Bushranger
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Bushrangers were originally escaped
Bushranging thrived during the
Bushranging exerted a powerful influence in Australia, lasting for over a century and predominating in the eastern colonies. Its origins in a convict system bred a unique kind of desperado, most frequently with an Irish political background. Native-born bushrangers also expressed nascent Australian nationalist views and are recognised as "the first distinctively Australian characters to gain general recognition."[2] As such, a number of bushrangers became folk heroes and symbols of rebellion against the authorities, admired for their bravery, rough chivalry and colourful personalities. However, in stark contrast to romantic portrayals in the arts and popular culture, bushrangers tended to lead lives that were "nasty, brutish and short", with some earning notoriety for their cruelty and bloodthirst. Australian attitudes toward bushrangers remain complex and ambivalent.
Etymology
The earliest documented use of the term appears in a February 1805 issue of
History
Over 2,000 bushrangers are estimated to have roamed the Australian countryside, beginning with the convict bolters and drawing to a close after Ned Kelly's last stand at Glenrowan.[5]
Convict era (1780s–1840s)
Bushranging began soon after British settlement with the establishment of
Colonel Godfrey Mundy described convict bushrangers as "desperate, hopeless, fearless; rendered so, perhaps, by the tyranny of a gaoler, of an overseer, or of a master to whom he has been assigned." Edward Smith Hall, editor of early Sydney newspaper The Monitor, agreed that the convict system was a breeding-ground for bushrangers due to its savagery, with starvation and acts of torture being rampant. "Liberty or Death!" was the cry of convict bushrangers, and in large numbers they roamed beyond Sydney, some hoping to reach China, which was commonly believed to be connected by an overland route. Some bolters seized boats and set sail for foreign lands, but most were hunted down and brought back to Australia. Others attempted to inspire an overhaul of the convict system, or simply sought revenge on their captors. This latter desire found expression in the convict ballad "Jim Jones at Botany Bay", in which Jones, the narrator, plans to join bushranger Jack Donahue and "gun the floggers down".
Donahue was the most notorious of the early New South Wales bushrangers, terrorising settlements outside Sydney from 1827 until he was fatally shot by a trooper in 1830.
Convict bushrangers were particularly prevalent in the penal colony of
The era of convict bushrangers gradually faded with the decline in penal transportations to Australia in the 1840s. It had ceased by the 1850s to all colonies except Western Australia, which accepted convicts between 1850 and 1868. The best-known convict bushranger of the colony was the prolific escapee Moondyne Joe.
Gold rush era (1850s–1860s)
The bushrangers' heyday was the Gold Rush years of the 1850s and 1860s as the discovery of gold gave bushrangers access to great wealth that was portable and easily converted to cash. Their task was assisted by the isolated location of the goldfields and a police force decimated by troopers abandoning their duties to join the gold rush.[5]
George Melville was hanged in front of a large crowd for robbing the McIvor gold escort near Castlemaine in 1853.[5]
Bushranging numbers flourished in New South Wales with the rise of the colonial-born sons of poor, often ex-convict squatters who were drawn to a more glamorous life than mining or farming.[5]
Much of the activity in this era was in the Lachlan Valley, around Forbes, Yass and Cowra.[5]
The
As bushranging continued to escalate in the 1860s, the Parliament of New South Wales passed a bill, the Felons Apprehension Act 1865, that effectively allowed anyone to shoot outlawed bushrangers on sight.[8] By the time that the Clarke brothers were captured and hanged in 1867, organised gang bushranging in New South Wales had effectively ceased.
Captain Thunderbolt (alias of Frederick Ward) robbed inns and mail-coaches across northern New South Wales for six and a half years, one of the longest careers of any bushranger.[3] He sometimes operated alone; at other times, he led gangs, and was accompanied by his Aboriginal 'wife', Mary Ann Bugg, who is credited with helping extend his career.[3]
Decline and the Kelly gang (1870s–1880s)
The increasing push of settlement, increased police efficiency, improvements in rail transport and communications technology, such as telegraphy, made it more difficult for bushrangers to evade capture. In 1870, Captain Thunderbolt was fatally shot by a policeman, and with his death, the New South Wales bushranging epidemic that began in the early 1860s came to an end.[9]
The scholarly, but eccentric
Among the last bushrangers was the Kelly gang in Victoria, led by Ned Kelly, Australia's most famous bushranger. After murdering three policemen in a shootout in 1878, the gang was outlawed, and after raiding towns and robbing banks into 1879, earned the distinction of having the largest reward ever placed on the heads of bushrangers. In 1880, after failing to derail and ambush a police train, the gang, clad in bulletproof armour they had devised, engaged in a shootout with the police. Ned Kelly, the only gang member to survive, was hanged at the Melbourne Gaol on 23 November 1880.[11]
Isolated outbreaks (1890s–1900s)
In July 1900, the Governor brothers—a trio group consisting of an Aboriginal fencing contractor named Jimmy Governor and his associates, Joe Governor and Jack Underwood—perpetrated the Breelong Massacre, wounding one and killing five members of the Mawbey family.[12]
The massacre sparked the Governor brothers to engage in a crime spree across northern New South Wales, triggering one of the largest manhunts in Australian history, with 2,000 armed civilians and police covering 3,000 km of northern New South Wales in a search for the brothers.[12] The Governor brothers were pursued by authorities for a total of three months, consequently being brought down on 27 October with the arrest of Jimmy Governor by a group of armed locals in Bobin, NSW, and the death of his brother, Joe Governor, near Singleton, NSW a few days later.[13]
Jack Underwood (who had been caught shortly after the Breelong Massacre) was hanged in
"Boy bushrangers" (1910s–1920s)
The final phase of bushranging was sustained by the so-called "boy bushrangers"—youths who sought to commit crimes, mostly armed robberies, modelled on the exploits of their bushranging "heroes". The majority were captured alive without any fatalities.[14]
Public perception
In Australia, bushrangers often attract public sympathy (cf. the concept of
Legacy
The impact of bushrangers upon the areas in which they roamed is evidenced in the names of many geographical features in Australia, including
Some bushrangers made a mark on Australian literature. While running from soldiers in 1818, Michael Howe dropped a knapsack containing a self-made book of kangaroo skin and written in kangaroo blood. In it was a dream diary and plans for a settlement he intended to found in the bush.[16] Sometime bushranger Francis MacNamara, also known as Frank the Poet, wrote some of the best-known poems of the convict era. Several convict bushrangers also wrote autobiographies, including Jackey Jackey, Martin Cash and Owen Suffolk.
Cultural depictions
Jack Donahue was the first bushranger to have inspired bush ballads, including "Bold Jack Donahue" and "The Wild Colonial Boy".[17] Ben Hall and his gang were the subject of several bush ballads, including "Streets of Forbes".
Michael Howe inspired the earliest play set in Tasmania, Michael Howe: The Terror! of Van Diemen's Land, which premiered at The Old Vic in London in 1821. Other early plays about bushrangers include David Burn's The Bushrangers (1829), William Leman Rede's Faith and Falsehood; or, The Fate of the Bushranger (1830), William Thomas Moncrieff's Van Diemen's Land: An Operatic Drama (1831), The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale (1834) by Henry Melville, and The Bushrangers; or, The Tregedy of Donohoe (1835) by Charles Harpur.
In the late 19th century,
Bushrangers were a favoured subject of colonial artists such as
Film
Although not the first Australian film with a bushranging theme,
Alarmed by what they saw as the glorification of outlawry, state governments imposed a ban on bushranger films in 1912, effectively removing "the entire folklore relating to bushrangers ... from the most popular form of cultural expression."[20] It is seen as a major reason for the collapse of a booming Australian film industry.[21] One of the few Australian films to escape the ban before it was lifted in the 1940s is the 1920 adaptation of Robbery Under Arms.[19] Also during this lull appeared American takes on the bushranger genre, including The Bushranger (1928), Stingaree (1934) and Captain Fury (1939).
Ned Kelly (1970) starred Mick Jagger in the title role. Dennis Hopper portrayed Dan Morgan in Mad Dog Morgan (1976). More recent bushranger films include Ned Kelly (2003), starring Heath Ledger, The Proposition (2005), written by Nick Cave, The Outlaw Michael Howe (2013), and The Legend of Ben Hall (2016).
Notable bushrangers
Name | Lived | Area of activity | Fate | Portrait |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bluecap (alias of Robert Cotterell) | c. 1835–? | New South Wales | Imprisoned, cause of death unknown | |
Matthew Brady | 1799–1826 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
Edward Broughton | 1803–1831 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
Mary Ann Bugg | 1834–1905 | Northern New South Wales | Died of old age | |
Richard Burgess | 1829–1866 | New South Wales Victoria |
Hanged | |
Michael Burke | 1843–1863 | New South Wales | Shot | |
Joe Byrne | 1857–1880 | North East Victoria | Shot by police | |
John Caesar | 1764–1796 | Sydney area | Shot | |
Captain Melville (alias of Frank McCallum) | c. 1823–1857 | Goldfields region of Victoria | Suicide | |
Captain Moonlite (alias of Andrew George Scott) | 1842–1880 | Victoria New South Wales |
Hanged | |
Captain Starlight (alias of Frank Pearson) | 1837–1889 | New South Wales Queensland |
Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Captain Thunderbolt (alias of Frederick Ward) | 1835–1870 | New South Wales | Shot by police | |
Martin Cash | c. 1808–1877 | Van Diemen's Land | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Clarke brothers | 1840/1846–1867 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
George Clarke (alias "The Barber") | 1806–1835 | Liverpool Plains in New South Wales | Hanged | |
Patrick Daley | 1844–? | New South Wales | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Edward Davis | ?–1841 | Northern New South Wales | Hanged | |
Jack Donahue | c. 1806–1830 | Sydney area | Shot by police | |
Jack the Rammer (alias of William Roberts) | ?–1834 | South Eastern New South Wales | Shot | |
John Dunn | 1846–1866 | Western New South Wales | Hanged | |
Ralph Entwistle | c. 1805–1830 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
Joe Flick | c.1865–1889 | Gulf Country of Queensland | Shot dead by Native Police
| |
John Francis | c. 1825–? | Goldfields region of Victoria | Imprisoned, cause of death unknown | |
Frank Gardiner | c. 1829–c. 1904 | Western New South Wales | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
John Gilbert | 1842–1865 | Western New South Wales | Shot by police | |
Jimmy Governor | 1875–1901 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
Ben Hall | 1837–1865 | Western New South Wales | Shot by police | |
Steve Hart | 1859–1880 | North East Victoria | Possible suicide | |
Michael Howe | 1787–1818 | Van Diemen's Land | Shot by police | |
Thomas Jeffrey | 1791–1826 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
George Jones | c. 1815–1844 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
Lawrence Kavenagh | c. 1805–1846 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
Dan Kelly | c. 1861–1880 | North East Victoria | Possible suicide | |
Ned Kelly | c. 1854–1880 | North East Victoria | Hanged | |
Patrick Kenniff | 1865–1903 | Queensland | Hanged | |
John Kerney | c. 1844–1892 | South Australia | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Fred Lowry | 1836–1863 | New South Wales | Shot by police | |
John Lynch | 1813–1842 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
James McPherson | 1842–1895 | Queensland | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Moondyne Joe (alias of Joseph Johns) | c. 1828–1900 | Western Australia | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Dan Morgan |
c. 1830–1865 | New South Wales | Shot by police | |
Musquito |
c. 1780–1825 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
James Nesbitt | 1858–1879 | New South Wales | Shot by police | |
John O'Meally | 1841–1863 | New South Wales | Shot | |
George Palmer | c. 1846–1869 | Queensland | Hanged | |
Alexander Pearce | 1790–1824 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
John Peisley | 1834–1862 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
Sam Poo | ?–1865 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
Harry Power | 1819–1891 | North East Victoria | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Rocky (alias of John Whelan) | c. 1805–1855 | Van Diemen's Land | Hanged | |
Owen Suffolk | 1829–? | Victoria | Shot in prison | |
John Tennant | 1794–1837 | New South Wales | Hanged | |
John Vane | 1842–1906 | New South Wales | Imprisoned, died a free man | |
Wild Toby | c. 1840–1883 | Queensland | Shot by police | |
William Westwood | 1820–1846 | New South Wales Van Diemen's Land |
Hanged |
References
- ^ Ian Potter Museum collection: Bushrangers Archived 28 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, u21museums.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved on 9 January 2011.
- ISBN 9781863952071, pp. 408–409.
- ^ a b c d e Wilson, Jane (14 April 2015). "Bushrangers in the Australian Dictionary of Biography", Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ISBN 1-862760004.
- ^ a b c d e f "Bushrangers of Australia" (PDF). National Museum of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
- ^ ISBN 9781921825392. pp. 76–82.
- ^ "Capture of the Outlaw Clarke and His Brother". Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850–1875). 29 April 1867. p. 5. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "Felons Apprehension Act 1865" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. 8 April 1865.
- ISBN 978-1-74237-287-7
- ^ "Andrew George Scott (1842–1880)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 24 March 2024
- ^ "THE EXECUTION OF NED KELLY". West Australian. 23 November 1880. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ^ a b "The Governor Brothers | State Library of New South Wales". www2.sl.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
- ^ a b Walsh, G. P., "Governor, Jimmy (1875–1901)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 30 December 2021
- ISBN 9781443824569.
- ^ "Ned Kelly and the myth of a republic of North-Eastern Victoria". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ^ "How 'demon bushranger' Michael Howe fought off a 'drunken buffoon' governor and won". ABC News. 25 February 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Old Windsor Road and Windsor Road Heritage Precincts". Heritage and conservation register. Roads & Traffic Authority. Archived from the original on 3 September 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
- ISBN 0-8032-7104-2
- ^ a b Australian film and television chronology: The 1910s Archived 29 August 2016 at Wikiwix, Australian Screen. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ISBN 9780195507843.
- ^ Reade, Eric (1970) Australian Silent Films: A Pictorial History of Silent Films from 1896 to 1926. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 59. See also Routt, William D. More Australian than Aristotelian:The Australian Bushranger Film, 1904–1914. Senses of Cinema 18 (January–February), 2002 Archived 24 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine. The banning of bushranger films in NSW is fictionalised in Kathryn Heyman's 2006 novel, Captain Starlight's Apprentice.