by Sam Ellis, a hawker from Mudgee who often camped with the Governors. Extracts from Ellis's account are quoted in:
