The following detailed depictions of the final form of the Hall Gang give an intriguing insight into the state of the trio in the period between the murder of Sgt. Parry and that of Const. Nelson. The incident is almost … Continue reading Spotlight: Ben Hall’s Gang, December 1864
Robert Burke, alias Clusky, received the ultimate penalty for the death of Henry Facey Hurst. His ill-fated trip to Diamond Creek had sent shockwaves through Victoria, and as he sat in Melbourne Gaol awaiting his date with the hangman there … Continue reading Spotlight: The Burke Petition
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), Sunday 11 July 1915, page 11 MOONLIGHT’S GAOLER — LINK WITH BUSHRANGING DAYS HAD DROP ON THUNDERBOLT — The sixties were stirring times in New South Wales and Victoria. The voice of the … Continue reading Spotlight: MOONLIGHT’S GAOLER
Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), Sunday 20 August 1989, page 18 Ben Hall’s bizarre bushranging battle By ROBERT WILLSON IT WAS late afternoon on October 24, 1863, when Commissioner Henry Keightley of Dunn’s Plains, south of Bathurst, saw … Continue reading Spotlight: Ben Hall’s Bizarre Bushranging Battle
One of the men involved in the story of Captain Moonlite is Thomas Williams, the alias of Frank Johns. Johns was the son of a pious Ballarat family who had been employed as a confectioner before engaging in a career … Continue reading Spotlight: Frank Johns’ Statement
What follows is a report on the inquest conducted into the deaths of the bushrangers James Nesbitt and Gus Wernicke along with a brief account of the condition of Constable Webb-Bowen following his wounding at McGlede’s farm. While some details, … Continue reading Spotlight: Inquest on the Bodies of Nesbitt and Wernicke
The benefit of the Kenniff trial taking place in post-Federation Australia is that the modernity of the case allows for a very different approach to the reporting of events. Here we see a wonderfully illustrated report of the trial of … Continue reading Spotlight: PATRICK AND JAMES KENNIFF ON TRIAL for the MURDER OF CONSTABLE DOYLE (Part One)
While looking for information for my opinion piece on Dan Morgan’s grave, I discovered this gem of an article from The Canberra Times: How fantastic does that cast sound? Can you imagine it? John Hargreaves as Frank Gardiner Jon English … Continue reading Spotlight: “Bushranger Country”
While many believe bushranging to have ended with the execution of Ned Kelly in 1880, this assumption could not be further from the truth. A prime example is the tragic story of Henry Maple, the “Boy Bushranger”. Continue reading Spotlight: Carried to Hospital Fatally Wounded
In the month of March, 1819, the first book published in Van Diemen’s Land was issued by Andrew Bent, editor and proprietor of ‘The Hobart Town Gazette,’ under the very hopeful and optimistic — but altogether futile — title of … Continue reading Spotlight: The Wanton Callousness of Black Michael by J. H. M. Abbott
